Is technology a bait and switch conspiracy

From one of my favorite books of all time, "Power and Technology" by David Kipnis:

"In the words of Jose Ortega y Gasset: "Technology provides men the leisure to realize their true potential" This, then, is the promise of technology: a material world of plenty and a spiritual world in which we have the leisure to realize our highest potentials and the freedom to contemplate God."

"Yet in nagging counterpoint to this optimism about the beneficent world of plenty provided by unlimited power is the suspicion that technology has another face. There is a world in which the freedom to choose and to control events has been subtly altered so that there is less choice and less control. This is the world of "megatechnics," to use Lewis Mumford's apt phrasing, in which technology concentrates power and reduces individual choice."

Is technology a blessing or a curse?

originally posted by: dfnj2015
From one of my favorite books of all time, "Power and Technology" by David Kipnis:

"In the words of Jose Ortega y Gasset: "Technology provides men the leisure to realize their true potential" This, then, is the promise of technology: a material world of plenty and a spiritual world in which we have the leisure to realize our highest potentials and the freedom to contemplate God."

"Yet in nagging counterpoint to this optimism about the beneficent world of plenty provided by unlimited power is the suspicion that technology has another face. There is a world in which the freedom to choose and to control evens has been subtly altered so that there is less choice and less control. This is the world of "megatechnics," to use Lewis Mumford's apt phrasing, in which technology concentrates power and reduces individual choice."

Is technology a blessing or a curse?

We normally don't even agree on the time of day....

While technology has made some things more efficient, it has not really brought more leisure. If anything, it has taken away leisure.

It used to be you could escape work after you went home in the evening or weekend. Whatever it was had to wait till Monday... then email and cell phones came. Now people essentially work around the clock.

a reply to: dfnj2015

It is a bit of a blurse, actually.

It's a curse. See my experience here, including a mention of AboveTopSecret in a key incident:

www.youtube.com...

originally posted by: FlukeSkywalker
It's a curse. See my experience here, including a mention of AboveTopSecret in a key incident:

www.youtube.com...

And I thought my way of looking at the world was effed! That guy needs a little Zen Buddhism in his life philosophy:



He's putting too much effort in how he experiences reality.

originally posted by: FlukeSkywalker
It's a curse. See my experience here, including a mention of AboveTopSecret in a key incident:

www.youtube.com...

I'm watching the video and it made me this of this movie clip:



That guy is a hoot! I just realized the guy is YOU! LOL!

a reply to: dfnj2015

Technology is a tool like anything else. A powerful one, but still just a tool. It depends on how you use it. You can use it to consume mindless crap or you can use it to create and empower yourself with knowledge and abilities that humans less than 100 years ago would have considered magic. It's up to you really how you use it.

originally posted by: dug88
a reply to: dfnj2015

Technology is a tool like anything else. A powerful one, but still just a tool. It depends on how you use it. You can use it to consume mindless crap or you can use it to create and empower yourself with knowledge and abilities that humans less than 100 years ago would have considered magic. It's up to you really how you use it.

The problem with your way of thinking is it doesn't take into account the nature of technology. Technology creates dependency. And this dependency centralizes power. And power corrupts.

Thanks to technology I have had a great, rewarding and financially stable career which has allowed me to live life exactly how I want.

IMO it's a great thing as I don't believe in blessings or curses..

Watch any School be dismissed.

Every single kid is looking at a phone.

ET could be hovering at 100’

Kids would never even see it.

originally posted by: FlukeSkywalker
It's a curse. See my experience here, including a mention of AboveTopSecret in a key incident:

www.youtube.com...

Wow dude, you need to step back. Your life is just way too intense. I have two videos for you to help you with your megalomania:



Here's another one that will help you get a grip on your life:

a reply to: dfnj2015

Is technology a blessing or a curse?

Both.
Tech is a tool. It can be used in many ways. Don't blame the tech , blame the user.

Indeed, it is a tool. And, coincidentally, (in the case of quantum computers, AI, and this drive for the "internet of everything") the only tool that will become self aware and destroy humanity!

originally posted by: dfnj2015

originally posted by: dug88
a reply to: dfnj2015

Technology is a tool like anything else. A powerful one, but still just a tool. It depends on how you use it. You can use it to consume mindless crap or you can use it to create and empower yourself with knowledge and abilities that humans less than 100 years ago would have considered magic. It's up to you really how you use it.

The problem with your way of thinking is it doesn't take into account the nature of technology. Technology creates dependency. And this dependency centralizes power. And power corrupts.

No...that happened because it took 20 years for the majority of people to actually start becoming interested in the technology that was appearing around them and even after they did they've still never been bothered to learn how to use it for more than consuming things.

Meanwhile other people were actually paying attention and learning how to use all these great things.

So that second group went and used that # to make a bunch of money and change the world. Then other people finally started noticing...but technology is scary and difficult, so they just use it to keep doing the same # they were doing before and the second group is more than happy to let the rest of the people go on believing technology is scary and difficult so they don't bother trying to learn more.

Then they realized they could make even more money off those people's ignorance and people didn't seem to care anyway, so for the last 6 or 7 years, instead of getting better, technology's been getting more locked down and centrally controlled and basically become s bunch of data mining tools for companies.

I blame every single person that never bothered to learn more on a computer than how to browse the web or watch movies. This is why everything we have now is # and a generation of people seem to love bending over so corporations can # them harder.