Cog in the System

Machines control our lives. They dominate our society and govern our very ways. If you think I am wrong, look around us. I was influenced to write this by, and this is going to sound ridiculous, my recent acquisition of an automatic soap dispenser. As I was using it, I thought to myself "usually I determine how much soap I would use to wash my hands, but now this device is telling me how much to use" and I have no choice. Sure I can run my hand under it more than once, but what if I want less than the one pump it automatically dispenses. This is the way everything works now.

Computers tell us how to compute, cars tell us how to drive, ATMs tell us how to spend our money. Guns shoot for us, pens write for us, bots bid at auctions for us, phone make calls for us, machines build other machines-- when does it end? One of our biggest fears throughout history was when robots take us over, and now fears are becoming reality. The only problem is that the robots aren't learning this behavior, we are teaching it to them.

A wise man once said that the devil may not have invented technology but he had a very big role in the creation of it. This statement is revealing itself as truth more by the day. Just be careful what you wish for or you may be pouring an android a drink one day.