The
Future of Coexisting with Technology
Iconic movies like the Terminator
series, iRobot, and Wall-E all portray their own version of a seemingly fantasy
dystopian future. Each of these movies showcases the evolving relationship
between humans and technology in their respective movie worlds. Without a
doubt, humans are inevitably going to continue to integrate with technology.
What is yet to be seen is how we will continue to do so. People may not realize
it, but we are already deeper connected with technology than people of just a
few decades ago could of ever imagined.
As of 2016 over 88 percent of people
living in the United States use the Internet, while about 80 percent of people
living in the United States own a smartphone (Smith, Evolution of Technology).
This may not seem significant to many people, however, if you told somebody
living in the 90’s that we have the ability to talk to anyone in the world and
have access to just about all information that exists in the matter of seconds
they would look at you like you are talking about a science fiction movie.
In a world driven by innovation we
are quickly approaching a future not too dissimilar from those of the most
popular science fiction movies. Cyborgs from popular media like General
Grievous and Darth Vader from Star Wars, Iron Man from the Marvel Universe, and
Geordi La Forge from Star Trek all exemplify technology physically altering
their appearance and abilities. While all of these examples are from fictional
universes the idea of cyborgs being a reality is not that far fetched.
In fact, the modern smartphone is often
considered to be an extension of ourselves (Lynch, Leave my iPhone Alone).
Leaving the house without a smart phone in your pocket is a thought that
frightens many people, especially the younger millennial and Z generations.
This problem has become so rampant there is actually a term for the “fear of
being without a phone” called nomophobia (Valdesolo, Scientists Study
Nomophobia). Not only do we rely on our phone to talk to those closest to us,
we rely on it to get answers to just about any question we may have.
Essentially the phone is acting as an extension of our brain, with the power to
relay messages to people across the world near instantly, very similar to
telekinesis. The phone also gives us the power to be “all knowing”, or at least
very close to.
What difference does it make if you have
the information you require already in your head versus being able to have just
about any information in the palm of your hands in the matter of seconds? None.
Information is information, and knowledge is knowledge. Whether the information
comes from your brain or your phone is irrelevant as it has to come from
somewhere, and if the same answer is given from both places in the same amount
of time there is no conceivable difference.
No matter what direction the coinciding
world of technology and humanity is heading in, the results will undoubtedly
change the world as we know it. How we continue to coexist with technology is
yet to be seen, however, I believe we will continue to integrate with
technology on a physical and mental level only thought to exist in the world of
science fiction.
Works
Cited
Lynch, Michael.
“Leave my iPhone Alone: Why our Smartphones are Extensions of Ourselves.” The
Guardian, 19 Feb. 2016,
www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/feb/19/iphone-apple-privacy-smartphones-extension-of-ourselves.
Accessed 19 Apr. 2017.
Smith, Aaron.
“Evolution of Technology.” Pew Research, 12 Jan. 2017,
www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/12/evolution-of-technology/. Accessed 19
Apr. 2017.
Valdesolo, Piercarlo.
“Scientists Study Nomophobia.” Scientific American, Scientific
American, a division of Nature America, Inc., 27 Oct. 2015,
www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-study-nomophobia-mdash-fear-of-being-without-a-mobile-phone/.
Accessed 19 Apr. 2017.
"What difference does it make if you have the information you require already in your head versus being able to have just about any information in the palm of your hands in the matter of seconds? None." I'm not so sure. It's not just generic "information" we're missing now, it's the capacity to think and arrive at informed judgments and critically evaluate them. As Wall-E illustrated, mental muscles also atrophy from disuse. It's the difference between processing information and thinking that's at stake.
ReplyDeleteBut I wouldn't go back to the pre-information age. I just worry we're forgetting that we're the tool-users, not the tools of our technology.