#699 Atechno

I saw something a little disconcerting the other day. And it makes me wonder about technology.
Now I’d be the first to admit I’m something of a Luddite. Luddites are people who resist change and technology. I suppose it has a little something to do with my age.
After all, I’m so old I remember when they came out with three-mica.
But it also has to do with what I’d feel we are capable of as humans and what we lose when we depend too much on the technological.
A sense of accomplishment. A sense of satisfaction from overcoming problems on our own.
Is this instance, I saw a girl in a restaurant using her cellphone to figure a 15% tip. I’m sure the server was happy. The girl appeared to be happy, but somehow I felt like humanity took a step backwards.
Our kids have some of the best technology in the world. But it’s in their toys. Computers in school generally suck, as we make it difficult to fund education with a lot of levy nonsense every couple of years. But at home, those same kids have the newest X-box or PS-3 or Nintendo Wii.
They have their fancy cellphones that do everything but feed them intravenously. Their Ipods with a Library of Congress worth of compressed audio of compromised quality.
And they can’t figure 15%.
And it’s not just kids. We adults and our PDAs free our failing memories for more important things than the next appointment. Remembering how to get to a place in Seattle is no problem either. We can just turn to our dashboard GPS system. And hey, if somehow we do manage to get lost, we can always cellphone a lifeline back home and make it to the next level.
But lost is what we are. And longing for what we’ve lost.
Is it any wonder some of the most popular TV shows are about people stripped of the crutches of civilization and forced to deal with life in the raw.
It’s almost like being there and really, um, living.
America, ya gotta love it.