Lately I've found myself with a bit of cold reality setting in with the fact that I am done school and am now on the hunt for a job... which isn't as bad as most people make it out to be, but I might also be saying that because I'm not crushed with utter rejection and defeat yet.
Been helping my parents with a lot of the house work they've been doing, this past weekend's project was cabinets! Taking out the old and putting in the new. Fun!
Actually, I've been learning a lot about home remodeling and such, so it's been pretty educational.
But with all that aside, let's talk about the things that have been on my mind lately... let's just look at the world today versus the world of yesterday and see how far we've come.
Today is all about speed... the faster the better, and as Brooke's from the film Shawshank Redemption puts it "the world went and got itself in a real hurry." Think about what is here today that wasn't even thought of 20 years ago! 20 years ago was only the 80s, but the amount that has changed since then is so much more than has changed in the world in any other period of time in history! We went from Vinyl records and 8 tracks...to cassette tapes....to cds... to mp3s. That's 5 different formats of listening to audio in just 20 years! Granted many will argue that the quality has gotten worse with each new format, and I'll grant them that... but the fact still remains that it was an easier, more affordable way to do something.
Which is something that seems to be the trend in all aspects of life! The easier and cheaper it can be done, the better. Now I'll be the first to tell you that I love technology... the doors it opens for the future are endless and the power beyond it is almost too much for us to handle, but it's been the driving factor in our lives since we first invented the wheel! (bless you Neanderthals!)
Technology, however, is not just computers... though many things today are made with computers of some sort built in. Computers, may be the single greatest but also most hazardous creation of our species. Today, computers can do just about anything you program it to do... everything from adding numbers, to bouncing a ball back and forth, to fighting the deadly covenant forces, to flying and operating a space craft send far beyond the reaches of man. Though these satellites are controlled by man, the reaction time between sending a command and receiving it and then relaying back can take a lot of time... so technically speaking, there are moments when the ship controls itself through auto pilot. But just the idea that we have created a sophisticated entity is almost terrifying. It will take whatever command we give it and execute it to the exact specifications we give it.
I know the idea of "the machines are rising" is a big joke amongst Terminator fans, and I myself am a Terminator fan. But let's look at the logic behind the films... I don't think so much that the machines will literally turn against us and destroy the human race (unless we program them to do this... which who knows, we tend to like destructive forces... hydrogen bomb? nuclear radiation?... hmmm) but if we sit back and just allow computers to do everything for us, which sadly seems to be where the world is headed, then we might as well be dead! I mean, I'm all for having these machines and technologies there to assist us... I understand the elderly need motorized wheelchairs, and that escalators help both the elderly and those that have physical disabilties... and for those same people I will grant them immunity from my laughing at them for using the moving sidewalks. But for everyone else, I say this to you... really? Airports have them to help people with luggage move faster so they don't miss their planes... and to those people I say... pack less and get there earlier. If you're late to your plane you need to think about how you ended up being late... i.e. plan ahead and get there on time.
That aside, segways.... I'm sure they are fun to play on, but would it kill you to just use your feet? Not like people haven't been using their feet for...oh I don't know, OUR ENTIRE EXISTENCE!
Technology aside... because I could go on all day just drilling in the same point with millions of different examples.... let's just look at the mentality of people and their attitudes. Somehow along our evolutionary path I wonder if it somehow got embedded in our minds, that it I am referring to is this thought "I NEED TO BE FIRST."
You see it everywhere... some it comes to there being a line, people will think argue and complain about the line and many will attempt to try and find a way to get in front of the other people who also thought the same thing but decided to wait their turn.
You see it when you are driving, the people that cut you off in traffic, go down the shoulder in traffic (that one really pisses me off), or the ones that speed up at a traffic light to get through it or to pass you when it turns green. Granted I try to make a light sometimes or get mad when I'm at them, but it's not because I feel some entitlement to be ahead of the other guy next to me... it's because I know which lights are poorly timed and hence I would prefer not to deal with the hassle of stopping and going. I don't break the law or be a jerk to do this though, if I can't make the light or need to stop, I will.
Just sit and think about how incapable we are as a people to really do this in an organized fashion... some of this may be due to the fact we are so over populated and so self involved in our own lives that we don't care to look to the person next to us and ask if they need help with anything... because we feel that only three people matter most in this world... me, myself, and I.
I read a quote today that really struck home to me..."every society is judged by how it treats it's least fortunate amongst them"
Just watch the news one day and look at how poorly we would be judged if we stood trial right now.
Think about it.
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