many years ago, a man named Alvin Toffler wrote a book where he argued that the rate of technological change was going so fast, people could no longer adapt, and were suffering a form of culture shock, or as he put it Future Shock.
Since the book came out, the rate of technological change has only increased, and the effects have only gotten worse.
I believe this is one reason for the increase in popularity of movements that wish to slow, stop, or even reverse some of those changes.
It remains to be seen to what degree those attempts will be successful, but I think some kind of conflict between them and those who embrace the changes must happen, and regardless of the outcome there will be fallout.
I kind of wish I could watch the results from orbit, or maybe from another planet altogether, because people like me are in the crosshairs of this conflict.
And that is not a comfortable place to be.
Comments
Rapid technology evolution
That is so true. During my last years in high school back in the late 1980s I was strong proponent of using computers towards the so-called paper-less office. I also wanted to be at least at the cutting edge (if not the bleeding edge) of technology. But during the last 15-20 years I have become rather disillusioned with the whole concept of the paper-less office, as well as the implementations I had the “privilege” to work with.
Now-a-days the so-called mainstream of technology is generally more than enough for my wants and needs. And I have gained bitter experience that going paper-less, also leaves you proof-less when push comes to shove. Especially when dealing with legal disputes and with government agencies. So I always demand a paper receipt when money changes hands!
paper-less office
Back in that period of time, I was trying to be a computer salesman. I went around promising that "paper-less office." In reality, what computers did wasn't to do away with paper, but instead they enhanced our ability to produce paper.
Mind you, that said, some trivial things should be stored digitally. Notes to self; day timers; grocery lists... any transient things: digital without a doubt. But records of transactions, payments made. Give me the dead tree version every time.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
I was okay with records being
I was okay with records being digital, right until I have seen how they are handled in general. Or the qualification of average clerk. (In this case it was government of Russia. Since few of their digital disasters, ranging from "if the company was liquidated - oops, we have deleted your work history in it from database, no retirement money for you, unless you can prove it in paper", to handling of digital signatures, to other messes of varying scale) Why can't people develop sane functional software system for that? It is already solved problem. Why do we keep walking over the same field of rakes in grass?
And yes modern technology reinventing the wheel that was invented ~20+ years ago only to make it worse, add subscriptions, or mess with your data... That makes me sad. Once upon a time I liked technology, more or less trusted it and expected progress. Not anymore. No trust, unless I built it myself. Progress? Well, may be, some time, just not now.
The Shockwave Rider
I must also reference The Shockwave Rider, a sci-fi story written by John Brunner after he read Future Shock.
In this the hero, in a future dystopia, is a savant who can "hack" the pervasive computer systems which tie everything tightly together. He actually coined the word "worm" to describe a program which can replicate itself throughout a network much like the way a tapeworm does in the body.
I, too, having spent 40+ years in IT, am becoming increasingly uneasy about the way that things are progressing; not the actual hardware per se but the way that everything has to be misused by con artists to do nothing but make them more money (and d**n the consequences). I think this says more about human nature than anything else.
Penny
Re: Shockwave Rider
How did you vote?
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Um, vote?
Personally, I can't wait for the Butlerian Jihad. I'm not sure I can wait the 11,000 years though.
Considering current state of
Considering current state of Artificial Idiot - it will happen by itself, probably.
The vote
At the end of "The Shockwave Rider".
Don't know the jihad? Oh, part of Dune. Don't know if I even read that far. I've less than no interest in Dune. One of those everybody must read stories that I thought horrible.
"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin
Maybe Dune is not for you
I can understand that. It dumps you into a very unfamiliar distant future partially based on the customs of remote tribes on a desert planet.
But the reference I gave was for the Wikipedia entry, which does explain what the Jihad was all about, and it is begiining to fit today's world more and more closely.
Penny
(Edit: Spends ~20 minutes looking for my copy through extensive paperback SF collection. Yes, of course.)
"Dune" Lives On
Dune not because it is a science fiction novel but because it tackles those recurring human themes of love, hate, war, politics, treachery and transcendence. "Game Of Thrones" will live on for the same reasons.
The Butlerian Jihad was a rebellion against AI, surprisingly modern!