Silicon Suffering

And now, I have joined the ranks of the technologically addicted. Despite my distrust of technology, and the fear that it pervades our lives, I've purchased a Global Positioning System. This is in reaction to the piles of printed Google maps in my car, somewhere around eighty or so. There's also a good chance that this will help me from getting physically lost. No, this is an incredibly inaccurate statement. When I get lost, this will help me get found.

Ultimately, this will serve to make me a weaker human being, though more on time. Look at cell phones. I used to be able to remember phone numbers after a couple of repetitions. Now, I just guess blindly, and would be absolutely lost without my cell phone. It also lets me communicate with anyone at any time, at all times. Convenient? Yes. A crutch? Yes.

There is a certain part of me that has been struggling with directionality (physically, not morally). I was getting better, mildly, with knowing where things were, only because I was forced to drive everywhere, and maps can only take you so far. There was some sort of map overlaying itself upon my neurons, an almost instinctual sense of locale (re-)emerging recently.

Now, if I need go anywhere, or if I need find any location, out comes the device, in goes the address, and directions emerge, like some sort of tiny god. Six months, and I will be completely lost without it. It even has a walking mode, which I could probably use to determine how far I've run in a given day. Increased reliance makes me weaker.

Technology had, has, so much potential to improve our lives, but does it really serve to improve us? No doubt that all the tech in my life is nothing short of miraculous, but it also makes me unable to function without it. There is probably no time during the day spent without electronic technology. Hell, look at me typing on this laptop.

This is the root of my technophobia. The inventors, the innovators, they're applying their skills and talents, and thus improving themselves. These advancements get duplicated, and the rest of us leech off these benefits. My job is worthless in terms of human development. My education is worthless in terms of human development. My drive to create, as I find it hard to admit, is fairly worthless in terms of human development.

That is perhaps the only good thing about technology, that it was supposed to give us the time, the energy, the freedom to develop within, rather than struggle just to survive. Well, the struggle is gone, and many of us waste our inherited freedom. It's depressing to have to accept, and hard to follow. But, hey, at least I'll know exactly where I'm going.