[americanInEurope]

Here in Germany there seems to be a silent movement against the perceived over use of technology, from cell phones to computers to whatever. Typically I find this refreshing, having lunch or a coffee in a shop and NOT seeing/hearing everybody on their phones. Or I find it a little quaint, visiting one of my girls' relatives in a cabin in the woods somewhere, and nobody being hindered at all by the lack on internet or phone.

But lately, it seems like this movement is starting to touch MY life a little too much. Many of my girls complain that I'm too dependent on my phone or computer, that I'm on it too much or that I couldn't live without my smartphone. Even if that were true, most of the time when I'm using a tech device, it's got something to do with either making money or getting pussy. I don't play video games all night. So in my eyes, tech is invaluable. But more and more Europeans I meet, not just Germans, are up in arms with tech over use lately. I wonder if it's just an American thing. We embrace our smartphones and computers, and look forward to the progression of technology. I find the people here have a very pessimistic attitude towards technology progression, thinking that all roads lead to the Matrix. I wonder who is right and who is wrong.

[Thomas the Rhymer]

(11-29-2012 02:32 AM)americanInEurope Wrote:  

Here in Germany there seems to be a silent movement against the perceived over use of technology, from cell phones to computers to whatever. Typically I find this refreshing, having lunch or a coffee in a shop and NOT seeing/hearing everybody on their phones. Or I find it a little quaint, visiting one of my girls' relatives in a cabin in the woods somewhere, and nobody being hindered at all by the lack on internet or phone.

But lately, it seems like this movement is starting to touch MY life a little too much. Many of my girls complain that I'm too dependent on my phone or computer, that I'm on it too much or that I couldn't live without my smartphone. Even if that were true, most of the time when I'm using a tech device, it's got something to do with either making money or getting pussy. I don't game all night. So in my eyes, tech is invaluable. But more and more Europeans I meet, not just Germans, are up in arms with tech over use lately. I wonder if it's just an American thing. We embrace our smartphones and computers, and look forward to the progression of technology. I find the people here have a very pessimistic attitude towards technology progression, thinking that all roads lead to the Matrix. I wonder who is right and who is wrong.

I do think that the American overreliance on technology makes the USA extremely vulnerable to cyber attack in the event of war. One day Americans may wake up to find all their smartphones nuked, their bank accounts locked, and all their computer flash drives corrupted, and the stock market unable to function due to a massive denial of service attack.

Why would anyone choose to fight US army head on when you can just nuke the economy that runs it?

I think that vulnerability opens itself to any country or culture that becomes over-reliant on internet technologies.

[Nineteen84]

Two words: Ted Kaczynski.

[Rah]

Sounds like a basically positive trend to me. As long as the pits keep getting shaved.

[americanInEurope]

(11-29-2012 03:00 AM)Thomas the Rhymer Wrote:  

(11-29-2012 02:32 AM)americanInEurope Wrote:  

Here in Germany there seems to be a silent movement against the perceived over use of technology, from cell phones to computers to whatever. Typically I find this refreshing, having lunch or a coffee in a shop and NOT seeing/hearing everybody on their phones. Or I find it a little quaint, visiting one of my girls' relatives in a cabin in the woods somewhere, and nobody being hindered at all by the lack on internet or phone.

But lately, it seems like this movement is starting to touch MY life a little too much. Many of my girls complain that I'm too dependent on my phone or computer, that I'm on it too much or that I couldn't live without my smartphone. Even if that were true, most of the time when I'm using a tech device, it's got something to do with either making money or getting pussy. I don't game all night. So in my eyes, tech is invaluable. But more and more Europeans I meet, not just Germans, are up in arms with tech over use lately. I wonder if it's just an American thing. We embrace our smartphones and computers, and look forward to the progression of technology. I find the people here have a very pessimistic attitude towards technology progression, thinking that all roads lead to the Matrix. I wonder who is right and who is wrong.

I do think that the American overreliance on technology makes the USA extremely vulnerable to cyber attack in the event of war. One day Americans may wake up to find all their smartphones nuked, their bank accounts locked, and all their computer flash drives corrupted, and the stock market unable to function due to a massive denial of service attack.

Why would anyone choose to fight US army head on when you can just nuke the economy that runs it?

I think that vulnerability opens itself to any country or culture that becomes over-reliant on internet technologies.

But surely that doesn't mean you have to fear technological progress. Honestly, I think some people here have an irrational fear of technology. It goes beyond mere annoyance at your PC when it doesn't do what you want. And I think it's slowed down European progress in the tech sector.

Do you think it's possible to balance it? I don't think people can do it. I bet 50 years from now you're going to have city urbanites jacked in and tuned out, unwilling to have normal conversations or interactions with strangers face-to-face, constantly spending money on worthless tech shit, living alongside country dwellers clinging irrationally to the "vintage" way of life, before computers and modern convenience, not allowing their kids to get on the web or play modern video games out of fear.

