And Now For the Good News... by Ruby Wax

Author:Ruby Wax [Wax, Ruby]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780241400678
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2020-01-23T00:00:00+00:00

4

Technology

When it comes to the future, there are so many things to fear (global warming, inequality, plastic, China and the man who runs America who I still won’t name), and obviously these items weren’t enough to quench our insatiable hunger for things that scare the pants off of us, so now, Ladies and Gentlemen, let me introduce you to … (drum roll) THE FUTURE OF TECHNOLOGY!!

I’m talking about our fear of what’s in store for us, like that pretty soon robots are going to suck out our data, splat it on to a USB stick and shove it into a tin can version of ourselves. One of the reasons robots may become more popular than us is because they don’t complain, they work 24/7, don’t let emotions get in their way, don’t die and never get pregnant. They can recognize patterns and calculate possibilities far better than us, without emotions getting in the way. We make mistakes because we rely on a brain that’s partially left over from the Stone Age. Fear, frustration or anger trigger those primitive reactions and all rational thinking hits the dust.

By the way, this anxiety about change isn’t a new thing. Throughout history, every time we created a new tool, people thought it was the end of the world. Starting with Socrates, whining on, saying that writing would kill our capacity to remember anything and distance us from the truth. He wasn’t that smart, contrary to popular belief, he just had a good agent (Plato wrote his lines).

When books came along, people thought we wouldn’t be able to speak any more. When we developed the bicycle, train, car, plane, we all worried that it would be the end of walking. Some people thought the radio, TV and phone marked the end of face-to-face contact.

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