In 1989, my brother gave me an HP 286. The millennium had arrived. I had a PC, although it wasn’t much more than a fancy word processor. Less than seven years later, people were using something called the Internet, a communication system originally used by the Department of Defense and “brought mainstream” by Al Gore.
Fast forward to 2008. We must have Internet access through our cell phones, which have morphed into Blackberries and iPhones. Why? The answer I favor most is comedian George Carlin’s reason for why we call each other in the first place: To make sure someone’s on the other end.
Prototype chips are now being implanted beneath the skin so that the human body can have a direct interface with technology. It is predicted that within twenty years, we will be able to receive email and phone calls through such chips. Sci-fi? Paralyzed individuals are already able to interact with computer screens thanks to microchips implanted within of their brains.
To what extent, however, do we wish to embrace this technology in everyday life? My grandmother used to pick up radio stations on the fillings in her teeth. It drove her nuts. At 82, she wasn’t fond of listening to James Brown singing “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag.”
In Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
The essential facts of life. If George Carlin is correct, we’re in a lot of trouble.
Picture: Public Domain
Fast forward to 2008. We must have Internet access through our cell phones, which have morphed into Blackberries and iPhones. Why? The answer I favor most is comedian George Carlin’s reason for why we call each other in the first place: To make sure someone’s on the other end.
Prototype chips are now being implanted beneath the skin so that the human body can have a direct interface with technology. It is predicted that within twenty years, we will be able to receive email and phone calls through such chips. Sci-fi? Paralyzed individuals are already able to interact with computer screens thanks to microchips implanted within of their brains.
To what extent, however, do we wish to embrace this technology in everyday life? My grandmother used to pick up radio stations on the fillings in her teeth. It drove her nuts. At 82, she wasn’t fond of listening to James Brown singing “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag.”
In Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”
The essential facts of life. If George Carlin is correct, we’re in a lot of trouble.
Picture: Public Domain
5 comments:
I love the Thoreau quote. The alternative is just too scary.
Your grandmother's teeth? Really!?
Yeah, the teeth LOL. It's not only her though. Every now and then, a metal filling acts as a receiver for someone. It's rare, but it happens.
Over the years I have begun to not revere Thoreau so much as Emerson. Thoreau seems quite taken with himself. If you were to ask me. But he wrote great stuff. And me? My computer and camera and all necessary cables and batteries are as important as breathing out and in. I can survive with books. Perhaps without music. But life with out books, music, technology, out in the woods: life seems bleak without it. But I am alone; they are my companions.
I understand what you mean. Thoreau's ideal is no longer attainable, but I hope I can at least distance myself occasionally from the hardware and software that seem so indepensible.
... and technology can indeed provide comfort, especially when one is isolated or alone. It has certainly seen me through some rough times, so I guess I shouldn't beat up on it too much -:)
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