[Moma]

AmericaninEurope, I think what you are saying has valid points. A balance is in order. Technology is very useful particularly in North America where it facilitates and ties into a vast ordeal of things. With the network speeds and reliable infrastructure, one can do a vast array of things based entirely on technology.

One can see technology in the same way as tools. Some people may complain about it but can a farmer dig yams if he didn't use a hoe? What if he had to use his damn hands just like an otter? How much crops would he yield a day?

Building roads and houses with bare hands and no tools, where would humans be?

It is technology that enabled us to become better than animals (for what it's worth). If not, we would probably be equivalent to a goat in our natural abilities to survive in the world of animals.

[Spike]

(11-29-2012 03:00 AM)Thomas the Rhymer Wrote:  

(11-29-2012 02:32 AM)americanInEurope Wrote:  

Here in Germany there seems to be a silent movement against the perceived over use of technology, from cell phones to computers to whatever. Typically I find this refreshing, having lunch or a coffee in a shop and NOT seeing/hearing everybody on their phones. Or I find it a little quaint, visiting one of my girls' relatives in a cabin in the woods somewhere, and nobody being hindered at all by the lack on internet or phone.

But lately, it seems like this movement is starting to touch MY life a little too much. Many of my girls complain that I'm too dependent on my phone or computer, that I'm on it too much or that I couldn't live without my smartphone. Even if that were true, most of the time when I'm using a tech device, it's got something to do with either making money or getting pussy. I don't game all night. So in my eyes, tech is invaluable. But more and more Europeans I meet, not just Germans, are up in arms with tech over use lately. I wonder if it's just an American thing. We embrace our smartphones and computers, and look forward to the progression of technology. I find the people here have a very pessimistic attitude towards technology progression, thinking that all roads lead to the Matrix. I wonder who is right and who is wrong.

I do think that the American overreliance on technology makes the USA extremely vulnerable to cyber attack in the event of war. One day Americans may wake up to find all their smartphones nuked, their bank accounts locked, and all their computer flash drives corrupted, and the stock market unable to function due to a massive denial of service attack.

Why would anyone choose to fight US army head on when you can just nuke the economy that runs it?

I think that vulnerability opens itself to any country or culture that becomes over-reliant on internet technologies.

Pretty much every country in the world that doesn't have a starving population and a loooney tunes government ( For example Zimbabwe) is reliant on the same technologies as the US. The government and as well as it's citizens. It's not like the US is lightyears ahead technologywise compared to the rest of the world. The difference might be less then 1% with most European countries or other developed nations.

I was on a riverboat on the Amazone in Brazil last year for 5 full days and nights and was cut of from the outside world. It was surprisingly refreshing and easy to get used to. I hadn't been of the net for longer than two days in over 10 years.

[Kitsune]

I don't get being anti-technology.
It isn't Facebook that makes people addicted to Facebook. Or a phone.

Personally, I'd rather not get sick and die. I don't like being cold, and I like having nice things.

I think people romanticise a technology free life, and their opinions are reinforced when they go camping - which is temporary enough so as to allow you to enjoy the benefits and avoid the pitfalls. Imagine camping, and it's raining outside and you're all cuddled up with your girl in a sleeping bag, away from civilisation. Then imagine you get a fit of food poisoning, and you've got to stay out there for the next two weeks with diorrhea.

I bet you'd all trade the girl for a working toilet.

[Andy_B]

Read some of Ted Kaczinski's interviews after his arrest.

He tried his best to live without technology, but he still ended up having to go into town from time to time for basic shit.

Technology is implicit in the human being. What the hunting-adapted body is to the tiger, the tool-using mind is to the human.

Naturally, governments will need to put serious thought into ideas like "how much genetic engineering can we really allow?" but technology itself is unavoidable.

[deepcov3r]

How much REAL fun do you have using a computer or phone.

It's a tool to get away from needing to use it.

What's real fun? Water skiing, sex, playing the guitar-- real physical experience.

[Sherman]

I agree with this. I don’t carry a cell phone and find it annoying to listen to people talking to someone who isn’t there. I know that when I turn around I will either find someone on a cell phone or a schizophrenic.

I also question whether technology really improves our lives like we think it does. Freud gave the example of someone who thinks he has progressed because he can travel all over the world on an airplane, but before airplanes people lived together in small communities so traveling on an airplane wasn’t necessary to begin with. The technology just solves a problem that it created.

Another example – young associate lawyers today are expected to do all their own writing on a computer. At first analysis, it would seem the computer has improved his life. But, before computers, a lawyer would talk into a dictation machine and have a secretary type it up. Anyone still using a dictation machine can tell you that once you figure it out, it is about 100 times faster than typing on a computer. Now the young lawyer is a worker bee instead of professional, works longer hours, and he can’t use the word “secretary” and she sneers at him instead of seeing a potential husband. So has technology made a lawyer’s life easier or worse? I actually think Kaczynski’s thesis is a good read and he illustrates how technology changes the social environment and character of human beings.