In Kirby’s article, while he discusses the new shift towards a new “Pseudo-modernism” type of lifestyle he says, “I believe there is more to this shift than a simple change in cultural fashion. The terms by which authority, knowledge, selfhood, reality and time are conceived have been altered, suddenly and forever”. He is right with this. The American lifestyle has changed drastically. It has evolved into a more technologically enhanced society, and due to this humanity is slowly dismantling. The people of this day and age have become more and more reliant on technology and therefore, the natural humanity of the American’s is disintegrating.
What do I mean by the “natural humanity”? Well, I consider “naturalness” to be anything that isn’t reliant on technology. Something that Americans can do on their own, without the help of machines. The sad thing is, is that this idea seems impossible in this day and age. I mean, just recall some of the facts that were brought up in the video we watched on Friday. First, there are 1,000,000,000 internet devices in this world as of 2008. Second, in the duration of five minutes 67 babies are born in contrast to 694,000 songs being downloaded in that same amount of time. Third, by the year 2049 there shall be a $1,000 computer that will exceed the knowledge of the whole entire human race. So, what does this mean?
It means that Americans have started a new era, an era of technological subservience. I guess you could say that American’s are past postmodernism and are now embarking on a journey that resembles one exemplified in Brave New World or 1984. We have all the signs right in front of us. I mean, look at the examples I brought up from the video! The number of internet devices has more than tripled since 1992, and this isn’t bad? Of course it is, why are we devoting so much to this technological invention? What if another incident such as Y2K happens again? We American’s would not be able to function. Also, this computer will exceed the entire human race’s intellectual capacity? This seems like a great set up to a 1984 scenario. If we give to much power to technology, then we will ultimately become the ones controlled, not the other way around.
Anyways, that’s my opinion on what this all means.
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Hey Ali, i think you had a very eye-opening blog this week. i just wanna apologize in advance for any spelling, grammar, or other mistakes i make. im tyring to do this from my phone at work. But back to the blog, i think you had some very interesting things to say, some i agreed with and some i disagreed with. I dont think that the natural humanity of the world is disintegrating exactly, i just think technology is a useful thing people have been using a lot and sometimes too much. But even as i sit here typing away responding to your blog, it is only through the use of technology and does that make it a bad thing? i dont exactly think so. i mean technology has enabled us to do some extraordinary things that otherwise would not have been possible and i think the benefits ot technology outweigh the problems. but i do think that some people have become a little over dependent on technology. like when some of us say "what would i do without my phone." Well the answer to that is simple, continue living without a phone. it might be a little less convenient but life as you know it will not end, there was actually a time when we didnt have cell phones and life was still good. so those types of comments, whether joking or serious, throw me off a bit. but i understand what you are trying to say; if we as a whole become too dependent on technology and it surpasses out intelligence then we will be at its mercy, so there is some legitimate cause for concern. but ya thats about all, good job on the blog again. i gotta get back to work now.
ReplyDeleteOkay Al, here's another comment for you child. I think you have a point here with all this natural world and its definitions. When I think of natural, I think of cave man days, but I know that I could move forward on the timeline a bit. When we were young, technology had not yet made its name completely, and I consider up until about 2nd grade to be the natural world of our society. Now, even we are guilty of enhancing our lives in order to make things..easier? If that's the word? I can't say convenience, because when you want to be left alone, not having a phone sounds realll convenient don't you think? Communication has because the central core of our very being, without it, where would we be? How did we get along before this? I know that cell phones and what not are not absolute necessities, but they are what we have evolved into. It's silly to think that we can simply backtrack, change the now into the then, because we're too far into the technological black hole for that now. But our opinion counts all the same.
ReplyDeleteBest wishes my dear friend,
Kendal Malone
Hey Girly,
ReplyDeleteI like how you introduce your blog. It's kind of scary how our humanity is slowly dismantling, but I also believe it is true. With more technology becomes more laziness and people start caring more about their computer and what is on t.v. then the next social event or sibling's birthday or something. If we stop caring about one another and this planet, should we still be allowed by nature to be at the top of the food chain? Also, I agree with you on "natural humanity". The human race has developed fine without huge amount of technology. We were fine with just having horse drawn carriages and with mailing letters. Sure, no one knew anyone living in a state on the opposite side of the country, but did that stop them from being productive? No. Does it now? Oh, yes. Technology is hurting the advanced societies of the world, while the third-world countries are still surviving without technology. All I'm saying is maybe we should down grade before it's too late.