The End of the World as We Know It?

The Web 2.0 video clip definitely got me thinking. It absolutely blows my mind to think how far techonology has advanced in the last 20 years - heck - in the last 2 years! I believe it is probably called "Web 2.0" because the Internet and all its associated technologies have expanded so much such their humble beginnings that it has become necessary to distinguish this era from its birth era.

There was a time, not so long ago, that one computer machine took up an entire room; now we have computers that are faster, hold more space, and can perform far more functions than earlier ones, yet are a fraction of the size. It really is incredible.

As amazing as this "technological revolution" is, I believe it also raises cause for concern on many levels. One thing that worries me is that technology in our society is advancing exponentially while the actual people who make up that society are not. As a matter of fact, the only exponential growth people are having is in the horizontal realm and it is called an Obesity Epidemic...

I have strong reason to believe the two are invariably related in a double-edged sword sort of way. Allow me to explain:

Where do people get ideas for technological advancements? Why, everyday life of course!

The vast majority of all (if not in fact ALL) ideas, inventions, etc. take form when a person has a need in his or her daily life and envisions a product or appliance that would fulfill that need in a faster, cheaper (?), more efficient way. BOOM. Advanced Technology is born.

The catch is that now people are sitting on their bottoms more than ever before because technology has literally brought the world to our fingertips - we need not hardly move a muscle.

Don't believe me? Just look around at the personal appliances you are personally a consumer of and ask yourself "Why did I buy this?" AND more deeply -"What am I using this to replace?"

The answer to that second question is where my real fear for the future of the workplace comes in. The more we "feed the machine" as the video so accurately suggests, the less we as humans are needed. That may sound harsh to some but, if you really stop and consider what I am saying, I believe you will come to agree.

Allow me to elaborate a little using an example most everyone will be able to understand:

First there were people.

If person A wanted to talk to person B, person A would have to stop what they were doing, go find person B, get in a close enough proximity that person B could hear them, and speak the same language as person B in order to effectively communicate.

Some time later, mail was invented. This helped things because now person A need not seek out person B themself, they simply needed to buy paper, a writing utensil, and a stamp and write person B a letter about whatever it is they wanted to say and the glorious Pony Express (or later government-run postal service) would take care of the rest. Person A and person B would still need to have knowledge of the same language.

After mail there was a nifty little invention called the telegraph, followed by the electric telegram. These two machines were quickly outdone by Alexander Graham Bell and his invention of the telephone. All of these helped person A and person B communicate faster and farther away than ever before , but -with the telephone -an important era began: person A could now actually voice a messeage to person B without being anywhere near person B. This concept resulted in many a business/industry boom.

I think you all see where I am going with this...

Now,not only do we have mobile computers and mobile phones, but we have phones that are computers and computers that are phones (i.e. SKYPE)! With today's extensive technology, persons A and B are able to see and hear one another thousands of miles away - even if they do not speak the same language (via internal translators). It is absolutely mind boggling.

But let me ask you something - how many of these super-intelligent machines have all but replaced one or more human occupations?

Yes, a human still has to operate some of the machines but others are, for the most part, completely autonomous. Machines doing jobs that humans used to do, hmm...

Small scale = efficiency

Large scale = down right frightening

How much longer before the divison between humans and machines is indistinguishable? How much longer until we are the machine? Are we already?

Another question to ponder - how much interaction/intimacy has gotten lost in the technology boom? Well, the decline started long ago. Refering back to persons A and B, we wrote instead of visited, then we called instead of wrote, now we text instead of call and webcam instead of visit.

Many people have jobs where all of their client interaction happens over the computer and neither client nor service provider ever actually meets the other. Keeping in the job realm- the vast majority of job posting, applying, and resume sending is all via the internet nowadays. No personal interaction required.

Maybe I am old fashioned but that doesn't sound like something I want to be a part of.

It is also important to note that employees prior to and including the baby-boomer generation are being "let go" to make room for new, young hire-ees who are web wizards. The entire dynamics of the work place is changing.

The rest of the world is changing too -and at such an EXTREMELY quick rate - that many are just getting swept up in the technology tide without even thinking about all its implications. It is for this reason that I whole-heartedly agree we must, as the video spells out, rethink everything.

Our world is changing and we must decide how we feel and where we stand on issues.

I believe it will be a sad day when/if people ever submit (consciously or unconsciously) in such a way that implies they are okay with a machine (s) dictating their life.