Technology...you can have it (the Sequel)
Well, if it's not one thing, it's another. My computer just got fixed, and I'm going to be really technical about what went wrong and say that "this big metal box with lots of wires coming out the end of it was broken". That's all I know. And now that it's fixed, and I try to go online, I find that Jaring is down in my area. Fan-bloody-tastic. Technology? You can have it. Again.
When does a tool become a necessity? In one of those "super-long 20 minute talks" in the Matrix, Neo discusses the consequences of technology with the Counsellor, and they talk about whether we have control over machines. In one way, we do. We could turn them off anytime we want. I could take my computer and chuck it over my 19th floor balcony, and my cellphone after it, followed by possibly my radio and my discman. Total control, right? But here's the crunch: would I want to? What is control - my ability to destroy any machine I wanted, or the machine's ability to make me not want to? Look at me now - one day without internet access, and I have to go to a cybercafe to check my mail and stay connected to the online world. And I would quite conceivably not be able to live without my cellphone. Maybe it's just me, but without technology....I don't even want to think about how I'd live. Call it spoilt, whatever :P But don't be hypocritical. Before you accuse me, you try and imagine going one day without touching anything remotely technological. So, idleThinK readers, what's control? Who's the slave?
Humans must be the only species who've created their own masters.