By Susanne Nielsen

A computer is a timesaving machine. Such is the mantra of the times. But all around us in businesses and homes many hours are spent saving time in front of the computer. There is a word for this; “futz”. To futz means to work hard without accomplishing anything. We futz when we spend weeks trying to master a new system that’s outdated as soon as we are getting used to it. It’s futz when we search through manuals or surf the Internet without finding what we are looking for. We futz when we spend hours designing graphics for presentations or letters without any knowledge of graphical design. It's futz when we read spam, get lost in a help function or when a computer problem forces a business to go on hold for hours. It’s futz when we are surfing the Internet only to find information that is wrong, unwieldy, irrelevant, unusable, incomprehensible or obsolete. In a modern office, a piece of paper stuck in a printer can force many employees to sit for hours without working, writes Carsten Graff in his book “Conversations with an oak-tree” which is meant as an antidote to our semi-blind obsession with the machinery of modern society. “Conversations with an oak-tree” is an outrageously ironic essay on our fascination with complicated systems that can do much more than we have a need for.

Carsten Graff got his inspiration for his book under an old tree in a cemetery in the Danish capital Copenhagen. The atmosphere in a cemetery is a contrast to the atmosphere in front of a computer screen. In cemeteries myths and superstitions still live. There is no television, no computer networks and seldom electric lights. “Conversations with an oak-tree” is shaped as a dialogue between an old tree that represents wisdom and acumen in contrast to the technological society's glorification of knowledge and information.
“Modern society is the creation of a dream of a perfect and straightforward world,” Graff says. “But the hunger for knowledge and control has no soul. It has taken possession of our imagination, our habits, and our lives.”

Carsten Graff is a defected computer nerd. In school he was a rebel and a member of a rocker club. His teachers thought he would never amount to anything. Some years after school he pulled himself together – got a masters degree in business administration and computer science and became a consultant of an international company. For many years Graff spend most of his time traveling around Europe installing new systems in businesses and teaching staffs to use them.
“More and more of my time was spend comforting computer users,” he remembers. “Using advanced systems often make people afraid. I saw that the fear of making errors had a negative influence on the way employees interrelated. In the end I began to view myself as a kind of therapist helping people to overcome the emotional problems caused by the overuse of computers and software.”

When Graff got his first computer in the midst 80’s he too succumbed to its power to fascinate. At home, he retreated behind a locked door with his computer. He developed computer programs, played adventure games, and almost forgot to eat. At the time he lived in a state of technological intoxication and was obsessed with the desire to become one with his computer. His vocabulary multiplied and made him unbearable company for others. "I probably had what some people call cyber-psychosis. Naturally my wife couldn't stand it. She had become a computer widow and ended up moving out." Years later a good friend of Graffs died of AIDS and he plunged into a depression. This was the start of a journey that got him to see the world in a quite different perspective. Suddenly it dawned on him that technology can help us communicate, but in the process of developing lasting and healthy relationships our use of technology might as well be a barrier.

"Many people became provoked by the way I started writing and for a time I was the victim of violent attacks in the media. I soiled my own nest as they say and was given the same treatment as doctors who criticize doctors. Evidently there is always a fuss when one criticizes his own profession,'' he says.
After publishing “Conversations with an oak-tree” Graff became a frequent guest on national television in Denmark and send many shockwaves throughout the computer business. "I have met many teachers who thinks they need to be experts on computers. Computers often destroy their perspective, which should be on the pupils. Machines are not bad things. But they tempt one to believe that one can legitimately show an interest in a machine instead of a pupil. That is much easier. This applies to many contexts. Technology can be used as a shield for doing something that is otherwise irritating or annoying. Many teachers are totally taken in by technology. The same is true for psychologists, librarians, journalists, office workers, and so forth. They can't do anything without that screen. The screen has become a place where people seek comfort and relief. I can't send the screen back from whence it came. It is here to stay. But I can point out that it perhaps cuts us off from some important things that can't be concretized in words, numbers, and formulas. One might call this wisdom, in contrast to knowledge, which is something totally impersonal."

"Wisdom is everything that can't be chopped up and controlled. The computer is a temptation. It allows us to believe that we need the latest technology. It is part of human nature to constantly feel that one lacks something without knowing fully what it is. The computer offers control. It is exciting per se to control a machine - even more exciting than being able to do something with it. We can send space ships to the moon, but we can't bring water to the big deserts of the world. That for me is an illustration that research is often driven by prestige and fascination instead of love of one's fellow men.”

Carsten Graff has packed his television in a box in the attic. He doesn't read newspapers, and keeps a zealous eye on attempts to throw advertising through his mail slot. "My family is afraid that I am becoming more and more unintelligent. Its’ true that I don't know the lotto numbers. On the other hand, I have gained time and peace to reflect on intimate things. My writing is changing. Today I’m writing less about technology and more about the close relationships among people. In modern society, we can withdraw from almost all situations. But one can't run away from having intimate relationships. When it comes to intimacy there is no way of hiding behind the screen or escaping behind titles and theories.

Carsten Graff calls the mobile telephone an illustration of our anxiety of being alone. “We do not feel right if we do not have the whole population of the entire world in our pocket. We shudder at the thought that people can't get hold of us. So we take our mobile telephone with us when we take a walk on the beach. We are afraid of missing something. But the person who takes a walk along the beach while waiting for his telephone to ring is precisely the one who is missing something. What he is missing is what his walk was all about. Many have a mobile telephone stuck to their ear throughout most of their waking hours. One day it will perhaps be possible to install a mobile telephone in one's ear surgically. Think at the piles of messages that will be dumped upon you at any time at all. Think of all the ads you will receive ... We call this development, but development is not the same thing as progress. Do we really want electronic telepathy? Do we want to be able to reach one another solely through the power of thought? I think we will have to go very far before average people discover the power information technology can have over our souls and our lives,” says Carsten Graff.