The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do. ~ BF Skinner

Happiness and Technology

I think technology in general gets a bad rap. Sure, there are lots of problems with the predominant technology in our lives, social media. In the online environment we get plenty of hate spewing keyboard warriors, misinformation, conspiracy theories and media like Instagram has even been proven to have significant negative impacts on the self-image of teens, particularly girls. We see negative impacts from doom scrolling, online porn and gaming addictions and lots of lost productivity from people wasting their time online watching videos, etc… None of this is surprising, the entire environment is run by big corporations and big corporations are essentially evil for one reason, the only thing they care about is profits for shareholders. So if there are negative impacts on their product users oh well, hell in some cases, because it will drive profits, it’s actually the goal. This is not new, think back to all the lawsuits that have been filed against tobacco companies over the years and all the evidence that showed that they fully understood the negative health impacts and hid them. It continues, just recently there was a huge class action settlement around opioid pain killers with big pharma doing exactly what big tobacco did. So it’s no shock that big tech is doing the exact same thing.

However, technology itself is not evil, it’s all about how you decide, or how you are manipulated into using it. You know, some crazy minister in California might lure you in by writing a blog on happiness and publishing every Sunday night. And while there are lots of negative uses and abuses of technology, tonight I want to talk about the wonderful side of technology.

I think back on my grandfather’s life, he was born in 1910 and died in 2000. When he was a kid in New York City, no one had telephones or radios or cars. No ordinary person ever flew on an airplane. By time his life ended, we had supersonic jets that flew NY to Europe in a couple of hours, men had walked on the moon, probes had sent back images of Mars. We had phones in our pockets that could pull up damn near every bit of knowledge known to man. Technology has moved at an amazing pace. And while I’m focusing on computer technology, medical technology has been equally incredible. My other grandfather died in 1969 effectively from chronic high blood pressure, a condition I and much of my family have inherited from him. The difference, we take a few pills and go on with our lives, he died at 49.

This discussion around technology has a particular meaning to nomads like me. When you move around a lot, you have people scattered everywhere. Hell, some of my fellow nomads are actually able to be truly nomadic working as digital nomads. But being so far from the people I care about would be so much harder if it wasn’t for technology. We’re no longer dependent on a letter that can take days or weeks to reach these people and then and equally long wait for a response. We can literally via email or chat have quick or even immediate conversations with people all over the planet. When I was a kid, one of the technologies I saw in movies and on TV that I always wanted was the video call. Now that can be done on our phones. It allows me to interact with my little niece and nephews three-thousand miles away. I can see how they are growing and changing and we get a better window into each other’s lives. Just over the last year technology has allowed me to do some amazing things. I got to sit in on a friend’s PhD defense in Georgia, had a three-way video call with people in three different countries, watched sporting events not on TV from across the country and this weekend I got to watch my nephew graduate from high school in NY. Just like I did with one of my nieces several years ago and also another nephew’s graduation from trade school in Georgia.

The level of interconnection and information is truly amazing. I have one younger niece who tracks my flights whenever I’m on airplanes so she knows exactly when I’ll be arriving. I’m able to shop online and have a gift delivered the next day across the country. Recently I even found one of my nieces fielding percentage on her high school softball team. Without this amazing science based miracle, I would have missed out on many or all of these things, so I’m truly grateful for the technology we have. Without a doubt it has helped this nomad have happier days my friends. ~ Rev Kane