Today we had our first Hang Out, the truth is that the Coursera site was collapsed and a lot of us couldn't access to it on real time. So, I am waiting impatiently to watch the video on YouTube later on.
In the meantime I was reading to some interesting post and videos made for my fellow classmates out there in the www.
It occurred to me to reflect on Control . Is Technology controlling us , or it is us humans that control technology ? I did some research, and the opinions were varied .
If I take as a premise that technology is the core of our cultural system, that is determinant and the society functions based on technology, I would say that we are merely players. Someone told me that human beings developed technology to help us, to do their work for us, for our own benefit, and I was thinking : " to replace us" , therefore my premise is correct. If we need technology to develop as societies, we are dependent on it . Once we depend, we are not masters anymore, we subdued.
Technology is made to serve men, Technology can not exist without men. And we can not exist without technology.
My opinion is then, that although I make not like it, in the end , we are not in control anymore. Once we started creating, inventing, we wanted more and more, and we still want more control, more power, but is that power and control really ours ?? or are we losing control without even noticing ? Are we in such a hurry and stress that we are letting our lives pass in front of us without living them ? Well, sorry if I deviate from the main topic, but all those questions arise when it comes to think, yes to think, a habit that most have forgotten as we are caged in this society . We follow the crowd, most of us have a routine, we are like machines, we work to have " wants" , the " needs " are taken from granted .Hence, technology , meaning our society, controls us, we do what we are expected to do, we play the role are supposed to play. Do we even notice ?
Some food for the thought ... and some movies for the soul .
Here there some trailers of some popular films about he topic, I didnt say the best, I just said some:
The Matrix ( my personal favorite ) :
The War of Worlds :
The Time Machine :
Eagle Eye :
Eva ( recommended by a friend ):
Thought provoking post. However, to counter your argument that we are no longer in control, I want to ask if we were ever in control. As a caveman, we were weak and puny and subject to being eaten by creatures a lot larger than ourselves. We slowly gained mastery over them by banding together and developing tools. But even as we expanded and developed more tools and societies, we were still at the mercy of things like weather bringing destructive storms and droughts that withered the crops. But we continued to attempt to control the environment. Now the environment is largely man-made and artificial yet potentially as damaging as the natural environment. I think we are continuing to attempt to control it but don't always realize that our actions have damaging consequences until too late (which seems to be the message of a video like the Matrix).
ReplyDeleteYou are right, maybe as the Allegory of the Cave, Plato, we have always been in the dark, believing that is what we have and sticking to it. That's why I think it is so important for us to question ourselves, to think and dont let the machines aka society decide for ourselves . Thanks for the input Kelcy !
DeleteThere is also a consideration: if we think that we aren't in control, then we are likely not to do anything. Is that helpful?
ReplyDeleteMaybe we dont even notice ;)
ReplyDelete