Posted by Eddie Sylvano on July 3, 2003, at 10:36:11
In reply to Neverthought film rekindles fear of technology, posted by Bazlo on July 1, 2003, at 20:05:14
> After watching the short film Neverthought (its homepage is at http://www34.brinkster.com/bourquefilms/neverthought.htm ) my fear in technology overtaking humanity has been rekindled.
-----------------Technology is mostly scary because it's gotten beyond the ability of the average person to understand. The wheel? Yeah, I get that. Typewriters? Ok, I see the levers pulling and moving. Makes sense. Light bulbs? Well, I couldn't build one, but it's pretty simple. Computers? Whoa. What's it doing inside there?
I don't want to labor the point, but you see what I'm saying. If you don't undersatnd something, it can be scary. How many people nervously wonder what makes an airplane fly as they sit in their cramped seat, taxiing to the runway? Technology (and science in general) isn't an entity with an agenda, it's just the accumulation of human knowledge, and the application of that knowledge to make tools. The tools themselves aren't scary, though the people using them may be, but that's always been the case. Still, we're more apt to like the devil we know than the devil we don't, and it keeps getting harder to know everything.
poster:Eddie Sylvano
thread:238587
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030626/msgs/238948.html