Friday 16 March 2018

March 16, 2018 Chautauqua


Beth's Ponderings

   There is a movement in our world to make our society completely cashless, and more digital - in various areas, not just in money transactions.

   Now, I can understand these people feel that going totally digital will make our lives easier (while governments want to use it as a means of keeping a closer eye on us and our activities), but will it really make our lives easier?

   Ever since the Industrial Revolution, we humans have been on an insatiable quest to make our everyday lives easier and less labour-intensive.  And, by and large, we were successful.  For example, power machines made jobs easier, vacuums and automatic washing machines changed how household cleaning was done, and microwaves made meal preparation a snap.

   Then, along came the Technology Revolution, which has had the biggest impact on our lives, in the shortest amount of time.  Computers of all sizes have now infiltrated every area of our lives - we literally can’t get away from them.  People, who used to complain about the phone always ringing, now can’t put down their cell phones for even a minute lest they miss out on something.

   But...are our lives any better?

   And what is going to be the ramification of all this digitalization?

   Because, even though we have a fairly stable power grid here in North America, the power does go off occasionally.  Most times it is only for a short period of time, but sometimes it lasts for days when Mother Nature occasionally likes to remind us that she is in charge, not us, as she wreaks havoc on our infrastructure.

   And even if we don’t have to worry about our power sources, technology isn’t infallible.  It can, and certainly does, break down, or just stop working at the most inopportune times.


   Now, I’m not advocating that we return to pre-technology days, because there are advantages to our technology, but I think we do need to be cautious how much faith we put into that technology, because at the end of the day, we can’t eat digital food or breathe digital air.

Beth


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