Articulate truth (day 213)

Aldous Huxley, Bill Joy, Jaron Lanier.  What do those names have in common?  They are all articulate and have all warned of potential pitfalls of technology.   I'm not sure about Aldous but certainly Bill and Jaron have been called "Haters".  That's what happens when you speak about the gaping security holes in technology development.  There's always a new set of people being introduced to the tech of the day who will be enamoured with it.  They will keep alive the belief that nothing can go wrong.  Meanwhile the ones that have around long enough to start seeing the patterns and remember the old ways will start to question whether we are really better off.  They will be called haters.  But if you listen to them, they are all calmly stating that we must take a more measured approach with an aim to preserve what is most unique and beneficial to us, to the earth, to others.  There are tremendous advantages to looking at where we are going and at least agreeing in part how we will get there.  When people with so much invested in tech or in their own reputation speak out knowing they will be called haters, we could listen and form our own opinion. 

Aldous spoke about the dangers of overpopulation, systems of organization, propaganda, and TV.  Bill spoke about the dangers of nanotechnology, and Jaron speaks about the dangers of losing some very essential bits of our humanity by making ourselves fit the machine.   I've just started Jaron's book "Your are not a gadget" and already I'm taken in by some of his descriptions which really parallel my own experience.  Things that not many people talk about.  Or at least not in that unapologetic tone.  For example, he speaks about the random interaction delays on the iPhone.  We all know what he's talking about but the way he talks about it doesn't finish with "but still, it's so amazing isn't it?".  He talks about how these delays are a direct result of operation system choices we made a long time ago that don't favour human interaction which requires responsiveness.   It's like all of sudden I can breathe because someone has given me permission to to say we deserve better.  Or maybe it's that after watching so many Apple product launches and commercials I was starting to believe it was only my iPhone behaving this way.  Everyone else was having this perfect wonderful experience.   Don't get me wrong, I love my iPhone but it does require a good deal of indulgence.

I had a discussion with someone who is about the same age as I am about how we are both a little disillusioned with tech.  We wondered if the younger generations whose formative years included desktops, laptops, iPhones will have this disillusionment earlier, later, or not at all.  There might come a time for everyone where the promise of technology starts to feel repetitive.  Just like there comes a time when a headline saying that in 50 years technology X will bring such and such a wonder doesn't grab you in the same way as it used to because you'll be dead in 50 years.  The wonder will belong to someone else and they too will be promised even more.

Disillusionment is not such a bad thing.  Just like any disappointment, it shows you where you were holding on to a certain result.  It's always better to stay fresh and be ready to be surprised.

A song for this post.