A.J. Jacobs' Article Compared to Huxley's Three Directions and the Dinner Conversation

            A.J. Jacobs’ “The Overly Documented Life” presents a great representation of both Aldous Huxley’s Three Directions and the dinner conversation. His article is extremely personal and autobiographical. He describes his experience with using the camera to record everything he does in his life. He explains how he feels more self-conscious now that he has a device that can show not only the way he is acting, but also the way that the people he interacts with act. Due to him writing on a more personal level, he writes in first person to make that connection with his audience. This fulfills the personal level of Huxley’s Three Directions.

            The only part where Jacobs seems to be objective is in the introduction. He gives us historical background on different innovations in technology like Google Glass. Also, he describes the studies that have been conducted that state how human memories are unreliable. The final aspect of Huxley’s theory has to do with the universal aspect of the article. Jacobs’ achieves this by describing the collective struggles of people trying to remember certain events. In his article, he elaborates on personal events like how he fought with his wife and forgot where he had placed his wallet which can be connected to many people. The personal level that he strives to create actually assists him with achieving that universal aura because he is able to connect with his audience. Jacobs successfully completed all of the parts of Huxley’s theory.

             Jacobs also successfully achieves the Dinner Conversation model. Jacob is, of course, at the head of the dinner table and invites a wide variety of people to converse with. One guest that is definitely at the table is his wife. She brings up the point that "I lived through it once — I don't need to live through it again” showing that she is against the video camera. He receives a variety of responses with the people he invites. The guy that he meets in the bathroom wholeheartedly agrees with the idea of recording everything that happens in his life. He even invites friends who either agree or disagree with this new technology. They ask new questions, providing more follow up discussions in the future. This article completely makes use of Aldous Huxley’s theory and the dinner conversation.