I was reading The Transparency of Evil on the bus on the way home last night and came across a chapter called Xerox and Infinity. It refers to the 'new media', communication of data via things like the web, and how information is becoming virtual information rather than the genuine thing. The amount of information circulating is tantamount to catastrophe, because man his investing so much of his own intelligence into this artificial intellegence that there is virtually nothing left for man but to become reliant (or enslaved) to the machines he has created. The only thing left for machines to be able to do is feel emotion, although they are pretty good at influencing ours!
That got me to thinking that the computer age has introduced a new infrastructure within the 'normal' heirarchy of humans. The master/slave heirarchy is now being dominated by technology in all walks of life. If you think about it, there is virtually nothing that you can't do using a computer, mobile phone, etc. I saw a video clip ages ago that showed how, by placing a microchip under the skin, the actions of a person can be controlled by computer. Scary!!
This reminded me of Orwell's 1984 where everyone is controlled by computers. And the way video serveillance is escalating currently, how long will it be before the 'powers that be' make the final step to controlling the population in this way? There is a certain amount of control exercised regarding human behaviour with such things as (dare I mention them) speed cameras and also the ones they use in and around city centres.
At the moment, we still have the freedom to choose how much control we allow technology to have over us in the choices we make. Although at times it may look like societal constraints limit our choices, but the fundamental thing is how we respond to these constraints. One pretty basic example is the mobile phone - everyone has one; but some people just seem to be incapable of putting it down - to a point where you think maybe it's really a part of their hand and that they'd need it surgically removed to part them from it (but that's just my opinion).
1 comment:
I think your ideas are really interesting. I agree with you, that technology is really taking over our lives. Affectively ‘modern man’ cannot function without it. From the simplest things, for example; why is it that when theres a power cut, hours after knowledge of this you can still find yourself flicking a light switch? Perhaps beings are now too reliable on the easier way of living.
Is it time to function on our own? Would we know how?
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