Friday, October 8, 2010

Blog 7: "I Am a Cyborg"

In his article, Clive Thompson gives the word  "cyborg" a different meaning than what I consider a cyborg to be. When I hear the word, I instantly think of  a hybrid between a human being and a robot, but in terms of their physical appearance, a character similar to the ones that we see in Hollywood movies, Robocop for instance. Thompson's definition gives it a completely different connotation, to him a cyborg would be someone who incorporates technology tools into his activities in order to get better results.

The difference between his definition and mine lies on the physical aspect of the word. This being said, I believe I am definitely the kind of "cyborg" that Thompson defines. Although I don't think I take advantage of technology to its full potential.

In the past two decades, scientific and technological inventions have advanced so much that  they have started to transform the world. The way we used to do so many things have changed. Years back we would have to go to a library if we needed to do research for a homework, there was no such a thing as a worldwide network where you could find virtually any information that you could think of from the comfort of home. If we wanted to go somewhere and needed directions we had to get a map, now a GPS can take you anywhere.

Who could have imagined years ago, that today it would be possible to see and talk to a person simultaneously while on the phone, watch a full length movie on the palm of our hands ,or use a blogging website to post our homework? I am a regular user of some of these tools and strongly believe that we should try to learn and adapt to this new devices and technologies which for the majority have made our daily tasks simpler, and more practical.

People who are not willing to learn how to use these tools will not only have a more difficult time than the ones that actually embrace it, but might also be missing out on what I find to be a very interesting period in human history. I read somewhere that technology has advanced more in the last thirty years than in the previous two thousand, this might be a little of an exaggeration but also has a lot of truth in it. We are witnessing some of the greatest technological advances ever created, and should take advantage of it.

However,  technology could also be detrimental if used in an ineffective way. To name just one example, many young people, including myself, spend an excessive amount of time on social networks, a time that could be used more productively by taking advantage of all the information that is at our fingertips.

When I think of how much knowledge we could obtain from all the information that is so easily accessible nowadays, I can't help but think about how less fortunate past generations were in terms of information availability, but still with such limited resources how smart some of them managed to be. Imagine if those people in the past had the opportunity of using today's technological devices and tools.  The things they would have created, Imagine if Einstein or Da Vinci would have been able to live in today's world, would they be "facebooking" every day? I don't think so...

It is likely that in the future, our generation will be seen as a really innovative in terms of technology, and who knows maybe even one that started a whole new technology era. Let's just hope that we put these technological tools to good use and learn to use them in a productive manner.




3 comments:

  1. Yes, but I am looking at it now and it is Monday night ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, and the blog is looking good so far

    ReplyDelete
  3. Blog Series Evaluation 2:

    You know what I am going to say...these are very good but...unfinished!

    You really, really, really need to try to finish every entry--trust me, it is great practice for what is to come.

    ReplyDelete