Looking around us, there's so many things that are around today that we didn't have, even ten...twenty years ago. Technological advances that have turned Science Fiction into Science Fact. But my question is: are we really better off?
I've heard of some amazing things. Suspending taboos for the moment, looking at stem cell research humans are given the chance to practically become starfish. We can regenerate what we loose. Lost your eye sight? Inject some stem cells and the eye will eventually be fixed. Need some sort of transplant that no one can donor for? Take some stem cells and grow a new organ. End up like Christopher Reeves? Use some stem cells on your spine. Not only this, but apparently soon with just a few drops of blood we will be able to predict all diseases we will inevitably suffer from in life so that we may fight them, as well as all the diseases we won't have to worry about. Thus we do not have to take unnecessary precautions. Amazing, isn't it? Sounds too good to be true to me. I don't claim to know everything about this. Hell, I don't claim to know anything about it. This is all based out of advertisements I've heard and articles I've read. Because...we all know that the media never lies...
At any rate.
Is this really better for us? Are all these things, the gadgets, the gizmos, are all of them really making our lives any better? And I'm speaking of quality of life here, not longevity. Will all the advances really end up making us happy? Or will we end up slaves to the institution we're setting ourselves up in?
There were years, centuries, hell...Millennia that we lived without having to hurry to a doctor for every little ache and pain. If we didn't feel good, we sucked it up, lifted our chin, and continued on with life because there wasn't anything else that could be done. Yes, people died. But is that any better than the world we're living in now? Where no one enjoys what they eat anymore because they're too worried about whether their salad has too many calories or if the croutons are too much carbs, and oh no, how many points was it again because I wouldn't want to go over my limit! Prozac, Effexor, Wellbutrin, Serzone, Buspar, Desyrel, Remeron, Edronax, and other names of pills that I don't feel like remembering are handed out like candy when you go to the doctor's office. It's no longer about trying to work out your problems and realizing what made you feel bad, because obviously it's just a chemical imbalance and here, take your Soma. It'll make you feel better. If you're child shows a spark of creativity and curiosity about the world, hot damn, give 'em some Ritalin because we can't be having any of that. Because we all know children were never meant to squirm around or ask annoying questions or be easily distracted. No, sit and stare like zombies. It's easier for the parents that way. They don't even have to try anymore.
Is any of this really making our lives any better? A good friend told me once that he thought birds didn't appreciate how they could fly because they've never had to know life without it. If human beings get to the point where there are no longer any consequences for our actions then how can we appreciate the beauty of our life? Accidents happen, and if you could just erase them, make it so that they never happened in the first place, how could we ever learn from them?
If we're analyzed from birth to be told that we have a 84.37% chance of being susceptible to pneumonia, how will we ever enjoy the beauty of rain when we're so deathly afraid of the statistics that we might die? Human beings aren't statistics, and part of living is the fact that there is a very large chance we will die. Tomorrow I might pull out because of a green light, then die when someone else runs a red light. I can't control that, it's out of my hands. So why be afraid?
Why are we so damn afraid?
While I love my computer, and subsequently the Internet as well, but I question how much good it does for society. In a way, humans remind me of wolves. Social creatures that thrive with company, but when left without a pack tend to go insane. Despite that we play at talking to people and being social online, most of the same people (and I am definitely lumping myself in this category here) have no ability to talk or function properly in the outside world with other tangible human beings. It's almost as if the Internet is hindering us more than it is helping us to grow and learn. If the Internet were to suddenly die today, forcing all us Internet junkies to push ourselves blinking into the brightness of daylight, would we in the long run really be harmed by that? Or would we be happy that we must in the end learn how to live with our own species?
I know this is a very long rant, and I apologize both for the length and the sarcastic biasness in it. My view point is fairly obvious, and I'd really like to know what other people think on the subject, especially some pro-technology people. Also, if the topics been overdone, sorry again. I didn't see any threads on it so I didn't think it would hurt anything.
_________________ Mina: I am not a "Fashion-blind mudpuppy," and you WILL "eat your words face first."
Random Sidhe: Yes, O she of the wiggly fingers. May I use salt and pepper?
Aidan: Thaumaquoteology. The ritual use of air quotes for mind control...
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