Technology

Happy Birthday Google | How You’ve Changed Us

/ Luanne Shernisky / 4 Comments

Birthday cake with candles spelling out Happy Birthday

Google celebrates its 19th birthday today and I’m thinking about all the changes it’s brought to our world. 

As the largest search engine, it crawls the web 24/7 monitoring anything, that anyone, anywhere, puts on the Internet. It tracks our words, our thoughts, our wants, our needs, and our buying habits.

It takes us to places we can’t otherwise go and teaches us about things we might never learn. 

The technology that’s brought us to this point is moving ever faster, every day in a race to take us somewhere. But, where? Where will we be 19 years from now? 

Sometimes I get the feeling that the law of diminishing returns is already happening and our destination of perceived utopia might be wishful thinking.

We’ve gained so much with technology, but appear to be losing other things along the way.

I went in search of a quote to fit the subject and occasion and couldn’t decide on just one. So, here are my choices:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. ~Arthur C. Clarke

Technology… is a queer thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ~C.P. Snow, New York Times, 15 March 1971

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. ~Isaac Asimov, Isaac Asimov’s Book of Science and Nature Quotations, 1988

We’ve arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces. ~Carl Sagan

Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us feel inferior, but then, anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority complex every time he looks at a flower. ~Alan C. Kay

The real danger is not that computers will begin to think like men, but that men will begin to think like computers. ~Sydney J. Harris

Which one resembles your thoughts and feelings? What are we sacrificing in exchange for greater technology? Do you have a favorite quote addressing this issue? Please share in the comments.

Gratitude Journal – Prompt #2

/ Luanne Shernisky / Leave a comment

 

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Photo credit: Caio Resende/StockSnap.io

Day #2 – What technology are you grateful for?

30 Days of Gratitude

The second day of the 30 Days of Gratitude Prompts sounds like a trick question; you mean I have to narrow it down to only one? 

That’s quite a challenge when you consider what technology I’ve used so far today…

  • Alarm clock – to wake me up for a 9am new tires appointment
  • Keurig – where I made my morning cup(s) of coffee
  • Car – to get me to said appointment
  • iPhone – to keep me entertained during appointment (along with an actual book) – I left the Kindle at home
  • TV – in the waiting room at tire store, where I listened in on the news
  • Microwave – where I made my oatmeal once I got home again
  • iPhone – which I used to call my mother after oatmeal
  • Mac Air laptop – which I’m using to type this post
  • Logitech wireless mouse – because I prefer mice to trackpads

And that’s only today. Everyday I rely on the refrigerator, a/c, furnace, and lighting for basic comforts. Most days I use a laptop, Internet, camera, blow dryer, oven, and other assorted appliances that require electricity. Occasionally, I get on an airplane.

It’s been a long time since I thought about all the forms of technology that we use on a regular basis. Narrowing my choice down to only one is quite impossible…I really do appreciate them all. The alarm clock ensures that I’ll get up on time. The phone keeps me connected to family & friends. The microwave not only allows me to cook my oatmeal, but to cook it a bit faster. And the coffeemaker guarantees that I’ll be awake for all the other activities!

vintage-technology

It’s amazing when you consider how far we’ve advanced in the last several decades. I’m 55 and our idea of technology in the 60s was television sets in color (and they were big enough to be considered a piece of furniture.) Mainframe computers were the size of small dinosaurs and exclusive only to businesses. I remember when wireless remote phones and answering machines came out. In high school our typewriters didn’t even have a correction key.

Wow, we really have come a long way baby!

But, for the purpose of this Gratitude Journal, I’ll choose one and that is the laptop computer. Without it, I couldn’t be typing to you, dear Reader! I’ve been blogging since last November and truly enjoy it.

The computer was a real lifesaver throughout my college years, from 2009 to 2013. Some of you may remember when rough drafts had to be handwritten in pencil, because copy & paste hadn’t been invented yet. Research could only be done at the library. Typing final drafts and documents are now a breeze with autocorrect, word count, etc. 

technology_world

We all know how computers and the Internet (once called the Information Highway) keep us connected to the outside world. We have instant communication with people on the other side of the planet, as well as folks in our own neighborhoods.

Computers have transformed doing business, as well. Processes that once took days now take mere seconds. However, our reliance on them makes us vulnerable to crashes and hackers. Unfortunately, there’s always a downside.

Because the laptop is mobile, it offers a lot of freedom regarding where and when I can utilize it. Right now, I’m sitting on the patio enjoying the breeze and the bird songs. While I love all that technology offers, I still appreciate the natural world. It’s there for us to unplug and decompress.

Come to think of it, maybe I’ll take a little nap, now that I’ve finished this post!   

Carpe diem!