Penny Thoughts: Technology is not a Deity

I have often praised the advances of technology in our contemporary world and have promoted the idea that technology is both a product of and an integrator in the process of civilization’s advancement, particularly when it comes to the delivery of education.  In fact, I love technology, and am fortunate to have children who are far more proficient with it than I

As with any other event in the history of the human condition, it is difficult to exactly pinpoint the time/space coordinate in which our technological advances turned the corner to reach our present plateau, and much like the development of the Ice Age on our planet, our present technology did not happen overnight.

Nevertheless, the exponential increases in technological advancement in the past few decades have ushered in an era of unquestioned prosperity and progress. Over the last 80 years, the human condition has advanced more technologically than it did in all the time prior to the advent of the printing press, which was actually discovered and developed by the Chinese.  The same holds true regarding the time between the printing press and the emergence of the integrated circuitry computer, which technology has even surpassed today.

Before we are ready to begin to celebrate the emergence of such technological advancements, and thereby in some circles raise them to the level of spiritual deification, there is one fundamental cavate that must be acknowledged — technology produces machines and machines are at the mercy and function of their creators!

At the same time, it is apparent that there are some fundamental facts/caveats about technology which must be acknowledged.

First, technological advancements have allowed us to reduce our world to a global village in terms of mass communication, mass transportation, and access to more bodies of knowledge than before.

Second, much like any other discovery in the human condition, technology can be allowed to go in its own direction, as opposed to being directed by its progenitors and proponents. Those who first discovered fire and its usage probably burned themselves and others before they learned how to fully control it. 

And third, technology and its applications can be so intoxicating that an entire cult-like subculture has emerged and has immersed itself as if technology were the metaphysical be-all and end-all controlling our universe.

Of the first caveat, we can be simultaneously pleased and threaten by access to knowledge and by recognizing that events happening thousands of miles away from us – but at the same time we are preparing breakfast – can have meaning and can impact our lives. Again, this is cause for both celebration and apprehension. But the celebration should have certain curbs on its enthusiasm, just as the apprehension should not produce a negativism which denies the utility of technology.

Of the second caveat, we can see that technology can spin off on its own as is evidenced by a myriad of negative byproducts of our technological world. Those byproducts include the capability of crippling a company or organization if its computers are malfunctioning. A more personal negative byproduct is identity theft, and all of us are familiar with its effects.

Of the third caveat, the emergence of a subculture of “tekkies,” I am reminded of a discussion I had during my stint at Auburn University. At the end of the day I would often migrate to one of the local watering holes, known as Lil’ Ireland, where I would have discussions with a number of undergraduates and engage them in chess matches.

Late one afternoon, Jameson’s on ice in hand, I was engaged in a chess match with a young man who was a computer science engineer. The discussion moved to the speed of computers back then – the mid 1990’s. We spoke of the tremendous advancement of the then cutting edge speed of computers, the four-eighties, five-eighties, and the six-eighties.  To this day, I do not know what those numeric designations indicated; however, I do know the higher the number the greater the speed and efficiency of the computer.

As we continued our conversation, this young man mentioned that in experimental stages there were some computer gurus working to develop eight-eighties!  I inquired as to what kind of speed and what kind of memory capacity would an eight-eighty have. His response was one, which in terms of language, was not as impressive as the enthusiasm and mysticism with which he delivered his answer. He look up as if reaching some far spot in our universe, and as his eyes glazed over in absolute reverence in what he was about to tell me, he uttered these words which made me shudder: “You know, Dr. Ogden, theses eight-eighty computers will have the capacity to reach their own consciousness!”

That hit me like a ton of bricks. It was the same kind of bleary-eyed mysticism that Dr. Frankenstein was imbued with when he invented his “life.”

Needless to say, I quickly looked at my watch and reminded my chess opponent, who by now was totally entranced in the thought he had just uttered and commented that I was already late for another meeting.

His comments about a machine gaining its own conscience awareness rather spooked me. It’s not so much that I am afraid of inventing things but for those of us who remember the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, as well as those of us who enjoy “Ancient Aliens” on television, realize that such a creation, while presently science fiction, presents for foreboding future.

All of this reminded me of a quotation of Albert Einstein’s: “I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction.  The world will have a generation of idiots.”

Practically speaking, technology is the immediate byproduct of the advancement of cognitive discovery in the human condition. We are always seeking to do things better, to achieve more effective and efficient results, and to make life more amenable in every aspect. Hence, as fire introduced heat and light, it permitted our ancestors to travel more widely. At the same time, fire allowed our ancestors to take nature’s elements and form them into metals. And form those metals to create tools which made life more comfortable and more efficient. But the worship of this tool is not the be-all and end-all of the human condition.

The sad fact is that those same people who would have us believe that we must hold the machines they develop in reverence also become the computer hackers who disrupt every commerce of the human condition.  They are also the ones who have begun to praise “AI,” that is “artificial intelligence,” which will be the grist for a future mill in this column.

The products of technology, however sophisticated or simple they may be, are unlike any other byproducts of civilization’s advancement. Their meaning and their importance is their utility for those of us who will use them in the advancement of the human condition.

Consequently, they should neither be feared nor worshiped. They need to be used wisely to take the human condition to the next level of its cognitive advancement. To this end, those of us who have children to raise and those in the enterprise of education need to keep in focus the advantages and disadvantages, as well as the uses and abuses, of the products of our great technology.