Yes, we're gifted to be living during such break-through times when we've conquered both time and space with the electron. What could be more exciting...? Well, next to conquering our stupidity gene which our species has somehow failed to do over the last 14,000 years. Just to prove it, consider what we're about to do next with GPS...!
Apparently no longer content to tuck dulcet-talking GPS satellites into our car dashboards, now some restless soul [check that! restless DNA! In our digital age, soul has become so antiquated!] some restless soul has an idea for putting GPS on-line with Wikipedia. Say what...?
The theory seems to be that in this way, everyone with a GPS can add and/or subtract geographic data. [Think of what might have happened to Columbus. His unhappy crew would probably have re-aimed the Santa Maria right back to Spain which they wished they had never left in the first place!]. The only problem with this latest break-through is what Cornell Professor Gilly Leshed said: "Instead of experiencing physical locations, now we end up with more abstract representations of our world." Representations which now can get scrambled by whoever plugs into the system with their own traveling opinions.
We now know the human hippocampous of the brain stores geographic information. The professor argues that "over reliance on GPS will soon result in our using the spatial capabilities of the hippocampus less, and in turn it will get smaller." You shrug, "So what? I don't even kow where my hippocampus is." However, the Professor's response is a little scary" "Atrophy of the hippocampus increases your risk of dementia."
OK, did that got your attention...? Bordering on my own homespun state of dementia, it got mine....! I already can't remember phone numbers without a speed-dial, and I can't add up a grocery bill without a calculator. I, the mighty master of all I survey, has become slave to my slaves!
Besides, what's so wrong with sometimes just relying on our own God-given [check that! Darwin-given!] native talents? At least as much as our new toys under the Tree?
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That is the danger of so much technology...obviously we rely on IT instead of using or brains. The less that muscle gets used, the less and less strong it becomes. We need moderation between the helpful parts of technology, and the dangers of it.
ReplyDeleteWise words -- especially the "moderation" one.
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