The big leaps in our evolution as a species throughout the eons have usually been due to our development of new tools, or the new application of something already in existence.
Then along came the computer.
And many say that like all new tools before it – the computer inherently is neither “good” or “bad”.
So some “fear” of the new is completely normal.
Afterall, any new tool is all about HOW we use it, right?
However, unlike the wheel, the steam engine, and the electric lightbulb……which were radical for their times, the computer and its associated technology is simply not just the “latest new tool”.
Ask yourself – are YOU operating this particularly powerful new tool?
Or is this new tool..beginning to operate YOU?
That’s the difference.
CONSIDER THESE OTHER “WAKE-UP CALLS”:
-Machines and now a multitude of electronic communication devices, were supposed to make our lives “easier”. Yet, according to the US Bureau of Labor, the hours in the average workweek in the United States has actually increased since the 1970’s.
While median wages and salaries have been flat and/or declining when adjusted for inflation since the early 1980’s.
In addition, workers in the US are taking less vacation on average than they did in the 1970’s.
Ask yourself…. is the accelerating pace we face right now in technologically advanced societies, generally conducive to healthy societies, strong families, or even “love” itself ?
Are we emotional and mentally wired…. to have 200 “friends” on Facebook, and 500 followers on Twitter?
Really?
What about your real friends?
Here’s another telling question, “Do you feel “naked” and/or anxious when you don’t have your Iphone with you?
What I call “Continuous Partial Attention”(CPA) ……. is EPIDEMIC in technologically advanced societies, is it not?
You probably have CPA already and you do not even realize it.
Maybe it is time we at least questioned “multi-tasking” as being good for our brain health?
Are you truly present anymore when you are talking in person with loved ones?
With anyone?
In addition, we now communicate MORE through machines than in real live face-to face interaction.
You are reading these very words right now through a machine.
What does this mean?
Are we still FULLY human then?
What will human communications be like 10 years from now?
And ever hear of “sitting disease”?
It is here already.
So its not just our minds and enmotions – our bodies are also being radically altered.
FINALLY THINK ABOUT THIS:
“Imagine…two computers conversing with each other over a period. They are asked by a human being what they are talking about, and in the time he takes to pose the question, the two computers have exchanged more words than the sum total of all the words exchanged by human beings since Homo sapiens first appeared on earth 2 or 3 million years ago.” – Simons, Geoff, “Silicon Shock: The Menace of the Computer Invasion”, 1985, p.165.
Please note this quote is from …… 1 9 8 5 !
HOWEVER………the radical changes we now face as a species that are right around the corner”, will absolutely DWARF the breathtaking changes we have already witnessed the last 30 years – in both speed and magnitude.
It’s called “artificial intelligence” (AI).
And “quantum computing”.
AI it is already just about everywhere in all of our daily lives, unless you are living off the grid in a cave somewhere.
Think about that.
Did you know that?
ARE YOU READY ?
RESIST – WHILE YOU STILL CAN.
