Technology - Will it set us Free?
November 15 2008 / by StuartDobson
Category: Technology Year: General Rating: 11 Hot
Computers have absolved our responsibilities in many areas of our lives so far. What will happen as this increases?
When computers were first invented, users had complete freedom and power, there was no other option but to allow it. However, if they didn’t follow the computer’s strict set of rules, the computer would break or just not work. Even in the days of Windows 3.11, computers remained obscure and frightening to the masses.
Once computers infiltrated more and more of our lives, it became necessary to remove the need to for “user rules”, computers had to become “user friendly”. Computers were forced to shed their unforgivable interfaces in order to increase their popularity.
So now, computers, when used by the general public, no longer have that level of freedom. To avoid them being used wrongly, computers simply limit the options general users are allowed to access. Then, instead of telling users how to act, they simply guide users through their processes, anticipating rule-breaking, and absolving responsibility. Users lost their fear of computers, complying with the rules not because they are asked to, but because any possibility of breaking them is simply removed. General users no longer have raw power over computers, they just follow the guidelines provided for them to achieve what they need from the machine. As such, even the desire to break the rules is diminished.
A direct parallel can be applied to politics. Now, people are told not to speed on the roads because it’s dangerous. Not everyone follows these rules so we need police and legal systems to deal with the rule breakers. In the future, technology will simply stop your car from being able to speed, absolving you of responsibility. In the future, and it’s happening already, technology will remove the need for rules, because it will completely remove the possibility of wrong doing. It will absolve our responsibility.
Your car will be computer controlled and therefore it will be impossible to speed it, drive it off a road, or crash it. Your TV simply won’t show adult content if it detects a child in the room. It will be physically impossible to steal, as all items will be installed with an RFID chip, tracking their location and ownership at all times. Alcohol dispensing machines won’t work if, upon checking your RFID chip with the government database, it realises that you’re underage.
In the even more distant future, nanobots will prevent us from damaging our bodies with unhealthy habits. They may even control our brains to remove criminal elements or immoral desires. Virtual reality could provide us with an environment where it is impossible to do anything wrong, because the computer interface doesn’t allow it. Alternatively, virtual reality could provide the means for wrong doing to be carried out with no consequences.
It is often said that technology will set us free. Certainly the need for law enforcement and ruling government will diminish at the hands of technology. But is this destined to put us in a dictator’s ultimate fantasy, or an incredibly free yet 100% safe society?
Comment Thread (5 Responses)
-
Actually, technology is not putting us into a new kind of bondage, it IS setting us free and abolishing things that were once considered the “status quo.” Rupert Murdoch was just quoted saying “new technology is ushering in a new golden age for human kind. It is becoming easier and cheaper for people to buy and sell.
People can do more of what they want at a cheaper cost and the disadvantaged now have greater access to information than at any time in history, Mr Murdoch says.
Technology is also allowing the little guy to do what once required a huge corporation.”
So he is essentially saying “technology has set us free and we should embrace it.”
Mr Murdoch says that as technology levels playing fields, the “human factor” is more important.
So, while you may think that things like more automation seem like they take away the “human factor,” it isn’t really exactly clear cut as you describe.
Technology is reinvigorating capitalism, too, because the young entrepreneur, like myself, has more opportunities than they’ve had ever before.
Also, politics has seen a revolution thanks to the internet because you can filter out the misinformation you’re fed through the mainstream media outlets. Obama used the internet to connect to the people who have been shut out of the process and in the end led to his victory. Throughout human history technology has only helped us for the most part; it has more benefits than faults.
Posted by: Covus November 17, 2008
Vote for this comment - Recommend -
It’s nice to see how much technology has allowed us do so many things. But it makes me wonder how much we rely on technology in the first place. Plus, while a perfect world sounds great, wouldn’t life be kind of boring knowing that life is unpredictable. Not being able to lose control and crashing your car is great, but I do question the aspect of underage drinking or immoral desires. I don’t condone those things, but still.
Posted by: christinep November 18, 2008
Vote for this comment - Recommend -
I can see a trend toward automation that may be so gradual or insidious that people wouldn’t realize it was happening until after it had become a reality or a paradigm, but regardless, those people will always exist who seek to see through illusions or appearances in order to discover truth for themselves, and they will inevitably become a vocal minority.
Look at the eighties punk scene. There was so much cultural BS; it made great material for revolt by an extreme minority. Later, in the nineties, there was an attempt to revitalize that scene and it failed because it was too popular to be alternative and was just silly. It’s a socio-political dynamic seen time and time again – there is no such thing as true unity among humans, only confederations and social contracts, and all subject to questioning and redesign. Usually rebels represent leftist thoght, but sometimes they come out of a right wing philosophy. They are often dubbed terrorists or freedom fighter. Or just anarchists and ne’er do wells. People will strive to think and act freely under even a utopian technocracy, and even if most people are for the established way of life. And like any other meme, it will spread virally until everyone has taken the red pill, or at least had a choice.
Posted by: Adam Cutsinger November 18, 2008
Vote for this comment - Recommend -
Great responses. But if the internet caused such a revolution for Obama, I wonder why he wasn’t running against Ron Paul…?
Posted by: StuartDobson November 19, 2008
Vote for this comment - Recommend -
@SDobson—Just because Obama wasn’t running against Ron Paul doesn’t mean that he wasn’t successful! Consider that Ron Paul raised millions upon millions of dollars and garnered a lot of support however many people just weren’t that thrilled with his policies.
Also, Obama raised more money than in history utilizing the internet—far more than Ron Paul, too. I am very progressive and I didn’t like Ron Paul either….
Posted by: Covus November 19, 2008
Vote for this comment - Recommend