Is it possible for man to live on technology alone?

To stare at a monitor that can take you places and show you things you could only dream of, without moving an inch.

Could this be sensory deprivation at its worst?

Without color, without light, without vision, what would we be accomplishing by spending our lives in front of the computer?

Who are you? Who do you want to become? Does a machine hold your fate to some extent or another?

There are many experiences I would like to have, over and over again. Experiences you just can’t get out of a machine (not yet at least). Travel, food, love, adventure, things that leave a real memory, memories that can be triggered by smell, taste, or feelings, etceteras, rather than having the whole experience come from a limited amount of neural feedback. Tunnel vision? Or is it seeing through the eyes of a god. We can compress our physical presence, and yet expand into a much broader (by terms of accessibility) virtual world and gain knowledge of topics previously unknown. It all depends on one’s perspective.

Could multimedia ever accomplish such things so humans wouldn’t have need for such desires?

Where is this all leading? Destruction? Bliss? An empty world where people sell their souls for the latest plug-in, or are we truly making this planet a more unified, better place.

People have never before been so close, yet so disconnected from each other.

Mp-ME: Discussions on the compression of the human species.

What to you is the most noticeable technological advance (not necessarily to do with computers) that has decreased the physical use of the human body? Is this technology for the best, or does that depend on the field in which you are employed. I use the Internet to communicate. I work out of my home and deal with clients from all over the world- The United Kingdom, Canada, California, and Antarctica for all it matters. My point being that I can pretty much contact anyone in real time and get a response within a matter of seconds as long as they have access to the internet. It’s fast, it’s easy, and I wouldn’t have a job without it. It’s my own best friend. Or could it be… my own worst enemy (the crowd gasps).

Do you remember learning about geology in grade school? Does the term Pangea ring a bell? It is the name for the single largest landmass that existed back when dinosaurs roamed the world. Pangea was the super continent that split apart throughout the Mesozoic Era. The two components of Pangea, Laurasia and Gondwanaland, disassociated until they somewhat resembled the continents of present day. Now something may happen, or it may not, but I’ve heard that some day, perhaps billions of years in the future, all of the continents will again collide into a single continent, as in the past.

So what? I’ll explain. People used to have real jobs (none of those wimpy desk jobs of today) cutting trees, building towns, exploring the world-real, physical work. And if you look around today, those jobs still exist, but we are slowly being turned into seat ridden desk slaves (to put the description loosely) and I don’t have a problem with it. These people once had a very limited knowledge of the world, then mass transportation came about, and everyone could go wherever they wanted (for a price). Now, with the Internet gaining speed, these people have less of a need to travel to a meeting or visit a family member. They could simply send an email or hook up the teleconference system and have a meeting wearing nothing but a shirt. Back to Pangea-it started small, and it grew outwards. People started small and had a mundane society, and then they grew, along with their technology. Pangea started in one lump, then it expanded. People began getting more and more in tune with their technologies, and farther and farther away from each other (you starting to get the comparison?). So at some point for the sake of this article, the continents will slowly join together once again, reuniting the continents. As we use our technology and have less need to physically do tasks that we used to, it will, in turn, bring people more free time. And when humanity sees this as a broadening opportunity (or another chance to sit on its ass) it can use that time to once again explore the world.

Technology can make things hard or simple, it can give us time, or steal it away (like when you’re trying to figure out how to set the clock on a VCR). As I see the world, it’s going to get better and better, we’ll have less need to go grocery shopping or look for a CD, and more time to live-physically, actively live.

Copyright © 1999 Eric Bort

Eric Bort runs his own freelance web design firm out of Columbus Ohio. He’s been doing graphic design for the past 5 years, and has been designing interactive interfaces for the Web for 2 years. He loves music, and enjoys playing guitar, drums. He even does a little electronic music composing here and there. He can be reached at: aphex@spark-online.com . Or at his website at: www.megsinet.com/ebort.

A Word From Eric: If you have a response, agree, or disagree, I will be accepting letters at aphex@spark-online.com and who knows, I may include some of those letters in the next article. I’m looking forward to readers suggesting interesting topics to discuss or debates to debate about, as this article would mean little if I didn’t include the people the topic concerns.