Loading ...I subscribe to quite a few tech, news and other blogs, and not a day goes by where I don’t get a little more despondent. Mostly because the news is always the same — company X released feature Y for product Z. Politician A caught in scandal B involving disaster C. Celebrity D rumoured to be working on production E.
Just tonight, another great example. Google demoed a new browser in their Android OS (Froyo) which they claim is faster than any other browser on the market. And during the demonstration, they used the phone’s Wi-Fi tethering to get an iPad online. And people cheered.
They cheered. They cheered at a plastic box that sent a signal to another plastic box.
I’ve recently been contemplating getting back into creative writing, having been inspired by sci-fi stories from what seems is a completely different world. Asimov, Dick, Ballard — people who lived near the dawn of the technological revolution, and who weren’t afraid to imagine.
They imagined stellar travel, orbital luxury resorts, mining colonies across the solar system. They imagined worlds free of disease and hunger, free of prejudice and fear, worlds where an individual of any origin was free to pursue their dreams.
Equally, they imagined the bleak, the sombre — worlds where childbirth was a privilege, worlds where overcrowding had reinstituted genocide, where nuclear wars had left survivors deformed beyond belief.
And now, 50, 60, 70 years later, we live in a completely different world. A world made up of day jobs, careers, politicians and their scandals. Corrupt governments and arms deals and oil spills. A world moderated by the media, driven by capitalism and bowing to the free market norm of selling fear instead of hope.
We live in a world where a new gadget is considered a major technological achievement. Where a company can implement 1 000 lines of code into a device, and drive millions of dollars in new sales. A world where the dreams of old — free healthcare, free transport, free housing — have fallen flat in the faces of democracy, capitalism, and worst of all — complacency.
A nation stood united when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. Now, a nation stands united when an astronaut sends a tweet from space. When Einstein’s theories gained ground among the scientific community, it was an achievement. When Cern fired up their main collider — the most significant scientific achievement in modern history — people considered it a colossal waste of money.
Where have our dreams gone? How, in the last 50 years, has the human race become so satisfied with “average”? How is it that ambition has gone from conquering the untamed horizons, to getting a steady job with good benefits? How has our society collapsed to the point where the leaders — the influencers, the rich, the connected — are little more than people with nothing other than their own, selfish interests at heart? Interests that involve nothing more than increased money and power?
Have we really become a species content to spend every month going from pay cheque to pay cheque, serving corporate masters while our own dreams go unfulfilled? Since when has it become acceptable to sacrifice yourself for basic material gain? When did this become the norm?
I think we have ventured into a future far beyond the imaginings of the most prolific science fiction authors of old. We have created a world beyond their wildest imaginations — become a species none of them thought possible.
We have become mediocre.
Very good point…
Liked your comment of one box sending a signal to another box. We do get excited by silly things these days.
The last time I really got excited by a piece of technology was the first iPhone - it was a small step forward to that Minority Report type interface of things just gliding around on screen.
I am patiently waiting for the next cool release by someone that gives an “aha!” moment. And hopefully it doesnt come from the MS, Apple, Google players.
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