Having played around with IFTTT and my WordPress site I once again find myself amazed at the interoperability of technologies and the intertwining of web based services. It is fascinating to think that at some point in time humans had the capacity to invent the computer and microprocessor that nowadays can surpass the physical and cognitive ability of its inventors.
I am working through the core readings for Block 1 of Education and Digital Cultures and have frequently paused to consider a life without technology. At the ripe old age of 30 I can remember the days when mobile phones were not every day commodities and to get in touch with my friends I had to walk round to their house and knock of their front door. In what seems like such a short space of time it is almost impossible to comprehend how people functioned without the technology that we now take for granted.
It is everywhere.
It is provides entertainment, education and information. It is influencing how we shop, travel, work, think, exercise, bank, communicate, remember, create, and navigate. If electricity was to disappear would it be the end of the world as we know it? I’m not sure that we would know where to start.
It is almost ironic that some of the most recent advancements in technology have shifted away from an input/output methodology towards a digital persona such as Apple’s Siri, Microsoft’s Cortana or Amazon’s Alexa. Are we looking to push technological advancement to new limits but save face by giving computers names, voices and personalities? This, perhaps, seems like the human race clinging on to the seemingly fading idea that “man is better than machine”.