The Technocracy Rolls On....

No matter HOW hard you try to avoid all this "high-falootin" technology, it finds SOME way to invade your life somehow... Now I'm not saying that ALL technology is bad...quite the reverse. There is SO MUCH utilized today that aids in child abduction recoveries, criminal investigations, Homeland Security...well, the list gets longer by the minute, it seems. But I'm one of those people that feels like consumers might just be biting off a wee bit more than we can chew (and certainly more than we can stomach). Take a look around you....I'll wait...

We have SO MUCH technology at our fingertips today and we just take it in stride, awaiting the next "new" thing on the market, and we're sacrificing a lot in the process...like etiquette...social intercourse (not THAT type...interaction with people talking mano y mano...that kinda stuff), and perhaps that's a large reason we're having the problems we're having like disrespect, irresponsibility and immorality...we're too busy having fun with whatever the hell gadget we just got at the electronics store. We don't need other people...(and believe me ..with some folks, it SHOWS).

OK, so we DO have technologies that HELP us around the house, and that's a good thing. But when it comes to something we call a ROOMBA...I just have to draw the line. With all the rampant overweightedness America suffers from, a little Eureka or Hoover shoving to get that carpet clean shouldn't KILL YOU...right?

HDTV....Just tell me WHY the hell do *I* "need" something like this? Do I REALLY want to play "count the pores" on the local newscaster's face anyway? And how much clarity do I want? I'l be the first to confess that unless I wear my glasses whenever I want to see things at distance...EVERYTHING is LOW-DEF...LOL! High def to ME means in focus (thanks to a good optometrist)....no big whoop!
Part of the joy of TV ownership in the old days was trying to find "the sweet spot" when it came to adjusting that "rabbit-ear" antenna sitting on top of the console! Then someone came up with the "Tenna-Rotor"...all you had to do was turn a dial INSIDE the home to turn the antenna on the roof and PRESTO...perfect picture. Cable took good care of all that. And with the imminent advent of DIGITAL signal propagation...you best HAVE a digital TV, or else you'll ned a decoder box to swap the digital signal back to analog. Satellite TV, radio and whatever else.... Now I used to work with these devices, and I can say from experience that UNLESS they find a way to have NATURE "look the other way"...this will never quite be AS GOOD due to things such as RAIN-FADE, SNOW-FADE, and WIND SHEERING...all of which play bloody havoc with satcom signals!

When it comes to cellphones...one thing (only) comes to mind....LACK OF PRIVACY! It's either someone wanting to bug YOU...or people around you telling their friends "Guess where I'm calling from"? I think most people that have cellphones deserve that privilege about as much as the one that places them behind the wheel of a vehicle. And these people should have a cellphone ONLY if it will be allowed to ONLY work when it's placed up their alimentary tract...And the only way to turn off the ringtones is to smack the user square in the face...Now that has some merit. Regular phones are still doable, as long as they don't wind up calling the police when I don't need them. The caller ID is fine, as is the answering machine and even the cordless handsets. All good tech..so far.

Video games....I can take them or leave them. I STILL have a PS1, and it works fine. I don't NEED to play it 10 hours EVERY damn day (like some people do), and the same can be said for the computer (and the associated games online). Someday (soon) I might get a PS2 for a few more games I have seen that can't be played on the PS1. It's coming down enough in price.

Automobiles....cripes, the technocrats REALLY balled this one up....making our vehicles more prone to a "computer glitch" than a damn thrown rod or busted linkage in the trans. I'd have to say that the only GOOD auto computer would be one that would DRIVE me where I'm going, get me there SAFELY, and never complain (oh wait...that's called a CHAUEFFEUR...lol). Taxis are about the same except the driver WILL complain about damn near anything...and YOU can always complain about the exhorbitant fares!

MP3 players...iPods and their brethren....Geezus....can't ANYONE do ANYTHING in life without having music pumped into their skulls ever waking moment of the day anymore? We used to call it HUMMING...or even WHISTLING...have they since become two more "lost arts" in this world?

And those damnable "navigational" devices like TOM-TOM...gimme a break! I suppose MAP-READING has also gone the way of humming a tune? Back "in the day", we either had a MAP (that our "shotgun" followed like a hawk and could be had FREE at ANY SERVICE STATION)..OR (and this is so old-fashioned it just might be the newest "fad" in a few years)....we PLANNED AHEAD and PLOTTED OUR ROUTE! And yes, REAL men don't have to ASK DIRECTIONS...because they KNOW how to get there in the first place. Anyone else is BS-ing you, and probably couldn't find their ass with both hands, even if you showed them!

I have to admit that the technocrats have even managed to suck ME into their clutches (so much for being the last holdout).....I've gotten a CD/DVD player (lack of cassettes at stores), am on my 4th computer (and I used to WORK with REAL computers before the advent of PCs and laptops...go figure)...and just got a mini-digital camcorder/camera (cheaper than film) that even plays MP3 tunes (btw..I can STILL hum AND whistle)....!!! I do like the camera aspect...no film to wait for, and if I don't like the pic...I delete it. The camcorder thing will take a little time...one has to CRAWL before one can walk. it's not those old, reliable, set on your shoulder, HUGE VHS camcorders of the early 90s anymore. And faggeddaboudit on the MP3 player....I don't "need" to hear my "favorite" songs THAT badly....That's why I have a cassette player in the car, and the CD player/cassette player/turntable at home!

I will concede that CDs are damn nice (take up less space), and that's coming from a vinyl enthusiast (the ORIGINAL compact disc...lol). The same goes for DVDs...they're cheap enough (now), and I can snag copies of all those long-lost GOOD shows I used to watch on TV before they gave us 500 channels of which 493 of them are relatively useless crap to ME.
Funny thing...when VCRs came out, I went with BETA (better picture), and BETA went away (marketing hype & market flooding of VHS did it in)...so I went to VHS (still have a perfectly functional BETA machine)...but DVDs cames out, forcing me to rethink things AGAIN....so I "had" to get a DVD player..and now they have the DVD/DVR out, as well as BLU-RAY tech (whatever the hell THAT is)....SO, how can you win (or at least keep some money in your accounts with this going on)?

Just when you seem to acclimate yourself to ONE technology...here comes another...and another...and one day, you wake up and find that when it comes to actually attempting to UNDERSTAND as well as stay abreast of ALL these new contrivances...that old axiom rears its head: "The Harder you try...the behinder you get"!

Of course ALL of this technology can be rendered totally useless and absolutely NON-FUNCTIONAL in a heartbeat....all you need to do is detonate a nuclear device sufficiently large enough at a 400 mile altitude over the middle of the USA to cause an EMP...(electromagnetic pulse)...and TA-DAAAA...no more electronic anything (unless VERY heavily shielded AND turned off at the time of EMP deployment. But it's not like you even heard me say that in the first place....(nudge, nudge...wink, wink...say...no...more), right?

But of course that would only be a worst-case scenario if that were to ever occur. Yet, think of the ramifications of such a situation.... Still, that should set us straight about our increasing dependency upon all these devices.

"Everything old becomes new again", one person once said...maybe just a wee rest from all the "stuff" we surround ourselves with daily might just be what the doctor ordered. It sure as anything wouldn't hurt what sanity we still retain.

Thank the maker that GARDENING hasn't gone this route...yet.