The Rise of the Machines

If you were walking round Lancaster what do you think would happen?

Little children running around screaming? A business man in a rush as he barges past you? This is what I would expect. I’m sure you can understand my surprise when an elderly man started to talk to me. Shocked by this interesting development in my day I stood and listened to what he had to say. He began to tell me how a friend of his had died from eating too much chocolate. This revelation took me by surprise and I started to envisage some kind off chocolate assassin going round poisoning chocolate bars when no one else was looking. However, as the conversation progressed it became clear that his friend had been a diabetic and had ignored his doctor’s advice of doing things in moderation.

The conversation moved quickly from chocolate related deaths to how the man I was talking to had worked in paper mills and how it had all changed. He told me about how he followed his father into the business and had worked in mills all around the country ranging from Scotland to Wales. The conversation came to an end with him cursing how the rise of technology had changed the world. Admittedly I had thought at this stage that I was stuck in the middle of a revamp of Monty Python’s ‘Four Yorkshire Men Sketch’ and half expected someone to come up behind me and say ‘You thought you had it bad! Back in my day . . . ’

As we parted something the old man had said struck me. Are we really that dependant on technology? I look around my room and I can see many electronic items. My computer, lava lamp, games console, television, desk light, alarm clock, mobile phone and my radio. Eight things in one room. As I think about what the old man said to me I find myself wondering could I go a week, or even a day, without the technology that surrounds me? I would like to say yes, I must be able to and I would guess that the majority of you reading this article would say the same. However, when push comes to shove could we really do it?

Take a minute to consider your answer. No television. No fancy games console or music system. No mobile phones. Do you still think you can do it? Me neither. This poses another question. Are we slaves to technology? Has society changed so much that the power that man has developed over years now depends on whether or not the computer will do what we want it to?

I am not saying that technology, on the whole, is a bad thing. Thanks to technology lives have improved greatly. But where do we draw the line? Where does technology stop being a help and start being a hindrance?

If there is one thing I have learnt about technology over the years is that it inevitably fails. What then? Does the world stop until we are all back online surfing the web or until all our mobiles are charged up? I sit here thinking is the old man right? Are we now so dependant on technology that we are losing the skills our ancestors spent years perfecting?

As I switch off my lava lamp I start to think about the impact technology has had on our society. Technology is everywhere, from the cars we drive to how we communicate. The rise of technology has lead to text messages, instant messaging and face book. Of course all of these can have positive affects on our lives as they shorten distances between one person and another but what about the other side of the coin? The dark side of instant communication? How has technology affected our ability to interact on a face to face basis with fellow human beings? I look at my flat, seeing all the closed doors hiding people away, and yet I can talk to them online. I do not mean to say that when we go out to the bar, for example, we do not sit by ourselves, but next time you are in a social area take a closer look and you can see the separations from one group to the other like the networks on face book or the groups on MSN Messenger.

I will go as far to say that I am the worst culprit for this. This brings me back to the old man from the beginning of my article. We were talking for about fifteen minutes and I don’t know his name, and yet when I look at MSN Messenger I know exactly who ‘A being in search of meaning’ is. As I walked away, checking my mobile for any messages, I couldn’t help but wonder, is this what our society has become.

Jonathan Starr