A friend told me--I'm paraphrasing--that I was boring and needed to put more fun stuff in my philosophy. So, naturally, I provided you with supplemental gifs that should entertain you while I rant.
Sometimes, I just have days where everything I learn is completely connected and I just have to write about it. Today's message from the universe: Just because technology is advancing, doesn't mean our society is progressing with it, and that sometimes the two are inherently opposed against one another. I will begin with stating the two points I'm trying to make:
Technological advances provide an opportunity to do more for less.
Society constantly struggles with the trade-off between tradition and progression.
If you can just agree (or not) on my two assumptions there, I'll build from that. I'm going with an economic definition of technology to appeal to all of you crypto people (who, frankly, I'm still trying to understand). It's the ability to produce more outputs for less input. However, as commonly happens, we start producing more and more outputs only to realize that every extra output has been at the cost of someone else. On the flip side, we are producing more output for less input in general, so in a sense we're not taking away as much and maybe saving some people a bit of trouble.
In other words, as technology allows us to advance, it's going to do so at the cost of some people. On the flip side, technology also allows us to help people who would never be helped otherwise. And it's our job as a society to figure out what technology is going to do and what we're willing to live with. I think this kind of outlines one of our core struggles as human beings and I could talk about it for hours. It's really even the core to my studies-- science vs. humanity--infinitely opposed and interdependent all in one breath. A dichotomy that rules our history, future, politics, arts, religions, finances, and even our medical decisions.
Ultimately technology is going to challenge our definitions of what it means to be human and our overall way of life. Our job is to decide which technology will help us become a better species and which technology is better left in the research papers and sci-fi novels.
I interrupt my oddly timed, yet applicable Watchmen gifs with this important message:
Also, haven't read this book, but it sounds like it could be a good one!
http://www.futuristgerd.com/2016/09/01/press-release-gerd-leonhards-new-book-technology-vs-humanity-the-coming-clash-between-man-and-machine/
I plan on writing about this more, I didn't want to get into all the specifics. Stay tuned for more. :)
Also, I don't mean to come across anti-technology. I'm simply advocating for a level of self-awareness, promise.
Pictures (in order of use)
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/machine-learning-nothing-without-human-alex-kirk
https://www.tumblr.com/search/c:%20jon%20osterman
http://www.wow247.co.uk/2016/02/08/deadpool-why-x-rated-comic-book-movies-rule/
https://www.tenor.co/view/rorschach-watchmen-god-we-do-gif-7386979
http://weheartit.com/entry/147127497
https://giphy.com/search/please-clap