The Times They Are A Changin'

  I just finished watching a film called Surrogates where everyone stays at home and lives remotely through a humanoid robot that does all there work and play for them.  A far fetched concept but one that we are working toward.  We are always plugged in somehow, whether it be a cell phone, a computer, texting, television, virtual reality, or other gadgets.  'Virtual Reality', now there is a misnomer for you.  You step out of reality and step into a machine to simulate reality, makes sense.  Nowadays, you cannot be without your cell phone for a minute.  How did we ever survive before?  In the past, a household typically had one telephone that you would see in the morning and then not see again until you got home from work or school.  How did we ever manage!?!?!  Texting and emails have dispensed with civilized communication.  You use to write on a piece of paper a letter that would be mailed.  There actually were classes in school on how to write a letter, or a thank you note.  Now, if you get a communique, it is an email or a text message.  If you are lucky, you will get a birthday card in the mail, but more likely it will be a canned greeting from a website that will email it to you.  Even books are being replaced by an electronic tablet called a reading device.  If that isn't enough, chips can be placed in our bodies so that our location can be known or if our medical history is needed.  At this point, I could go into another whole discussion about the dawning of George Orwell's 1984.  But lucky for you I won't!

  Okay, this old fossil is finished ranting and raving about Things To Come.  Oops, there I go again.
All I am saying is, it is okay to grasp onto new things, but let's not let go of the things that make living alive.  Let us keep some of the charm and mystery and keep some questions unanswered.  Do we really need to know the answer to everything, have everything done faster, and be multiplexed into every form of communication simultaneously?  I guess that is human nature.

"It has become appallingly clear that our technology has surpassed our humanity." Albert Einstein