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When Jack is 'over', it is not. (And why) - Skull - 01-24-2014
First let me say that I originally found Jack much like many of the characters in the book did- By a marvelous and fortunate accident, or as the mythology would have me believe, if i were important enough, By no more coincidence.
Hosts was the first and I thoroughly enjoyed the use of an outsiders perspective, because that is how I came to first experience this large universe. I finished the book and quietly forgot the name of the author and the book, but the phrase Repairman Jack stuck with me and some years later I was able to rediscover the series.
I now know WHY I did not forget this character Jack, because as a regular person in my 20s, I experience a lot of the same media and experiences of many different art forms that deliver characters.
The idea of a high rent autonomous self employed pseudo-anarchist/libertarian creature as described in these book was to delicious to discount, moreover it felt utterly POSSIBLE. That is important, I never had to willingly suspect my disbelief as this character, if not the occult world around him, was believable.
Having read everything Jack except for Night world (I want to finish all of the other Adversary stuff before I do read it) I can now say with some certainty that I have seen the character of Jack, in other media, specifically video games.
For a recent example try the trailer for the game Watchdogs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqoQG_XYF-8 At 00:27 Seconds in I had to pause the video and blink, I swore I saw a Mets logo on that cap.
So even after Jack as a character ceases to be put into new novels, I can never really Un-see what I call "New Jacks" in new media. I love that this character was so well put together and so modular, that the idea, had in fact become an archetype of sorts in my mind.
Even when you google "Generic Face" you come up with what in MY mind, is actually a good approximation of a Jack. http://graphics.ucsd.edu/~neel/dissertation/chapter6results/images/ben_sharp.png I guess that's the thing about books isn't it? Our minds are left to fill in the blanks.
But the Blank we have in the Repairmen Jack stories is something most modular generic heroes aren't- that is specific. For all the generic appearance, there are too many definite details about the character that also fit in.
The 5'ft something, Generic pale male, 20s to 30s, regular build, regular face, brown/black hair, green/hazel/brown eyes, super average face and no markings or overt brands or standout details are also part of the old Law Enforcement concept of the Grey Man.
Here is a longer introduction of the term as applied to undercover, plainclothes or just general low memory impact operatives whose agency shall remain undetected.
http://www.deathvalleymag.com/2010/03/22/urban-survival-the-greyman/
Or this one
http://www.defensivecarry.com/forum/concealed-carry-issues-discussions/57607-good-explanation-grey-man-theory.html
Every time I read a Jack novel I am reminded of the Grey Man concept, but I cannot rightly say if I have ever heard the term referenced in the books themselves.
There is also a rather large amount of literature out there devoted to the topic of public disappearance and digital information management as it pertains to privacy. Originally I read the book How to be Invisible by JJ Luna. I actually read it along side Hosts and was surprised with the similarities that the books issued. How to be Invisible, is outdated somewhat, but it described the dead address method AND social security privacy, IE how to never ever give out the number to anyone. JJ lunas golden rule was mostly about prevention, That rule is essentially.
"I as a free individual, will never allow my name, face or address to be collected together in one place as long as I live." It is also highly possible. Hard, but possible.
So now I picked up a 2009 book called How to Disappear by Frank M.Ahearn & Eileen C.Horan and at once I am struck with how the old simple tricks never die, some security through obscurity is just insanely neglected nowadays. The big machine that works against so much of privacy IS in fact still as delicate and even more so easier to exploit now.
I wonder if Mr. Wilson would consider not continuation with Jack, but with another slightly more 'tech savvy' but less physical sort of person. Still retain that rugged individualism, and the buddy who is an anarchist and the best character of the entire shared universe to date, Abe -I have seriously found myself cringing at the potential for such a beloved person being killed off. Abe we never get to see in any kind of threat, which I suppose is a blessing if the Jack series will end completely soon.
