Are there Implications for our Tech-frenzied World?

As I start writing this, I don't really have a map of where I want to take it. You're getting off the cuff-straight from my freakishly amazing brain-content right now. All 14 of you must feel so lucky.

I was thinking about this shitty course I have to take next week which is about technology and its impact on society. I want to do this now, and get my ideas about it out before I start the course and get frustrated at some overly in-depth textbook some Generation X-er wrote, thinking he knows more about the tech and its applications that our generation has created, better than we do.

Think about this. When's the last time you spoke to an older adult (~45+ is Gen X range) and didn't have to help them with some sort of electronic device. I love my Mom to death but she is just now beginning to flawlessly operate a cable box remote control. I need not say more, but I will anyway.

I know not every Gen Y-er (our gen) is great with tech, so this doesn't apply to all of you.. go fly a kite or something.. but for most of us, we know our shit. It comes almost naturally. Dammit, this isn't working. 

MY POINT IS

This old asshole thinks he can write a book about tech that he doesn't understand any better than most of us, maybe even understands less than us, expects me to be graded on his lesser-understanding of tech & it's impacts? You know where I'll tell him to go... 

This is getting hostile. Okay, deep breaths. Yup, alright. Much better. (Really I just wrote that for a non-funny but comedic-attempt at a transition)

Ignoring everyone else, I think tech as it is today is extremely useful for those who want it to be, and extremely overwhelming for those who do not understand it's benefits yet. What's this mean?

Well, right now, and I'm making this number up but it has some merit based on my excessive amount of time on the internet "researching". I'll use home automation as an example. It is in its beginning stages, but I'd say less than 1% of the world population has some sort of home automation in use. 

Let's ask ourselves how awesome home automation is? Like I said, I'd say it's my in my top 5 priorities when I get my own place, thus extremely valuable and awesome. How about to my dad? ..Couldn't care less about it. Difference? To him it's a headache. To me, it's a way of making my life easier. Why take care of the little things? Why turn the lights in your house off with a switch that you have to physically walk to, when you can just approach a room and have the lights turn on. As you leave, they turn off. That's the simple example of home automation. And immediately, you can see both its value and non-value to each respective case.

Moving away from personal tech, look at a company like Monsanto. If you don't know what that is, they are essentially the biggest agricultural biotech company in the world. And they take a lot of heat for what they do. Why? Because people don't understand the benefits. The flip-side argument is, where is the moral line that tech shouldn't cross? You may be asking what Monsanto does.

Think about GMOs. We all have heard about them, but have you ever considered what a GMO really is? It stands for Genetically Modified Organic [material]. Apples are GMOs. Pears, peaches, watermelon, pineapple, almost/if not all fruits and vegetables that come from our Earth are genetically modified. Apples didn't taste the same as they do now 5000, or even 50 000 years ago. There weren't granny smith or red delicious apples back then either. Apples have probably come in millions of different shapes and sizes over the Earths billions of years, but the apples we see today, are a product of our own doing. Ancient humans picked the apples that tasted the best, looked the best, didn't cause disease etc. Those were favored in nature and as a result were propagated through every season. This is a type of genetic modification. We decided what we liked, and ensured its survival. Now tell me how that is different than a biotech company like Monsanto, cross breeding apples in order to get the best of all the types of apples? Red delicious skin with the taste of a gala apple? Sounds great. Now.. Monsanto, being like any other private company, takes this and applies it to everything they can. Of course, there are pros and cons to this. 

Take wheat for example. Wheat is used to make grain, leading to bread. Bread is the number one most used "food" around the world. What happens if the grains we have can't undergo the harsh conditions our Earth is enduring right now due to climate change. Our climate is changing faster than crops can withstand and adapt to, so if our climate rises by say, 2 degrees Celsius.. Remember, this is climate, not temperature... our wheat crops might not survive, leading to no grain, and no bread. But what if Monsanto, in their testing, comes across a genetic modification in wheat breeding that causes the crop to be resistant to erratic changes in temperature? That would be a huge benefit, wouldn't it?

Well, maybe you can see where this leads.

If we can genetically modify plants for desired properties, what's stopping us from modifying ourselves?

The answer, nothing.

Actually, a new system has been developed (which still requires work) but is able to inject/remove genes from our DNA using similar methods that bacteria and viruses use. It's called CRISPR. It's freaking cool, and maybe a little disturbing at the same time. Implications in moral ethics flag up here more than ever. First it starts with making your new babies' eyes blue before it's born. Then, maybe removing the gene from your mother's side for a higher risk of cancer. Then, eventually, we as a society have lost the very thing that makes us a society. Ourselves. Our uniqueness. Our individuality.

I've already written about AI, so I won't include it here. But AI, once truly developed, is expected to cause changes to our world in the way the industrial revolution changed everything not more than 100 years ago.

What I'm getting at is; tech has an impact on all of us. Some larger, some smaller. But it has changed the way we live. It has changed the way we communicate. It has changed the way we learn. And it will continue to change everything we are and know, for better or worse. Let's hope humanity as a whole can keep it for the better.  

Thanks for reading!

J