I started writing this post last Thursday, and the more I work on it, the larger it grows and the harder it is to tame the thoughts. I read an excellent article on the recent news that humanity had erased 60% of animals since 1970 in which the author argues that the statistic is being misread, though the situation is grim. The author argued for precision and impact when disseminating information to the public and against an imbalance that lacks precision but has major impact. It’s not a bad way to think about writing. But for all the necessity of structure and well-formulated writing geared for maximum impact, sometimes the thought lies in the imprecision. Perhaps impact is outside the writer’s influence.
My premise is this: we are not as technologically advanced as we think we are. We have taken the existence of technologies as evidence that something about the world has changed. We fell for the razzle. Or maybe it was the dazzle. Whatever it was, we fell. Hard.
Some thoughts in that general direction:
I came across a couple articles about how 90% of students’ homework is assigned online, that in-home internet access is about 85% (the NY Times article says 2/3), and how some rich schools are shirking the tech trend and getting back to basics (Digital Gap and Homework). I’m a teacher and while nearly every student has a smartphone, not every student is connected. Some students use the phone for music and social media only. They have not been trained in how to use the phone for research or to strengthen their productivity. The existence of the technology doesn’t guarantee its universality. Are we at the beginning of all this technology, like car technology when only some had them and other modes of transportation, like something pulled by a horse, still shared the road? Will we get to the point with the internet and internet connected devices in which the old way will be relegated to special circumstances or as an ironic luxury?
My wife is casually shopping for a new car. Her 2006 Toyota Matrix has 180k+ miles, and while it probably has a few more years in it, it’s telling us it’s old and tired. She’s been looking at electric cars. The batteries cost $6k to replace. They last 8 – 10 years. What kind of market will there will be for six-year-old electric cars if an additional $6k payment is needed soon after purchasing the car? The tax credits that help make these cars affordable are due to shrink and eventually disappear. Are we at the beginning of electric cars? Will the issues of material supply be solved (how sustainable are electric car batteries? I’ve read stories of Volkswagen trying to corner the cobalt market for use in batteries. Is this a next step towards something else? )so that we can sustain the economics of electric cars?
I am a big Doctor Who fan. I’ve been looking forward to the current season since I finished the last one, and even more so since it was announced that the Doctor would regenerate as a woman. But I haven’t been able to watch the new season. I have cable, but I don’t have BBC America. I called up my selfless and benevolent cable provider to see what I had to do to get that channel. I effectively couldn’t get the channel. In order to get it, I’d have to switch packages. While I’d get BBC America, I’d lose other channels that I actually watch. I could buy a Season Pass from Amazon for $29, but I already pay a cable bill and a Netflix bill. The Gatekeepers have shut me out.
We pat ourselves on the back for our modern technological word. We look back on those who lived only a few years ago as Neanderthals with their 3G clubs and their prehistoric slow internet speeds. We stand in awe of the next gadget, children standing around the next shiny thing. But we aren’t so great. We’re not that technologically advanced. In comparison to the past, sure, we are. But permanent, sustainable technology is an illusion.
Tech companies did an amazing job selling us on the future. From Apple’s “i” products that sold us on the idea of our power to create and curate our lives to streaming services which promised freedom from the overlords that throttled our access to content, we were told we would have the power. It was all a lie. It’s always a lie.
Sci fi movies like Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, and a host of others have it right. These movies portray a future world with advanced technology superimposed over the regular world. The world in Blade Runner is more stark, the rundown physical world supplemented with rundown tech. Minority Report portrays a recognizable Washington DC run from on high, so to speak, via technology. This mixture of future and present is our perennial present.
The most sustainable thing about life on Earth is that whatever pushes us forward is built on the backs of weaker things, mostly people. Slavery never dies away, and there are different levels to it. One might not be able to own slaves in America anymore, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t people who are trapped in something. Tech companies sold us on the idea that we need a phone. Our money, our time, and a host of other things are now tied up in a device. What do we need to do to do something different? Is it possible? Fundamental changes occur as we froth forward for capital. Today the commodity is you.
I’m not a troglodyte, but the sell-sell-sell/buy-buy-buy aspect of technology got me thinking about Walden Pond.
Bellicose Blatherings 
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