If your attention span is too short to read the following entry (or, if you're too busy), then I encourage you to simply read the entry below this one. It's basically a logical, quick summary of everything I'm saying here.
I was in my operating system class yesterday, and we were discussing computer security and such. I don't remember what got us on this topic, but we somehow started discussing this massive programming project in which a group of students received federal funding to program a car that could drive for 150 miles over various types of terrain without requiring any sort of control. In other words, this car was so smart that it didn't even need a driver.
Well, my first instinct was "Whoa....that's cool, I wonder how many lines of code that took, more geek stuff, etc.". But that quickly devolved into "Wait...what? They seriously wasted money on THAT? What's the point?".
So I, a future computer engineer of all professions, spent the next 45 minutes of class staring at the wall and wondering what's the whole point of technology. I mean, let's look at this car for example. Why do we really NEED a cool car that drives itself? We don't. Furthermore, why do we really need a car, for that matter? We don't. They didn't have them a few hundred years ago, why do we need them now?
Also, take a look at cell phones and stuff like that. Today, we can be reached at a moments notice by ANYONE who has our number, regardless of where we are. It can be our boss calling us in because we just HAVE to show up and work, or it can be some stupid acquaintance you don't even care about anymore going "LOL....I got kicked out of the Air Force...wut's up?". People 30 years ago didn't have these "wonderful" devices, why do we need them? While we're at it, why do we even need phones? They didn't exist 200 years ago, we did they suddenly become such a necessity?
Finally, consider weapons. For centuries (millennia even), bows, knives and swords were sufficient. And if someone wanted to kill someone, they actually had to physically walk up and do the dirty work. I guess not if they had a bow, but you get the point. Today, any old 15 year old punk who played too much Grand Theft Auto (another technology issue altogether) can kill someone from an overpass while we're driving down the road listening to the radio. And it didn't stop with guns. Once guns exist, you need to trump that with an even longer ranged weapon with greater power for destruction (missiles). And once everyone had missiles, then you need to trump that with even greater range and still greater power for destruction (Nuclear Weapons).
But the problem is, our world has pigeonholed itself into a corner. We DO need cell phones. We have to be able to be contacted by our boss at any given time because they know we have a cell phone. We DO need cars because, how else can we get to work? We DO "need" guns because that's what all the criminals and terrorists are using.
I could go on and on about the ease of theft, criminal skills easily accessed by internet, internet porn, the massive waste of money known as "NASA", etc, etc. But my question is this: Would we all be better off without technology? Sure, evil has always existed. And inconveniences have always existed. But with the rapid growth of technology in the past few decades, have we actually raced to meet evil and inconvenience in an attempt to avoid it? What do you all say?
I think we have.
And if there is such thing as a doomsday clock, I'm sure that the last few minutes will tick by much faster than the first few minutes.
Comment section is in the summary post.
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Summary for those with a sense of humor and a minor attention span
By the way, in case any of you get the notion to check out dinosaur comics, I would caution you that, while precisely 91.7% of it is good comedy, the remaining 8.3% may contain profanity and/or other forms of shady content. (Particularly the past 7 days in case you get the notion to browse.....well, the past 7 days).
WASHINGTON—African-American man Barack Obama, 47, was given the least-desirable job in the entire country Tuesday when he was elected president of the United States of America. In his new high-stress, low-reward position, Obama will be charged with such tasks as completely overhauling the nation's broken-down economy, repairing the crumbling infrastructure, and generally having to please more than 300 million Americans and cater to their every whim on a daily basis. As part of his duties, the black man will have to spend four to eight years cleaning up the messes other people left behind. The job comes with such intense scrutiny and so certain a guarantee of failure that only one other person even bothered applying for it. Said scholar and activist Mark L. Denton, "It just goes to show you that, in this country, a black man still can't catch a break."
~The Onion
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