But just because Jack wouldn't be IN it does not mean Mr. Wilson could not keep the archetype alive. For example high technology such as facial recognition software, can still be undone by a decent hairdresser.
http://cvdazzle.com/#patterns
Those are disruptive pattern hairstyles combined with face paint. What an irony that such a unique and utterly stand out thing could blank out/defeat the most sophisticated surveillance technology that camera money can buy. It is sort of a reverse of Jack wouldn't you say?
I would love to see how the archetype of this loner/resister to a sousveillance society, that is a society that watches itself as much as each other. Jack would have to compete with a bunch of people wearing Google glass.
Try and imagine that for a moment. Would Julio actually have to put this up at the bar?
http://notthesingularity.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/google-glass-ban.jpg
We would need a fresh start I would suggest, but the apple does not nave to fall far from the tree. I already see as I have said, New Jacks nearly everywhere. They have become a sort of hero to the point where there's a name for them on Tropes, the popular culture dictionary for literary and media plot device and glossary of terms for those who seek to know what "That type of thing" in "This kind of story" with "These types of characters" is actually called. For repairman Jack, There is this
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheNondescript
You can find similar people like this, all over the world doing all kinds of things for all kinds of people. The fact is so many of them are doing something so utterly generic and under the radar that even they usually can't identify each other when they meet.
Hackers. Security professionals. Some martial artists. P.I's. But ultimately there are people who live in such a way as that they are a mere stones throw from becoming a successor to the character type, that is Mr. Wilson's idea of Jack. What's more there are so so MANY of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CWrzVJYLWw < This is Johnny long, a man who was known as the google hacker. His rather inspired and very funny practical speech on Hacking, is actually just one of the many low tech facets of the new 'too hard to beat' technological barriers that a new Jack would face in the world today. But as you'll see, old tricks are still the best tricks. Even a non tech savvy hero can make it as a Jack even now. Probably will be even easier in the future. There's a little story about a guy named Vince in that youtube video, in which he defeats a rather expensive automotive door system with... lets just say a cheap tactic.Forget lock pick guns and bump keys, this is even more 'ghetto' than that. Faster too. Not a trace left behind. I also like how the speaker tricks some local Feds into giving up some information he actually did not know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2VHf5vpBy8 < here is Eben Moglen. He is the kind of guy who would be an Abe to the sort of Updated Jack that I would see in the newer universe. His ideas of technology as a freedom enhancer, rather than it becoming the architecture for control it mostly is now echo many of the things I think of in the mind of a guy like Jack trying to stay free in an increasingly un-free world.
He said something chilling in that speech, which is the following.
So we ate our dinner, and the table got cleared and all the plates went away, and the port and walnuts got scattered around, and Stewart Baker looked up and said "alright, we'll let our hair down", and he had none then and he has none now, but "we'll let our hair down" Stewart said, "we're not going to prosecute your client Mr Zimmerman. We've spent decades in a holding action against Public Key Encryption it's worked pretty well but it's almost over now, we're gonna let it happen." And then he looked around the table and he said, "but nobody here cares about anonymity do they?" A cold chill went up my spine.
And I thought, "OK, Stewart, I understand how it is. You're going to let there be Public Key Encryption because the bankers are going to need it. And you're going to spend the next 20 years trying to stop people from being anonymous ever again, and I'm going to spend those 20 years trying to stop you." So far I must say from my friend Mr. Baker has been doing better than I had hoped, and I have been doing even worse than I had feared.
I wonder often how much of the 'fiction' of Jacks method to living would be pure advantage under an adverse world that no one could counter act. Jack was always something of a contrary to me, a relatable and ironically inspiring one. So here is it - This character, is no longer a character in the classical sense. Mr.Wilsons idea actually became something of a personal litmus test to my own ideas of freedom, and the more I look around and observe, the more I see Jacks. and a great majority of the people, Don't know him. At least not by name.
It is one of those really strange instances of life imitating art.