Technology: Friend or Foe?

A friend recently invited me to see a “virtual” lecture of Peter Diamandis (I won’t toot his whole bio here, but let’s just say he is a highly impressive individual and I suggest you look him up.)  The focus of this talk was on the logarithmic growth of technology and how those who do not embrace the opportunities this growth will bring (holograms, 3 dimensional printing, The Cloud, advanced uses for computers in some cases computers even replaces humans), are likely to be left behind.

The demographic of the group invited was woman in their forties and fifties, all who were accomplished in their respective fields.  After we watched the presentation, several people expressed fears about the loss of “humanness” that is being brought on by technology.  One concern was with conversing via text instead of having face-to-face or voice-to-voice conversations. Others had more pragmatic apprehensions such as having an “autopilot” flying a plane without a trained human pilot in the cockpit.  In both instances, there was anxiety about the downfalls of not having a “human touch.” There are elements of truth to this, but I was thinking this is not a loss of humanness, but rather the new humanity.

When I was younger, I played outside and talked on a stationary telephone.  Maybe kids today are not having spoken conversations as much but they are learning to write code at a very young age.  I didn’t even take typing until I went to middle school and that was using a typewriter, not a computer. Code writing skills can and have been used to create 3D printers to print, among other things, cars, clothing, buildings, and apparently we are only years away from printing organs made from the recipients own tissue.  To me, these advances are not only mind-blowing, but potentially lifesaving.

In terms of my own business, 3D printers could be used to print samples.  I’ve been designing a line of dresses for hotel staff and have had to do a lot of tweaking to get the samples just “right,” and a few are not there yet.  I think I’d be farther along if I could actually print out 3D examples as opposed to going back and forth with my tailors tweaking them until they are perfect.  Though personally not tech savvy, I believe these advances are positive.  Actually they are amazing. While children may not be learning to draw with crayons and to play outside, they are leaning to think systematically, and they are also growing up in a world where there seem to be endless possibilities.  So perhaps there is a loss of direct human contact, and I would like to think there are ways to combat this.  But that is a subject for a future blog.