A musing or too much?

February 23, 2003

Simple
Category: Society

The other day I found myself thinking like a Luddite. As my motto has always been "If you're not burning fossil fuel, you're not having fun", this was a very odd position to find myself in.

I have come to the conclusion that technology is making the vast majority of the population dumber. While there is no doubt that on a macro level everyone benefits from advances, only a few have the opportunity to enhance themselves on a micro level. Those not in that group are robbed of using their minds. There was a day when even the most basic of jobs involved mental stimulation.

Let's look at the grocery store cashier. In the 50's this was a job that involved counting back change, remembering thousands of prices, etc. Technology has reduced this job to something a monkey could do.

It would be easy to think that this phenomenon is limited to the basic jobs. However, finance jobs used to involve running numbers by hand. Spreadsheets were a mentally challenging exercise. Today, these jobs are often just data entry. Yes -- one person with a computer can replace 10 people but at what cost does this happen. Is society better?

The real question is when does the accumulation of micro negatives introduced by technology outweigh the macro positive? Can a society be better if the intellect of its members is atrophying?

(If you thought that this post was interesting, why not read another? Perhaps a random link? Or you could just read about me.)

Posted by Stephen Speicher at February 23, 2003 10:57 AM

Comments

Gallery

Posted by: Gallery at November 11, 2007 04:25 AM

( ? )

runescape gold
runescape money
runescape coin
runescape gp
runescape items
runescape accounts
runescape power leveling

runescape accounts
cheap runescape gold
buy runescape gp
sell runescape coin

runescape items
cheap runescape money
buy runescape gp
sell runescape coin

dofus items
dofus kamas
dofus jor
dofus armes
dofus guide
dofus power leveling

runescape power leveling
runescape power leveling
free runescape gold
runescape equipment
runescape power leveling
runescape quest point
runescape items
runescape logs

Maple Story Mesos
MapleStory Gold
Maple Story Items

mabinogi gold
mabinogi money
mabinogi accounts
mabinogi items
mabinogi power leveling

Posted by: runescape gold at May 6, 2008 05:27 PM

( ? )

runescape gold
runescape money
runescape coin
runescape gp
runescape items
runescape accounts
runescape power leveling

runescape items
runescape accounts
powerleveling
Trying to be impressive!deeply wonderful here!
runescape gold
runescape money
runescape money
runescape equipment
runescape power leveling
runescape quest point
runescape items
runescape logs
runescape accounts

rs-sky is an professional store for runescape gold,items,money,accounts,powerleveling,questqoint,runes and some other goods with fast delivery and world class service.
URL:www.rs-sky.com

Trying to be impressive!deeply wonderful here!
runescape gold
runescape money
runescape money
runescape items
runescape power leveling
runescape logs
runescape accounts

enjoy-rs is an professional store for runescape gold,items,money,accounts,powerleveling,questqoint,runes and some other goods with fast delivery and world class service.
URL:www.enjoy-rs.com

Trying to be impressive!deeply wonderful here!
runescape items
runescape accounts
powerleveling

gogo-rs is an professional store for runescape items,accounts,powerleveling,questqoint,runes and some other goods with fast delivery and world class service.
URL:www.gogo-rs.com

Posted by: enjoygame002 at July 19, 2008 12:04 AM

( ? )

runescape gold
runescape money
runescape coin
runescape gp
runescape items
runescape accounts
runescape power leveling

rs-sky is an professional store for runescape gold,items,money,accounts,powerleveling,questqoint,runes and some other goods with fast delivery and world class service.
URL:www.rs-sky.com

Trying to be impressive!deeply wonderful here!
runescape gold
runescape money
runescape money
runescape items
runescape power leveling
runescape logs
runescape accounts

enjoy-rs is an professional store for runescape gold,items,money,accounts,powerleveling,questqoint,runes and some other goods with fast delivery and world class service.
URL:www.enjoy-rs.com

Trying to be impressive!deeply wonderful here!
runescape items
runescape accounts
powerleveling

gogo-rs is an professional store for runescape items,accounts,powerleveling,questqoint,runes and some other goods with fast delivery and world class service.
URL:www.gogo-rs.com

Posted by: enjoygame002 at July 19, 2008 12:05 AM

( ? )

Post Overdue!

Post
Overdue!