Will Technology take over the World

When society thinks of this question they can help but think of the movies that have shown technology taking over the world like I, Robot or the Matrix. In actuality, the world won’t be taken over by technology but it will learn to function more efficiently with technology. As you look through history man has endeavored to improve his lot in life by finding more efficient and easier ways to handle his daily tasks. This won’t end anytime in the foreseeable future, because man is ultimately lazy and wants to do as little work as possible so that he can do the things he enjoys doing.

Another reason that man will endeavor to become more efficient is the workplace, companies will be able to make more money which will make their stockholders happy. If more money is being made by business then they are more likely to expand and hire more people which will boost the economy and the cycle will continue. As companies become more efficient they will hire people who are innovators in their fields to find ways to improve the work environment and create new technologies to make life easier for mankind. The reason technology won’t take over the world and put mankind under its thumb is because it doesn’t have the capacity to think up new ideas for greater efficiency, they are machines and do what they are programmed to do. It might seem like your computer has a mind of its own when you are trying to get it to do something, but in actuality it is just doing what it was told to do.

Mankind will continually endeavor to improve his life. Just as some people are pushed to write and get the story ideas out of their head others are pushed to invent. They need to see their ideas come to life. It is not just something they enjoy doing, it is something they have to do, to take their seed of an idea and grow it into a vibrant and living invention. It is this mentality that will keep technology from taking over the planet because no matter how smart you make a machine it is still a machine and incapable of having the imagination to create something that will help everyone in the world.

The final reason technology won’t take over the world is because even though most people think technology is used throughout the world, it isn’t. There are two many places around the globe that don’t even have electricity let alone computers and robots. Many indigenous tribes in South America and Africa have never seen a flashlight let alone any thing more technologically advanced like a computer or even a cell phone. There are many third world countries that exist like they have for centuries, living off of the land and helping each other. I doubt that they will stay like this forever, but I also doubt that technology will take over their world. Their customs and beliefs are too far engrained to let technology become their God.

Skype or Vonage, which is better

I actually have both of these products and have a use for each. When we were in the military calling home to keep in touch with the family was expensive. It cost $0.25 a minute to make a long distance call. Then the telephone systems had to lower their rates and it got as low as $0.05 a minute which was nice. Then came a favorite, pay a flat fee and get unlimited long distance, but, and there is always a but, you had to sign up for two of their other services, i.e. caller ID, call forwarding, etc. So our phone bill was still about $100 a month.

About a year ago we signed up for Vonage, $28 a month and unlimited long distance. This worked great as my son had a girl friend out of state and some of his friends had just moved. One of the disadvantages to Vonage is that you have to have a cable modem, which for us, because I work from home isn't that big of a deal, but for some people, they just don't have a need for a cable modem. The other disadvantage is if the cable goes out, then we do not have phone service. This isn't that major of a hassle because we still have our cell phones but it still can make your life a little difficult. In my opinion the pros for Vonage far out way the cons, so we will continue to use Vonage at least until a better product comes around.

Now some people might say that product is Skype, which up until recently was free to make phone calls to anywhere in the United States. It didn't matter if the person had Skype or not. Now you have to pay a fee to make these phone calls. It costs $14.95 a year to make these phones calls and the price increases to $29.95 after January 31st. One of the disadvantages to Skype is that you can only use it on the computer, which means unless your computer is on you can not receive phone calls on it and if you are away from your computer you can not hear it ring, normally.

Like I said, I have both types because I like Vonage for my home phone and I like Skype for the computer, when I have to talk to the companies I work for. I will let you make your own decision whether either systems will work for you. Thankfully we have come to a time when making telephones calls is no longer going to break up, even if our teenage daughter is on the phone for 5 hours. Now if only we could get the same thing to work for cable....

Technology and You

I will be the first to admit that I don't know a lot about technology, but I am always willing to learn. Growing up I was the first one in my family to own a computer, it was a Commodore Vic20. I thought it was great when I was able to write a program to get a rainbow of colors on my screen or to print out letters in different colors. Technology has come a long way since then. I still remember buying a hard drive for our computer and it was $350 for a 250k hard drive. The prices we paid back then were amazing and now my husband just put together a media room and added a computer with two 500G hard drives to hold all of the movies. It is mind boggling.

So I decided I was going to do a blog that helped people get through the maze of technology one waddle at a time. To help the computer illiterate understand the nuances of our "Information Age" and in the meantime help myself to understand some of the things I don't understand.

If there is anything you want to know about or a new technology you want to learn about let me know and I will look into it. In the meantime, I am going to hit on a few of the subjects that have helped me over the years. I should be able to come up with a few as I was on the Internet before there was a World Wide Web, before email was commonplace (you had to pay extra for it), and online games were text-based.

Stop on by when you get a chance and hear the technology ramblings of the Polar Penguin.
Patti