Both the lecture and the reading seem to agree that our world is headed to a society of Cybermen from Dr. Who. I find this conclusion quite untrue. Being one of the oldest alive who can say I've had a computer in my house since birth, I submit that if anyone were to be inseparably tied to the digital world, I'd have been handcuffed by USB extension cords long ago. Granted, I do own a cell phone and have a Facebook account, but I do actually remember how to turn off the phone, and have discovered that actually talking to people is much more fun than sitting in front of a monitor, granted I have a big one, and typing at them. There is hope for humanity's rising electronic generation, we just need to occasionally go outside and remember there is a sun.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Data Deluge, Dismaying Divining Devastationists
A lecture I attended today highlighted how technological growth has affected American Culture, speeding humanity to an unhealthy pace. The telephone was used as a case study, citing the deliberate dialing procedure of the rotary, the excited pace of touch-tone, the acceleration again of single touch speed-dials, ending with the novel concept of speech recognition, meant to shave off even the bit of time usually spent pressing the speed dial buttons. This same lecture provided me with the interesting reading posted below:
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I once knew someone who played a 19-hour Final Fantasy MMORPG campaign. Another would rock her baby on a mechanical swing so that he wouldn't distract her from her World of Warcraft work.
ReplyDeleteI posit that you, my good friend, have always been more balanced than this. I submit your existence and character doesn't show that we're not going to end up as Cybermen--just that Ricky & Co. will be there to.../interfere/ with the usurpation.
I _DO_ agree, though, that the suggested cultural therapy would not only work, but possibly save us a LOT of pain and anguish in the near future.
:)
I don't have much original to suggest here, but definitely a vote that the doombearers are correct. However stimulating computer-aided reality may be, there is something sickening about its overwhelming pervasiveness in first world society.
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