The Witchcraft of Technology
I had a strange dream last night. I know I'm not remembering all of it, but what stuck with me was an image of people walking around talking to themselves. I shrugged it off as just another odd dream, until I got to work this morning and saw people walking around talking to themselves – or rather into their cellphones.
Sometimes I wonder how much people actually understand about the technology that they use on a daily basis. I think for the most part this knowledge is next to nothing. It's kind of scary to imagine how things will be in the future, as technology gets more advanced and the majority of people understand less and less of how it works. A dangerous and growing disconnect.
It doesn't seem like too much of a stretch of the imagination to picture a time when technology is almost regarded as a form of magic, something incomprehensible and possibly regarded with fear. Imagine the "Dark Ages" replayed, but this time with instant communication to spread paranoia, fear, and ignorance like a plague.
I would so be burned at the stake… I hope it has blinky lights.
Tags: apocalyptic fears, future, technology
Kelly (KH) said,
Yeah, you need to watch Idiocracy… it has electrolytes.
November 20, 2007 @ 11:35 am
sparx said,
Wow.. this post got some interesting ad placement.
I should watch it tomorrow or friday.. when do you want it back?
I like electrolytes.
November 20, 2007 @ 2:51 pm
Kelly (KH) said,
Eh, whenever. Sometime before I stop being your coworker.
November 20, 2007 @ 7:46 pm
unlikelymoose said,
What feeds society's disconnect with the technology behind technology is that no single person is credited with inventions nowadays. It's always a corporation. Gone are the days of Eli Whitney and the cotton gin and Thomas Edison and the light bulb.
November 21, 2007 @ 11:59 am
sparx said,
Actually Joseph Swan beat Edison to the light bulb. Plus he had quite the beard.
I'm not sure how much knowing who to credit for an invention actually affects this problem though. How many people, when asked how a lightbulb works, would describe the process of electrical resistance causing the filament to heat up and glow to produce light?
The problem is specialization, which is completely necessary. As technology advances, the knowledge needed to advance each area becomes more focussed, putting it further and further out of the reach of the "common man". But it also doesn't help that the "common man" is becoming specialized at busy-work…
November 21, 2007 @ 12:31 pm
Athuman Hamis said,
Technology is the real magic thing to the third world countries.mass education is needed to keep these people aware of the difference between the Tradional magic/withcraft to the morden science
December 10, 2007 @ 12:49 am