Technobabble

While reading A Postmodern Fable I came across this quote, “in the future. Reality will be changed; making, knowing, and know-how will be changed.” I’ve heard from countless people who are older, and usually wiser than I am, “Change is the only constant”, from my professors, elders, and even my own grandma. Reflecting on that statement I try and imagine what It must have been like in my grandmas time before technology changed everything. Life without; computers, internet, cell phones, tamagachi . Not to bash technology, because I love watching episodes of my Its always sunny in Philidelphia and being able to check the forecast as the next human, but rather to question where the side routes of technology are taking us and our morals. Technology as we know it today was non-existent during grandmas time; her highest form of technology was the radio, where the most controversial programming was Western broadcasts and radio hosts slurping down glasses of gin while playing black music. The internet must seem like some huge un-navigatable force for the WWII cohort. Being able to look up information and receive media about anything and everything on the earth is truly one of the most influential inventions of the 20th century. What would our leisure time look like without internet; people wouldn’t sit as idle at their computer screens as they do now and move more into recreation and self actualization.
With the rate technology is advancing it’s plausible for me to be able live to a ripe old age of 120 years old, if I remember to take all my nutrient and age-deferment pills. Another old fogey chalking up another tally on the population scale taking resources and space. How much space is left? What does the 21st century hold in store? What will be the hallmarks of technology and their effects pertaining to the human race, and other species? “Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of a cancer cell” - Edward Abbey. If you look at the effect of humans on the earth through the timeline of cavemen to civilized man, it closely resembles the same continuum as a disease, a virus. Starting out slowly, by learning to adapt and grasp the environment we inhabit, to being able to thrive and reproduce exponentially. How will this virus of mankind end? It starts out with us harnessing the earth to grow crops and build houses, and with each new technological advancement, the disease spreads to a new height, allowing humans to reach a new level of consumption. A prime example that shows how big a role technology plays in increased consumption is the Combine. Used to harvest the golden heartlands of middle America, Combines allow billions of more bushels to be reaped than the 19th century sickle. It’s a constant arms and technology race to be bigger, badder and more well equipped than your rival country. It makes perfect sense that we are building faster and more efficient machines to compete with the growing population. When are we not going to be able to keep up our technology with the demands we put on the Earth. The planet can only support so much life. Once we plateau will we have to take a Postmodern Fable approach and start building spaceships to evacuate to prepare for our stars inevitable return to dust?