Where are we going? Where have we been?

It has yet to be proved that our enormous investment in computer technology in recent years has resulted in increased productivity, or that the ability to “process” hundreds of images and millions of bits of information has anything to do with thinking––with constructing an argument, with making good decisions––much less knowledge in the strong sense. 

–Kingwell 

So I think of Mark Twain. Even though Ken Burns does not dwell on this fact in his four hour documentary on the guy generally considered the first American writer, Twain spent considerable time wondering whether we, through technology, were personally improving or personally moving further away from perfection. It’s a good question. A fringe group of people out there, some of whom are pretty smart and reasonable, advocate a back-to-nature type of living. Leave the grid. Don’t

burn fossil fuels. Reject electronics. Unify and coexist with Nature. And all this seems well and good. Aren't we at some sort of spiritual peace when we move away from technology, when we get out of town and retreat to the hiking path. Twain liked this idea too, but he also liked inventions and technology. In fact, he lost most of his fortune investing in a type-setting machine. We seem to be comfortable existing in a world of simultaneous yet contradictory messages. I want the newest smart device, a fast internet connection, and HDTV, but I also want a quiet peaceful moment in nature. I want the convenience of the grocery store stocked with prepared foods and canned goods, but I also want fresh produce from the organic local farmer. 

To be hip and current, is to drive a hybrid. What a wonderful example of this strange irony. By owning a car, I am willing to tacitly support interstate systems and dwelling miles and miles away from where I work. Yet, by purchasing an energy-efficient car, I am also preserving the environment and shrinking my footprint. What the hybrid really suggests is a commitment to technology; a basic view of I can, through technology, find a way to live the way I want and simultaneously not hurt my environment. Thus, the hybrid owner seems to be on the side of those who believe that we are, by embracing technology, moving toward completion or perfection or self-actualization, not away from it. 

Of course my electronic blog could not exist without technology. By using this blog to grapple with the issue of the benefits of technology, I too seem to be saying that I support the idea of technological growth as the path to greater fulfillment. Yet, I hear the nagging voice of good old Thoreau and I wonder. What if I lived in a primitive cabin? Would I achieve greater inner-peace? I mean isn’t inner-peace, contentment, happiness, what it is ultimately about? So either technology increases this, or it decreases it. But now the real issue pops up: fighting against technology is futile. 

Even if I were certain that computers were not helping us and in fact were hurting us, society as a whole is so invested in the continuous development of technology, that my voice would be a whisper at best. Most likely, opposing technology, refusing to use email, to text, to even have a cell phone, is simply to become irrelevant and ignored. Only a cranky dinosaur refuses to embrace the newest advancement. 

What an interesting word, “advancement.” We do not call new devices technological entrapments.  No, they are "advancements." We get excited about the newest app, 3D TV, and touch screen. To reject TV, cell phones, and the web is not only archaic, it’s foolish, especially if I buy into the idea that being connected to the world is a way to increase my happiness. 

Montaigne is credited with creating the form now known as the essay. His idea was that writing in this manner is a type of rambling contemplation leading to self-discovery. Today, my blog seems to be following this direction. So what am I discovering? Well, I am thinking about what choices I want to make in my life. I am trying to increase my active participation in the direction my life takes. I am reminding myself that I live in a world that clearly is moving toward and invested in further “advancement.” I am consciously listening to the collective voice of society sending the message that happiness is increased through further development.  Yet, I am also reminding myself that this message might be flawed.