What are your thoughts on this quote about technology and society?

[dt43]

Originally Posted by odog24

Originally Posted by Brolic Scholar

I haven't watched TV in six months and only use the internet at work when I have nothing else productive to do. I still rent movies and will go to the theater maybe once a month, but I have mostly broken away from the clutches of entertainment overload. When I hear people discussing current events at work and elsewhere, I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. It's mostly crap about other people's lives that will never have any effect on my own. The only entertainment I have on a daily basis is music and that is when I'm driving. A lot of times I prefer to ride in silence and listen to my thoughts.

After six months of withdrawing from entertainment, I feel like I should be spending my time doing something creative and expressing my artistic side, but when I see what most people pass off as art it makes me feel like art has become @%%*@%%@. Most of what people consider art is just watered down, trendy junk. It says nothing about the person or what is going on in the world or their community. It's just what everyone else is doing/trying to do. The sad thing is I have a bunch of ideas in a book at home that I think could inspire some great discussions. I just don't feel motivated to share them though. I feel like most people are so interested in themselves that being genuine and sharing ideas is something that doesn't really happen anymore. Maybe I'm just getting old. Maybe I'm just seeing the world for what it is.

What do we offer to one another? What do we do to make this world better on a large scale? We just buy, use, consume, digest, dispose of and destroy. I feel like things are stuck in one place. Technology advances, but for what? What good do we do with it? Gadgets are cool, but how many different ways do we need to do what we can do face to face?

Sorry to be a downer, but what are we needed for? What purpose do we serve? Life on this planet is stagnant.

dam that was some interesting info.
im kinda going that route. i no longer keep up with sports and such because i realized that it doesnt matter if kobe scores 50 or if he scores 10 my life will not change at all.

i actually like the idea of sports because even though they're just games, sports is one of the few areas left in society where real, honest, hard work is still rewarded. to me, sport is a unique reflection of the human spirit and so many of the values that bring success in sports carry over to other areas of life. 
unfortunately, even sports are becoming over-commercialized now. we have players and executives colluding for fame and money, commissioners compromising the rules and integrity of the game to maximize profits, unseen forces influencing outcomes (yes it was fixed), media networks beating us to death with irrelevant storylines that will increase hits and views, etc. 

in 30-40 years, i'm not sure if sport as we know it will still exist. 

 

[|A-Man|]

Ted is right. I can't really say as of today that technology has benefited the whole world. There's way too many ppl the advancement of technology is not working for than there are ppl that it is working for.

The alternative outcome in it's use is still reachable though. It'll come with a fundamental change to the the way society operates and functions today on a grand scale to the minute details.

 

[|A-Man|]

Originally Posted by Brolic Scholar

I haven't watched TV in six months and only use the internet at work when I have nothing else productive to do. I still rent movies and will go to the theater maybe once a month, but I have mostly broken away from the clutches of entertainment overload. When I hear people discussing current events at work and elsewhere, I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. It's mostly crap about other people's lives that will never have any effect on my own. The only entertainment I have on a daily basis is music and that is when I'm driving. A lot of times I prefer to ride in silence and listen to my thoughts.

After six months of withdrawing from entertainment, I feel like I should be spending my time doing something creative and expressing my artistic side, but when I see what most people pass off as art it makes me feel like art has become @%%*@%%@. Most of what people consider art is just watered down, trendy junk. It says nothing about the person or what is going on in the world or their community. It's just what everyone else is doing/trying to do. The sad thing is I have a bunch of ideas in a book at home that I think could inspire some great discussions. I just don't feel motivated to share them though. I feel like most people are so interested in themselves that being genuine and sharing ideas is something that doesn't really happen anymore. Maybe I'm just getting old. Maybe I'm just seeing the world for what it is.

What do we offer to one another? What do we do to make this world better on a large scale? We just buy, use, consume, digest, dispose of and destroy. I feel like things are stuck in one place. Technology advances, but for what? What good do we do with it? Gadgets are cool, but how many different ways do we need to do what we can do face to face?

Sorry to be a downer, but what are we needed for? What purpose do we serve? Life on this planet is stagnant.

This sounds like a complete and utter waste. You've already convinced yourself that you'll make no difference. You shouldn't have such a blanket view of everyone else because of what they're doing. You're perception also seems skewed on that matter. Maybe you should look to share your work with a different group of ppl. The internet is a big place with a lot of ppl on it. You shouldn't really be focusing on the results you get as if most ppl should be engaged in the discussion.

 

[tonelow]

HankMoody wrote:

---

"The naive optimism of the 18th century led some people to believe that technological progress would lead to a kind of utopia in which human beings, freed from the need to work in order to support themselves, would devote themselves to philosophy, to science and to music, literature, and the other fine arts…Instead of using their technological means of production to provide themselves with free time in which to undertake intellectual and artistic work, people today devote themselves to the struggle for status, prestige, and power and to the accumulation of material goods that serve only as toys. In effect, American all popular culture has been reduced to mere hedonism, and hedonism of a particular contemptible kind."

Edit mine. 

I've thinking about this lately. Thanks for posting.

I felt selfish but I was thinking this is exactly what I wanted to do. Why do I have to work? Why cant I pursue things that are really important to me? Why cant I spend all of my time learning and searching for deeper meaning and being creative?

I felt selfish because humans have been working just to provide a meal for themselves for as long as we've been on this planet. Who am I to feel like I dont have to do the same? 
But it was a mix of this false sense of entitlement and recognizing that we actually do have the resources to lead more fulfilling lives now than ever before. We all want to know the meaning of life, or just have a deeper understanding of why exactly we are here. People have been asking these questions for thousands of years. But typically it was only the wealthy/upper class (in any society throughout history) that had the time and/or resources to pursue these ideas. Everone else was just trying to survive.

Even though technology has advanced to the point where everyone pretty much has library in their palms, we are so distracted by having fun and that instant gratification that we cant use the technology in a way that will really benefit us.

I put most of the blame on the ruling classes (gov't, the financial system, media and religion). But in the end its up to the individual to make his own decisions.

I want to post more but I have to get back to my (meaningless) job instead of engaging in enlightening conversation.