sundered in a whirlwind
23:15 06/11/2004
Dear Reader,
I find myself contemplating a problem tonight, that vexes me very often. It is a widespread dilemna, perhaps even endemic to the human mind. This quandary of the human condition is our constant struggle with nature, our past and our future, and particularily the idea of progress. Throughout history, mankind has advanced physically, intellectually and technologically. Or so it seems or appears or we are taught.
I find such progress, speaking primarily in the realm of technology, at times wonderful and fascinating and at others repugnant and worrying. Always, it is bewildering! I am an enthusiast of computers, they provide so many oppurtunities, so many possibilities and yet like any tool, the use of them can sometimes be harmful. Perhaps the greatest danger is not even in the uses to which computers are put but the sudden complete dependence of society on them. The insidious way in which they have become a part of so many people’s lives is astonishing and troubling. You don’t even need to have a PC to own a computer. These machines wear many masks. Your phone, car, dishwasher, fridge, washing machine, microwave, clock, watch and hifi are all more than likely a computer with special peripherals. All in the name of progress and out of the minds of engineers and computer scientists.
Beware the computer scientist, the conjurer of many tricks, the creator of worlds. Some worlds dazzle the eyes, others will baffle the mind. All are created by the incantations of zeros and ones. Beware those who can speak languages that no man speaks. Beware those who believe 0 is more than nothing. Beware those who think that a piece of silicon is more precious than the bloom of a single rose. Beware me, for I am one of these wizards.
And yet, though I am indeed a disciple, I find myself fallen from the true faith. There are probably few true believers among the wizards. With increasing knowledge comes increased understanding and the cracks begin to appear. Whilst others blindly follow the latest advances, buy the bleedging edge gadgets and worship their god of technology, some of the wizards realise that there is more to life than ones and zeros, more to life than a program, however elegantly it has been coded. There is more to life than increased efficiency, increased functionality. Simply put, there is always more to life.
It is not only computers that disturb me, rather it is the direction in which mankind is heading, the direction in which it has probably always been heading. We continue to venture into that region marked on the map, “Here Be Dragons.” Why are we never happy to remain where we are? Must we always continue along our path into the unknown. Why can we not turn back or at the least stop and rest. If we ever get to a place of paradise where everything is perfect, would we recognise it for what it is and settle in that island forever? Or would we continue on, hoping for something better and never finding it, ultimately finding the edge of the world and destruction.
The march of progress continues on, unabated, unstopabble. Stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp. The boot heel of progress has broken the back of many men and women in the past. Now as it breaks into a run and accelerates, stompstompstompstomp, the world itself shakes in fear and begins to crumble with each advancement that we make. Many work to try and find ways to solve the problems that have arisen from progress in the past. I commend the people who do this, working to rid the world of disease, hunger and pollution. But most of the time, they just create worse problems for future generations to deal with. Is the attempt to find solutions to problems created by industry, science and technology by these very same mechanisms, blind folly and hope or arrogance?
I see the industrial world that we live in and shudder. I see the death of cultures, languages, crafts and ideas obliterated and cry. Carried along in the boat of advancement, my eyes are turned to the past, behind me I see such beauty and comfort, no doubt idealised, yet at the same time, there is a core which we have forgotten or put out of mind. We shower our lives with modern toys and comfort ourselves that all is well. But the gnawing thought in the back of our minds is that there is something wrong, not quite right about it all. We seek for the balance of past, present and progress. Perhaps a balance is impossible. It seems to me that the balance is far too much in the favour of progress at the moment.
In my musings of this problem, I find myself sundered in a whirlwind of ideas. Some are from the past, others from the future. All seem enticing and yet many conflict with each other. How can I choose? I am not wise enough to see the far reaching affects of my choices. I find myself torn between a desire to return to a past that I’ve never experienced and a reliance and belief in the many good things that our modern world provides. Perhaps the whirlwind will carry me far away from this troubled world I live in, with its pollution, death and war to one I can walk through in peace and tranquility without worry or fear. Even I don’t believe that, like Dorothy I would eventually return home, for better or worse I must stay on the ship and try to guide its course.
Regards,
The Writer.