My friend's grandpa once said something interesting about aliens, claiming that we are the very aliens we fear will some day encroach us. Somehow sounding a bit Orwellian-esque, I think there is some truth to Grandpa's words.
Lately I've been thinking about two present-day innovations which in an effort to set society forward is in fact detrimental to our well-being:
...One does not need to grab a book in order to read. Nowadays, virtual audiobooks will simply read to you your favorite pieces. No need to build your lexical skills or enhance your use of superfluous vocabulary in an effort to raise your IQ or hold a normal (dare-I-say deep?) conversation; besides, who ever has the time to pick up a (heavy) book and READ. Time is money, and we simply do not have the time to read. But we all have time to listen, perhaps we can listen to Tolstoy's, "War and Peace" while we play Tennis on the Wii. Now THAT'S what I call multi-tasking, and we Americans love to multi-task.
On another note, there must be reasons why the U.S. government siphons our access to technologies years at a time. When webcamming via cellphones became a popular fad in Hong Kong over one decade ago, U.S. phone companies were barely just introducing us to motorola-type 'razr' cellphones. Use of cellphone webcamming just recently was introduced to us here in the United States upon the semi-recent release of the iPhone 4. Why so late? I digress..
That we are able to even conceive the intricacies that make up these alien existences means they could be a mere reflection of what we will one day (soon?) become; not to say we will necessarily morph into an ominous, three-eyed greenish extraterrestrial (though who knows what vitamins can do to us nowadays), but it may very well be that we as humans will in fact reach our own demise because of our transcendence in all things. So, perhaps then, the only thing we should truly fear is ourselves, because we will probably assume such unearthly advancements and technological superiority that we will become those very strange creatures we fear...the ones that smother humanity, driving it into ruins (if 2012 doesn't get us first :p).
Lately I've been thinking about two present-day innovations which in an effort to set society forward is in fact detrimental to our well-being:
...One does not need to go to a local park in order to play tennis. Nowadays, gaming consoles such as the Wii make outdoor activities like tennis easily accessible indoors. Rainy day? Tennis courts are too far away? No other partner to play with? That's okay! Just grab a 'wand' and your nunchuck, get in your 30 minutes of a linear workout, and call it a day. The experience in and outdoors must all be the same...
...One does not need to grab a book in order to read. Nowadays, virtual audiobooks will simply read to you your favorite pieces. No need to build your lexical skills or enhance your use of superfluous vocabulary in an effort to raise your IQ or hold a normal (dare-I-say deep?) conversation; besides, who ever has the time to pick up a (heavy) book and READ. Time is money, and we simply do not have the time to read. But we all have time to listen, perhaps we can listen to Tolstoy's, "War and Peace" while we play Tennis on the Wii. Now THAT'S what I call multi-tasking, and we Americans love to multi-task.
On that note, my coworker, Nicole, asked me if our simplification of life is a product of Americanization; is the Western world blameworthy for it's effort in trying to make things faster, easier, and more accessible? Are all of these products an "American fad"?
On another note, there must be reasons why the U.S. government siphons our access to technologies years at a time. When webcamming via cellphones became a popular fad in Hong Kong over one decade ago, U.S. phone companies were barely just introducing us to motorola-type 'razr' cellphones. Use of cellphone webcamming just recently was introduced to us here in the United States upon the semi-recent release of the iPhone 4. Why so late? I digress..
....Is making everything easy to use, ready-to-ship, at-our-fingertips, and at the click of a button something that will in fact hinder our livelihoods?
It's too early to tell or perhaps even too late.
Perhaps we are in fact the very alien creatures we've created, speculated about, and long feared. Perhaps Grandpa was right, and slowly but surely we will come to some day one day become detrimental to ourselves (and to society). Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps...
But even if we are the aliens we've for so long painted in our imaginations, no worries- we come in peace.
1 comment:
Magical!
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