"Men have become tools of their tools," Henry David Thoreau.
How much does social media and the internet dominate our lives? Imagine a worldwide blackout, what would you do? What would your first thought be? How would you feel if you couldn't immediately contact a family member or a friend?
It's become harder to talk to people without constantly glancing at our phones or looking them up on Facebook. We've moved to the age of a full social media background check to evaluate societal standards instead of trusting an interaction based on core personality. As a result, we simply depend on technology so much more. We now rely on technology rather than physical labor. Artificial Intelligence is the future.
Recently, at the beginning of August, Facebook was forced to shut down an artificial intelligence experiment after the two robot's they created started communicating in their own language. The risks of an incident like this have countless consequences and could lead to extremely difficult and harmful situations in which robots begin to act on their own. And because of how dependent we are on them, "advances" in artificial intelligence would backfire entirely. It's like being given a bio on who you are without even filling any information in. AI is five steps ahead of us.
Another problem with the increasing dependence and advances in technology is in the manufacturing sector. Industries with manufacturing employment options will soon fade out as machines will eventually take over. Governments will have to come up with alternate forms of employment for the high numbers of employees currently working in the manufacturing sector.
So what are we really accomplishing with these advancements? The assumption is that technology makes our lives easier, but I disagree. Technology has spurred major benefits to mankind, but it has also created devastating consequences. We're trapped by our very own creation. Privacy is dead. We're slaves to our very own creation. We've created weapons that could wipe out millions of species at the push of a button. So really, who's ruling?
