Look! A NEW shiny thing!

Technology is good. Except to the people whose jobs it takes. At least, that’s what they would like us to think. However, if they would stop whining about their old job, they would have a nicer new one. Like plays. People don’t go to those much anymore, unless they’re impressing someone and want to look sophisticated (my tip: arch your eyebrows, stroke your beard (or chin) and say “intriguing” in a funny accent), or if they genuinely enjoy the arts. Now, instead of going and watching the plays, we go to a movie. Doesn’t quite deliver the same experience as a play.

Technology also plays a role in the entire economy of the world. Think of this. We’re running out of fuel for our cars and planes and things. Fuel prices go up. That makes the price for transportation of goods go up. So, to make the people have less lost money in transportation prices, the price of the goods go up. That gives the person who buys it less money. However, if a new device comes out that suddenly makes transportation really cheap, then the prices of everything go down. Recap: Transportation price up, goods price up. Transportation price down, goods price down.

Here comes another worry with technology: Standardization. If this shiny bit doesn’t work with this shiny bit, what shall we do? We can’t do anything. We’ll have to get a new shiny bit to act as a translator for the two. If we just have both things understand the same stuff, goodbye translator. That’s a big problem in new technology. What if I have Gizmo 1, and the person I want to give something to has Gizmo 2? And what if Gizmo 2 reads a different format than Gizmo 1? Either I need a Gizmo 2, or they need a Gizmo 1. And of course I would end up getting the Gizmo 2, because it has a higher number at the end of it, so it must be better. But then, I still have the neato thing on Gizmo 1? I need to get it to my Gizmo 2 so I can give it to that person. Well, I’m out of luck. Why? Because I need an entirely new Gizmo just to transfer the stuff. If we just standardize the things, then we wouldn’t be here! It would be “Hey, this bit’s really nifty!” “Cool! Send it to me!” “Okay!” and *bing*, sent. What it is, is “Hey, this bit’s really nifty!” “Cool, send it to me!” “Wait. I can’t do that. The machines aren’t compatible.” That’s why Linux is pretty awesome. It can’t do something you want it to? Then write what you want it to do in, and bang. You’re done.

Another issue is efficiency. What if I can’t afford to have that new SportyCar 2000? What if it uses too much of whatever fuel it uses? What if it for some reason has a spare part that doesn’t do anything, but if it breaks, the whole car breaks down? (I’m looking at YOU, appendix. You don’t do anything! Why do I need you! If you burst, I die. But you don’t do anything for me! If I don’t do anything, you don’t get to stay there!) That’s a problem with Meebo. It’s a great idea, letting you talk to any chat application from any chat application. The only thing is, it goes through your computer, then through their servers, and then through your friends’ computer. And throughout this whole time, it’s been racing through an Internet. Unfortunately, what if your bandwidth for some reason is low that day? What if your friends is? Clogs up the whole system.

Yet another problem is getting rid of it. I just bought the Gizmo 2! What should I do with my Gizmo 1? Certainly not keep it, it’s a piece of obsolete junk. Can’t sell it, no one wants it. So what should I do? I’m not going to throw it away, that’s terrible for the environment, it’s made of plastic. So, the only really good thing to do with it is recycle. But the places that take it from me might not recycle it, they might just melt it down and sell the raw materials. Which I suppose is recycling, but why do they get the money from my Gizmo 1 that they told me they would recycle? Shouldn’t I get a piece of the sales? After all, if I didn’t give them my Gizmo, where would they be?

With all these shortcomings, technology still is really awesome. Where would cavemen be without Fire v2? (electricity.) They would still be fighting each other about someone stealing a pig, and how that pig was the only pig that the other one had. Thankfully, now we can fight about someone having a big thing that’ll blow half the planet away, and how we’re so mad that they have, so we’re going to take it away. (Hello, how are you Iraq?) We can also do things a lot more efficiently. So now, we get to make things BETTER and FASTER and STRONGER than that old Gizmo 1. Or, if we just want to improve on something, we can make a new version of that old Gizmo 1, but with better functionality, like Gizmo 2 adaptations so it can send stuff to it, and then we call it the Gizmo 1 Pro. Because if it’s Pro, it’s certainly better than Home. (WHY, Windows?)

Also, adaptivity of technology is awesome. If you want to have a better Gizmo, someone is going to make a better Gizmo. They might even call it the Thingamajig. Or, to appeal to the Linux/open source crowd, the 741ng4m4j1g. Or just the Thingamajig 1337. Anyway, we didn’t make looms for no reason. They are certainly easier than knitting things, and definitely faster. But, with the speed of technology, if you don’t keep up, 1) you shall be rickrolled, 2) you shall have incompatible stuff, and you shall most likely be annoyed how your Gizmo 1 just stopped being supported by Gizmo International, and how as soon as they did that, you need tech support.

If you don’t keep up with technology, you’ll most likely be in the clear. Video games will eventually fall out of style, and you, you who didn’t care, can start the digital revolution all over again. You can simply go up to a person and say, hey, isn’t this a great little gizmo, and they will say THAT’S AWESOME! and start a company making these things. And then, you who didn’t care, can be on the cutting edge. Or, you could just be on the cutting edge right now. Which is nice. Because then, as soon as the Gizmo 3 comes out, you have it and get to show it to all of your friends, and say that’s it’s awesome, and how much of a shame it is that they don’t have one.

Another thing that’s bad about technology is the efficiency. I know I’ve covered this, but i just thought of this bit. It’s taken me over an hour from start to finish to type this. If I could type as fast as I can think, I would be done in about fifteen minutes. However, I can’t type that fast. And unlike some people, I manage to not type 100 words a minute. If I had a microphone sitting here at my computer, how convenient, but still. Technology can’t just put that up on WordPress. Technology needs to convert it to words, so you can read it. However, with today’s flawed technology, Technology can’t understand me, and I spend more time fixing the mistakes then I do saying it. So, until a faster medium of input comes out, I shall be here, typing into space, so the people looking at this can say “Hey. This guy is right. We need to do something about this technology thing, and make it better.” Even if you don’t think I’m right. The benefits of technology certainly make it nice, but the downsides make it inconvenient. It’s better than scratching it in bark or stone.