Dependency on Technology

You wake up in the morning to the buzzing sound of an alarm clock, roll out of bed and fire up the coffee machine. The familiar sound of your inbox sounds off when you start up your computer to check your email and see what's going on in the world, or at least what's on your Yahoo homepage. Kick start the car and head off to work while texting your lover a cute message as you sit in morning traffic.

It's not even 9:00 a.m. and you have already used a piece of technology to do literally everything you have done this morning. Today is no special occasion, you use these technologies everyday, all day without even thinking twice about it. It has become second nature to us.

When I say technologies I am not restraining that definition to just electronic devices, but rather all of the physical and mental crutches that we use. Contacts or glasses, the grocery store, hell even your house. People of this era have no idea how much we really rely on technologies both simple and complex. Try going a day at work without using your computer, phone, or even your calculator. Could you do it? I know I couldn't.

We have all these science fiction stories talking about artificial intelligence and how robots of the future might one day destroy the human race by taking over and becoming better than we are at doing the things we need to do. If that's the case then I feel like we are already losing the battle against the machines. Most of us can't even do simple math in our head, not to mention something as vital as catching and cooking your own meal. The artificial intelligence might not have to be a complete separate thing to destroy humanity, but rather it may be something that we bring on to ourselves by our extreme reliance on the technologies that exist until our minds and bodies are no longer capable of doing normal tasks. Self inflicted annihilation.

Maybe not though. Perhaps our reliance on technologies will actually advance our minds and bodies in ways that we never saw as possible. I'm not sure how this would happen but I suppose the possibility is there and only the future will tell us. And I like to stay optimistic about things!

What's my point in all of this? There really isn't one but it's definitely something for you to think about.