Tag Archives: technology

Lifestyle, Philosophy

Decorum Technology and Human Spirit

You’ve thought it but you haven’t necessarily articulated it. It concerns you because it’s not really within your control. You deflect because it’s easier that way.  You hope that the effects are not material. What is “it” anyway?

“It” is the impersonal side of communicating through technology instead of the person in the like of the “no-reply”, the web chat box, email, or text message.  There are degrees but increasingly the expectation for some is that contacts be fully digitally engaged. Where do you stand? Do you prefer not to encounter a human “retort” to an outreach and therefore turn to your phone for a tone free text? A friend today disclosed that 90 per cent of his business is done by text seemingly because that is the expectation of customers. 

Are the 1-800 spam calls to blame? How about the prevalent self centred agendas of the legitimate sales person looking to drape his target market? How about the proliferation of answering services programmed with introductory propaganda prior to identifying an actionable keypad menu option. You know that the default zero has now been eliminated because no possible agent could possibly be well enough trained to handle every imaginable inquiry!%?      

An industry is bourn for those helping senior citizens. Vocabulary is narrowing. Cursive writing eludes curriculums. Folks walk through cross walks not destined for yoga class while texting in their spandex tights which have been stitched for pockets for the rare occasion that the phone is not hand held. 

You won’t be discussing the weather or having innocuous banter with strangers on your walk. They will be plugged in with Bluetooth enabling protection from the megaphone of those protesters stymied from achieving discourse through their tongue. Yup, that wicket at city hall has been replaced by the 311 app and you are not physically welcome to shine your grievance.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) is the new catch acronym and regulation is surmised but are we not a little late? Imagine its form as we presuppose the sequestration of emotion.    

Philosophy

Perturbations Arising From Technology

It’s happening. Behavioral patterns are being negatively impacted by technology and perturbations are arising. The full deployment of Artificial Intelligence is rapidly approaching and there is relatively little push back in the context of understanding consequences. Few have read any study regarding the impact technology will have on relationships as we delve mercilessly into the AI age. Decorum, etiquette, empathetic response, expressions of subtlety and anxiety are all variables of communication which possess linear paths to a non-digital centre of human sentient which no computer should be expected to calculate.  Yet, objectives will be programmed mechanically in a stale environment free from considerations of nuance. The machine will be granted credit instead of crafty hands gifted in experience. Time made available to under employed workers non-resilient to economic change will choose causes detrimental to the health of humankind. The moral compass will be eroded with citizens’ sense of power through work and contribution eroded.

As we speak, legislators have proven to be indifferent to mass murder. The suicide rate in the U.S. has increased 24 percent from 1999 to 2014. Metro cultural zeal has waned in place of commercial real estate interests. Inner cities are being routed in favor of profitable single family dwellings in suburbia where few know their neighbors. Police departments regularly turn a blind eye to civic infractions. The western hemisphere now also identifies matters of corruption specifically. Intransigence between special interests and the common good is alarming. Personal insults by politicians are apparently deemed positive for the campaign trail. Tailgating is now epidemic with zero appetite for enforcement. Drivers spurn distracted driving laws with tinted windows all around. Bullied kids still have no advocate to affect justice.  Hockey parents lose their mind over a bad call. Politicians grant subsidies to millionaire athletes and billionaire owners in lieu of a populous apparently charmed by idolatry instead of their own creative pursuit. 

I remember Canada differently than the aforementioned prior to the new millennium. I contend that the evolution and deployment of technology in our lives without the capacity of the person to restrict its usefulness is one variable among others which have contributed to civic decline. Oh yes….I did not use “Grammarly” to write this piece. In fact, I’ve come to learn through my relationships that kids are now no longer taught how to hand write in school.