Can't you just hear it? Doesn't it just peel the enamel from your teeth?
Yeah yeah yeah. I know its a dystopia I know that it is sarcastic and supposed to be taken with a grain of salt and we are supposed to hate the things being said in this novel. It's a warning, its actually speaking out against these things. I get it. But I still hate it.
My Mum is a bit old fashioned in some ways. She's pretty terrified of technology. Not because she doesn't know how to use it, but because she is always afraid of it being used against her. She hates using her credit card online, or really at all. She hears about spy drones and almost has a conniption fit. Don't even get me started on the time she found out her cellphone has a GPS locator in it.
Don't get me wrong. I love my Mum, a lot. But we all have our quirks, don't we?
And it's not just her, or her age group or anything like that. I've seen this fear everywhere, from technological enthusiasts and troglodytes alike. Out right terror at the idea of technological advancement, of change. As though our cell phones will wake up and slaughter us in our sleep. Nonsense.
When I see a new breakthrough in technology, I am filled with joy and hope - never fear. At worst, it makes me desperately sad to see technology abused as it is from time to time. Still, advances in robotics that kill people today become robots that preform surgery or keep hospitalized people with no family company tomorrow. Its the circle of technology. What is created for war is re-appropriated by the populace for peace. Hopefully someday, war won't be a part of the equation at all.
When people hear about drones that you can fit in your pocket and guide with your tablet computer, they are usually scared. What if the government straps a poison dart or a gun to this thing and they can send a robot the size of a finch to kill anyone they want? What do I think? I think, what if you put heat sensors on there, and use it to locate people stuck under collapsed buildings in natural disasters? What if you could carry them food and water and medicine while the rescue teams worked? What if they make these little guys into taco or chocolate cake delivery machines for every day? How awesome would that be?! What if every child had one to watch it and make sure it was safe, and alert people of any problems? What if the elderly had ones that could monitor their vitals, and call for help if it was needed? Think of the freedom that could give them. I see endless good possibilities, where other people only see fear.
Oooh! Yummy!
In technology, I see humanity's last great hope. Our world is becoming smaller by the day. Communications anywhere at all are instantaneous Knowledge of every culture and individuals of those cultures are right at our fingertips 24/7. Even language barriers are beginning to collapse as translators get more and more sophisticated. We can see things, go places, talk to people in ways that would have been totally inconceivable when my parents were born. And when my children are born the world will look even more different again. And I am so excited to see it. The world is becoming integrated. The internet has bound nations together in their economies and government decisions, people are getting organized. This isn't scary! This is great! Its a whole lot harder to hate a group of people if you can see and talk to them, much less play games and laugh together.
So why do I hate Brave New World? Because there isn't anything Brave about it. Its a book of a coward's fears. He saw the very first production lines and believed that it was the end of his world. Look at his crazy ideas: technology will make the world fall apart. Technology will destroy our values. Factory made children, promiscuity required not stifled, opportunity destroyed, mobility destroyed, caste systems and a complete society enslaved by themselves. BRAINWASHING! *Gasp*
Rubber Ducky... You're the one.... You make bath time lots of fun....
I'm pretty sure practically everything we have, or eat, or use is made on, or at least worked on production lines. The shoes on my feet, the burger on my plate. I look around and I don't see these things, do you? Human morality hasn't changed, for all that some people claim we are getting more randy. Read Chaucer an then tell me people didn't sleep around hundreds of years ago, before the production line was even a thought in the back of someone's head. I'm decently that I was born and raised by parents who loved me and each other - and equally as sure that I want to have kids of my own someday in a similarly soppy, loving, happy home.
I can't wait to see what the future brings. I look forward to nanobot viruses that can cure cancer or genetic illnesses. I look forward to augmented reality software that lets you access the internet's entire knowledge with your brain. Self driving cars, 3D printers making human organs, bring it on! Technology has been bringing us together, and pretty soon I hope they make us those "People of Earth" things I have been talking about since the beginning of the semester.
I agree with you that technology is an unavoidable aspect of our society and that it has the potential to really help us out. Imagine how risky surgery would be if some doctors big, chunky fingers had to reach inside of us instead of a small, non-fidgity robot could do the same thing, faster and more efficiently? But, I do see a problem with technology in that it is really making people communicate less face-to-face. Kids nowadays are watching shows on their iPads and playing games on their call phones instead of enjoying the fresh air and exploring the world around them. When I was their age I was outside playing with worms in the dirt or jumping rope on my sidewalk, not playing angry birds on a sunny summer day.
ReplyDeleteIn a way I relate with your mum, in that I do fear technology at times - but this is only when I think it is corrupt hands. I also feel that it can take away from relationships and people lives, because we tend to focus on or get attached to technological devices. However, I do understand the enjoy the benefits of technology. I use it moderation and even take breaks from it for days at a time (during the summer). But stick it through to the end! Don't give up on the book! haha
ReplyDeleteI agree the technology isn't the monster that Huxley is getting into hysterics over. It's not always good, and it's not always bad. I like the cycle you've outlined. I-pads are made on assembly by underpaid factory workers, and then other people find out about those bad factory conditions on their I-pads, and things change. Bad leads to good, eventually.
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