People often have a tendency to think of the future as a positive
experience; things will always be better later than they are now. This rosy
sense of optimism that clouds the minds of many people is not wrong, but
definitely shortsighted, especially when it comes to technology. Too often
people demonstrate social success or cultural achievement by technological
advancement. Unfortunately I do not think that just because the new iPhone has
improved in speed that somehow life is better. Of course technology is helpful
and has improved many aspects of life. However, caution must be exercised when
thinking about the role of machines as we move to a more automated society.
When people create machines that complete a task or no longer require a human
element to be present, the process of thought and experience become absent from
that act. I do not mean that suddenly the task is useless, but the interactive
nature between man and machine suddenly becomes minimized in terms of mentally
benefiting the human involved.
I definitely agree with your assessment of our societies obsession with the future. I think part of the reason many people are disgruntled in our society is the idea that "things" will make us happy, and to me, the future is just another thing. With the rapid ascent of technological advancement, I can easlily envision a future where many human oriented tasks and jobs become obsolete. This may seem like a very scary predicament to be in, but we must also remember that used responsibly, technology also has the potential to make millions of people's lives better, through medical technology, and reduced costs associated with technology that allows for the production of cheap food and housing. Some acts and tasks will never be able to be reproduced by a machine, hopefully the people with power will remember this as well...
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