The other day I was looking over Google's new policies and principles to see if or how their "desire to create one beautifully simple and intuitive experience" would affect me. Although I had thought about it before, the notion that technology and the service it provides really take on human functions hit me when I read this under their FAQ:
"Or maybe we can tell you that you’ll be late for a meeting based on your location, your calendar and the local traffic conditions. Google users still have to do too much heavy lifting, and we want to do a better job of helping them."
Holy crap. A search engine can now tell me when I'm running late for something.
Traditionally, advances in technology have advertised themselves to be beneficial to humanity. They're supposed to make our lives easier and provide convenient services. The iPhone and its rivals are all fantastically helpful with the abundance of tasks they can perform. In addition to tailoring your search results to the preferences it infers you have, Google now has various services that let you map a road trip, translate a foreign language, share documents, keep a calendar, and even manage your wallet. There are cars now that can brake themselves if the driver doesn't react to an impending crash fast enough. As wonderfully convenient as these advances are, it's worth it to stop and examine the pros and cons of such rapidly evolving technology to see exactly how much better off we are with them.
A hallmark of civilization is the development of more advanced technology. It's an exciting endeavor that is meant largely to help humanity as well as expand the boundaries of our abilities. The Internet has allowed people to instantly communicate and share things with each other in a wholly unprecedented way. Our phones can now calculate the tip we give to our waiter, allow us to video chat with our friends on the other side of the world, and take pictures of checks so they can be deposited in our bank accounts. Our Kindles allow us to keep all of the books we love to read in one convenient item while the upcoming Windows 8 will allow us to have all of our media and social networking organized together in a simple menu. The products of the Information Age have enabled us to perform tasks with unparalleled efficiency and ease. We can carry around all our work stuff, social networks, and all the online information we'll ever need with us in our pockets. Hell, they even save us a lot of paper and trees.
As wonderful as this all seems, there are notable downsides to the products Apple, Microsoft, and other techno companies are happily giving us. As great as products such as the Kindle are in saving paper, they're not good for the survival of the bookstore. The bankruptcy of a company was never so sad for me as Borders' was (may it rest in peace). What I've found most surprising about these kinds of products is not their huge capacity for storing books or their amazingly long battery life, but their raw appeal, which is apparently so strong that bookstore Barnes & Noble enthusiastically sells them. What the hell is a bookstore doing selling something that might very well put them out business one day?? Apple is now developing textbooks for the iPad. As tremendously convenient as that would be for students, quickly marking the books up with notes and riffling between important pages won't be quite as convenient as with an old fashioned book. Even though these electronic products save paper, the materials that go into them can be bad for the environment. It'll be very important for society to promote widespread recycling of these items so that their waste's impact on the environment can be minimized.
Another potential problem we may suffer from advancing technology is the loss of some basic skills. When I need to add up the miles I run during a week, for example, I'll pull out my phone and use the calculator to do the addition for me. I don't like to admit it, but 5th grade me could probably mentally add the numbers just as quickly as college me could. We've come to rely on our phones to do simple math for us, set off an alarm to remind us to do something, and a whole host of other simple tasks that people would routinely and easily perform prior to the advent of smartphones and other similar technologies. If the trend continues, will people gradually lose the ability to do basic math or remember when to do simple tasks? Would it even be worth learning the skills that technology can already do for us?
Probably the most common criticism leveled at modern technology is its apparent effect of hurting our sociability. Much of people's social lives are online these days. Through texting and social networking sites, communication can often lose aspects such as tone, sarcasm, and emotion. It's even argued that people will begin to lose the ability to socialize face-to-face normally. One of humankind's most special traits, its highly interactive and vitally important sociability, seems to be slowly seeping away from us. It would appear that all our our modern amazing and convenient technology is gradually replacing our basic math skills and memory while deconstructing our social skills little by little. Pretty bleak, eh?
As detrimental to humanity as it may seem, I think that people will be better off with this rapidly improving technology. Although it may seem frighteningly convenient, having all of your work, online social life, news, entertainment, and media together in one easy-to-use product in the palm of your hand is wonderfully commodious and even efficient. It may degrade our math skills, but as these products and services become more reliable and more commonplace, this small negative change in us will probably be offset by the reliable convenience of the product or service which will be there to help us more often than not.
The adaptability of humans and societies should give a lot of hope to those worried about reduced sociability. People are always finding ways to adapt to new environments and situations, social situations included, and having one's social life in both the real and virtual world will probably be comfortably adapted to as well. Since the advent of social networking sites, people have been able to easily continue their real life social lives without any noticeable degradation and will more than likely continue to adapt. Societies also adapt well to the effects of new technology. With the advent of the television, many people continued to strongly prefer the radio with its freedom to imagine what visuals accompanied the sounds and claimed that "people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night." There were those who said "the horse is here to stay, the automobile is only a fad," and as late as the '70s there were some who thought "there [was] no reason for anyone to want a computer in their home." We've not only adapted to these leaps in technology, but they've now grown to occupy important places in society. The vast majority of people today would not wish for society to eschew the TV, computer, or car. (Although you can argue about the detrimental effects of television and computers on people and of the car on the environment, it's clear that all three serve an overall beneficial and important role to people and society.)
As a close analogy, we can look at how film and music have changed. It's obvious that film and music have seen an increase in violence, sexuality, and profanity over time and if someone from several decades ago were to watch or listen, they'd probably believe the future holds a corrupt and morally defunct society. Today's society, however, isn't corrupt and morally defunct (politicians and large corporations aside). Society has adapted and is clearly not exhibiting the characteristics a person from several decades ago would have expected from modern entertainment. It should be the same with technology. People may seem poised to degrade a bit from the products and services of the Information Age, but if history is to be believed, we'll actually see a lot of benefit.
