At the start of the new communist regime in Russia, Boris Pasternak’s character Dr Zhivago recognised that he was living in strange times, the like of which might never be seen again. It was for this reason that he chose to remain in Russia rather than take refuge with his wife and child in France.
I had a “Zhivago experience” yesterday listening to the radio — only it was rather more surreal; more like something out of a science fiction novel containing predictions which are now coming to pass. Except this wasn’t fiction. The programme was unwittingly laying out the future of humanity, a more precise image of what the deepening apocalypse will be like, before my very eyes and ears!
The programme? It was about technology and its impact on people, especially teenagers and young people who are the first generation to have been born into, and grown up in, a world of computers, mobile phones, the internet and other technology.
Some descriptions of what was heard:
Listeners were told about a young woman who grieved for her stolen mobile phone as if for the death of a close family member. The young woman also allowed herself to be abused by a group of young men in order to get her phone back. We were told that this grief not an isolated incident. It is common among the younger generation. Instead of throwing up their hands in horror that people have become so sick as to behave in this way - as any HEALTHY person would - the panel calmly ascribed the grief and submitting to abuse to “teenage angst” and discussed the need to “re-assess society’s values”.
There followed a discussion of how the internet is used to gather information about us to enable business to “efficiently” target its advertising. Instead of throwing up their hands in horror at being spied upon/ being harassed and predated upon by business - as any HEALTHY person would - the panel agreed that this was fine: (a) because they preferred receiving adverts about products of interest to them personally, although (b) it would be even better if they received some income from the companies who gather their information.
(That business is not trustworthy is not a condemnation of business. It is not the nature of business to be trustworthy any more than it is the nature of hyenas to eat grass. One should KNOW this. So, treat business like a benign herbivore (instead of a predator) and you will suffer. Knowing that business cannot be trusted is not making a judgement about business but simply knowing the nature of the beast.
A lot of people’s perceptions about technology comes from the way it is presented to them by business. Since they do not understand the nature of the business beast, then they “trust” the images business presents.)
Spying does not only happen via the internet. Surveillance devices can be placed in street furniture which “sniff” our mobile phones as we pass, downloading our personal information which is then swept off to some digital warehouse (cloud?) for processing and storage. (I believe that in the future such devices will also be installed in home appliances such as kettles to enable business to “monitor” our behaviour i.e. spy on us.) Instead of throwing up their hands in horror at being harassed, predated and spied upon by business - as any HEALTHY person would - the panel shrugged their shoulders in a “that’s modern life for you” way.
One of the panellists was a successful YouTube entrepreneur. He was asked whether if such-and-such came to pass (I cannot now remember the context of the question) whether he would still “trust” Facebook. Instead of throwing up their hands in horror at the ludicrous, preposterous, bizarre, absurd suggestion that one could ever trust business, that business has the best interests of customers at heart - as any HEALTHY person would – the panellist thought that, yes, he would still trust Facebook.
The panel went on to express admiration at how YouTube generates such high productivity. Instead of throwing up their hands in horror at the ludicrous, preposterous, bizarre, absurd suggestion that internet activity and advertising is productive - as any HEALTHY person would – the panellists admired YouTube for the “opportunities” it afforded young people.
One of the panellists described how a young gay teenager had created a very fulfilling and satisfying internet relationship with another young man. Instead of throwing up their hands in horror at the ludicrous suggestion that internet “relationships” are in any way more fulfilling and satisfying than interacting face-to-face with REAL people (i.e. that the internet is, in fact, nothing more than a crutch for people who have become so disabled that they are no longer capable of interacting with real people) - as any HEALTHY person would – the panellists expressed wonder at the benefits of the internet for making friends.
One of the panellists predicted that soon, for the first time in history, there would be no need for people to work for a living because machines would replace humans. Instead of throwing up their hands in horror at the idea of a machine world - as any HEALTHY person would – the panellists admired the benefits technology does, and will, confer upon society.
So, on-line relationships, grieving over lost phones, trusting business……etc. What’s going on here?
Firstly, the common factor in this, and other, discussions about technology is the sublime complacency and faith, the mulish determination, to believe in progress.
This complacency leads people to think the increasingly large part that technology plays in our lives is a good thing. What they fail to realise is that our increasing dependency on technology is happening because people are becoming too disabled to work, to interact with real people etc, etc. I have written other posts about the increasing number of disabled people in society and have wondered how society can support such numbers. This programme provided the answer: machines.
So, that’s what the apocalypse will look like: a machine world; a society in which people are so disabled they are unable to function unless they are attached to a machine. As a spoectator I, however, will not be joining you….so have a nice one!