The future is upon us and practically anything we could have envisioned in the past is coming true this very day. We have robots that can play the violin, cars that can remind us of what to do, and even self check out lines just in case you want to skip the whole ritual of human interaction and scan items yourself. Sure, we don't have Dick Tracey's wrist communicator, but we have Iphones that can do pretty much the same thing, albeit, with more applications to boot. The fact is, technology is creeping into our lives and even the people that were opposed to it before are finding themselves more and more enveloped by it. There doesn't seem a single time that I don't go to the gym and see countless old ladies shuffling along on the treadmills, with white head phones trailing down into a clean white Ipod filled with God-knows what kind of music. I don't even have an Ipod yet, just some shitty knock off that cost me about $20, but i'll be damned if it isn't superior to the days of old when you would have to try and jog while holding a cd player--now those were the fucking days!
Will human innovation ever change? Will we one day just decide to say,fuck it, we've come up with enough cool things, let's just start unmaking things now? The answer to this is clear: absolutely not, but even so,there will always be some part of the population which chooses to keep technology at bay. You know, the uncle who's afraid to even turn on the computer for fear of breaking it and the aunt who thinks the talking car is possessed. Then there will be the people who have been born into a pool of information technology, the super kids of modern day who will reprogram yourcomputer while they have convinced you they just want to sign on to play a game of solitaire. Technology has become the new proverbial bone to bash over one another's heads. Our next tool of social and individual manipulation and behavioral direction and modification.
It's no surprise why we invent though, because in reality, the world around us is filled with so many complex systems that we will never be able to even touch until our knowledge of the universe has grown far beyond the realms of where it is today. Our very brains themselves, while in some respects lacking the processing power of a room full of super computers, are still able to think circles around them. We are, in a sense, only making shittier versions of products which nature has already created itself. Sure, we can make a robot that can do any thing a person can do, but will it feed itself as well? Will it take a shit and also wipe it's own ass? They will get there and probably about that time, mankind will be seeking its next "John Connor" in hopes of wiping out the robot revolution.
It is easy to understand the fear that some people have of exponentially growing technology. Where does it stop when every single invention seems to replace the function of somebody else? The very things that connect us to things are also the very things that keep us seperated. For example, we have listened to cd's for years now, when all around us are musicians and bands who play music live. That doesn't mean that we don't listen to these people as well, but still in a very basic sense, we are less a part of their world, as they are more a part of ours. As the universe outside our world expands, we become further isolated ourselves, but the thing is, the seperation is only possible because of the links we build between one another. I can talk to a hundred strangers and never leave my house now, but a hundred years ago, to do such a thing would require a great deal more locomotion. Though a lot of people could argue that the types of connections people make via technology nowadays lack the kind of substance any real meeting would provide, but even those people have to wonder just how long will that be a factor? There may come a time when linking up to technology can provide us with an understanding of one another that was simply not even possible before, as we may in fact be able to literally understand how other people think and see the world.
The future will always be unwritten, but to some people, much of its path has already been laid out before us. It is in our nature that we adapt and progress and more importantly, strive for a quality of life we find pleasing. So fight the tide or ride the wave, but always keep in mind, you can choose to do what you want, but the world will do the same.
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