I see the new generations of smartphones (I guess almost all phones are smartphones now) and other similar technology as an exciting new promise for people and society. It's something we should look forward to and realize that its utilization marks the forward progress of society.
Holy crap. A search engine can now tell me when I'm running late for something.
Traditionally, advances in technology have advertised themselves to be beneficial to humanity. They're supposed to make our lives easier and provide convenient services. The iPhone and its rivals are all fantastically helpful with the abundance of tasks they can perform. In addition to tailoring your search results to the preferences it infers you have, Google now has various services that let you map a road trip, translate a foreign language, share documents, keep a calendar, and even manage your wallet. There are cars now that can brake themselves if the driver doesn't react to an impending crash fast enough. As wonderfully convenient as these advances are, it's worth it to stop and examine the pros and cons of such rapidly evolving technology to see exactly how much better off we are with them.
A hallmark of civilization is the development of more advanced technology. It's an exciting endeavor that is meant largely to help humanity as well as expand the boundaries of our abilities. The Internet has allowed people to instantly communicate and share things with each other in a wholly unprecedented way. Our phones can now calculate the tip we give to our waiter, allow us to video chat with our friends on the other side of the world, and take pictures of checks so they can be deposited in our bank accounts. Our Kindles allow us to keep all of the books we love to read in one convenient item while the upcoming Windows 8 will allow us to have all of our media and social networking organized together in a simple menu. The products of the Information Age have enabled us to perform tasks with unparalleled efficiency and ease. We can carry around all our work stuff, social networks, and all the online information we'll ever need with us in our pockets. Hell, they even save us a lot of paper and trees.
As wonderful as this all seems, there are notable downsides to the products Apple, Microsoft, and other techno companies are happily giving us. As great as products such as the Kindle are in saving paper, they're not good for the survival of the bookstore. The bankruptcy of a company was never so sad for me as Borders' was (may it rest in peace). What I've found most surprising about these kinds of products is not their huge capacity for storing books or their amazingly long battery life, but their raw appeal, which is apparently so strong that bookstore Barnes & Noble enthusiastically sells them. What the hell is a bookstore doing selling something that might very well put them out business one day?? Apple is now developing textbooks for the iPad. As tremendously convenient as that would be for students, quickly marking the books up with notes and riffling between important pages won't be quite as convenient as with an old fashioned book. Even though these electronic products save paper, the materials that go into them can be bad for the environment. It'll be very important for society to promote widespread recycling of these items so that their waste's impact on the environment can be minimized.
Another potential problem we may suffer from advancing technology is the loss of some basic skills. When I need to add up the miles I run during a week, for example, I'll pull out my phone and use the calculator to do the addition for me. I don't like to admit it, but 5th grade me could probably mentally add the numbers just as quickly as college me could. We've come to rely on our phones to do simple math for us, set off an alarm to remind us to do something, and a whole host of other simple tasks that people would routinely and easily perform prior to the advent of smartphones and other similar technologies. If the trend continues, will people gradually lose the ability to do basic math or remember when to do simple tasks? Would it even be worth learning the skills that technology can already do for us?
Probably the most common criticism leveled at modern technology is its apparent effect of hurting our sociability. Much of people's social lives are online these days. Through texting and social networking sites, communication can often lose aspects such as tone, sarcasm, and emotion. It's even argued that people will begin to lose the ability to socialize face-to-face normally. One of humankind's most special traits, its highly interactive and vitally important sociability, seems to be slowly seeping away from us. It would appear that all our our modern amazing and convenient technology is gradually replacing our basic math skills and memory while deconstructing our social skills little by little. Pretty bleak, eh?
As detrimental to humanity as it may seem, I think that people will be better off with this rapidly improving technology. Although it may seem frighteningly convenient, having all of your work, online social life, news, entertainment, and media together in one easy-to-use product in the palm of your hand is wonderfully commodious and even efficient. It may degrade our math skills, but as these products and services become more reliable and more commonplace, this small negative change in us will probably be offset by the reliable convenience of the product or service which will be there to help us more often than not.
The adaptability of humans and societies should give a lot of hope to those worried about reduced sociability. People are always finding ways to adapt to new environments and situations, social situations included, and having one's social life in both the real and virtual world will probably be comfortably adapted to as well. Since the advent of social networking sites, people have been able to easily continue their real life social lives without any noticeable degradation and will more than likely continue to adapt. Societies also adapt well to the effects of new technology. With the advent of the television, many people continued to strongly prefer the radio with its freedom to imagine what visuals accompanied the sounds and claimed that "people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night." There were those who said "the horse is here to stay, the automobile is only a fad," and as late as the '70s there were some who thought "there [was] no reason for anyone to want a computer in their home." We've not only adapted to these leaps in technology, but they've now grown to occupy important places in society. The vast majority of people today would not wish for society to eschew the TV, computer, or car. (Although you can argue about the detrimental effects of television and computers on people and of the car on the environment, it's clear that all three serve an overall beneficial and important role to people and society.)
As a close analogy, we can look at how film and music have changed. It's obvious that film and music have seen an increase in violence, sexuality, and profanity over time and if someone from several decades ago were to watch or listen, they'd probably believe the future holds a corrupt and morally defunct society. Today's society, however, isn't corrupt and morally defunct (politicians and large corporations aside). Society has adapted and is clearly not exhibiting the characteristics a person from several decades ago would have expected from modern entertainment. It should be the same with technology. People may seem poised to degrade a bit from the products and services of the Information Age, but if history is to be believed, we'll actually see a lot of benefit.
I see the new generations of smartphones (I guess almost all phones are smartphones now) and other similar technology as an exciting new promise for people and society. It's something we should look forward to and realize that its utilization marks the forward progress of society.
No comments:
Post a Comment