Also- for what it’s worth, revelation for many has been a re-enlightenment of the basic and foundational. ]]> http://www.zonkio.com/augmented-reality-technology-and-communication_1700.html/comment-page-1#comment-1233 dwassel Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:59:59 +0000 http://www.zonkio.com/?p=1700#comment-1233 In reference to our relationship with our communication technology, you write: "As a culture, we're still figuring it out." This is true, and indeed it applies to our relationship with all of our technology. So what? Is this statement intended to be revelatory? Do you think that you are disclosing something interesting about the human condition? Much of our history as a species distinct from other primates has been characterized by our <i>figuring out</i> one technology or the other. The hittites made iron weapons, and their neighbors were forced to <i>figure out</i> how to deal with it. The cold war was, in no small part, our attempt to figure out how to deal with nuclear weapons. Other examples abound. Indeed, it is not only in the modern era that we have been forced to <i>figure out</i> how to handle communication technology. The movable type printing press was a new communication technology not as revolutionary, but in fact, more revolutionary than the cellular phone. A lot of <i>figuring out</i> needed to be done with respect to our relationship to the new availability and distributability (yes, I know this is not a word) of information that came about with the invention of the movable type press. The point is this: I agree with most of what you say, but it is not novel or interesting. Humans have been going through this for millennia. We will continue going through it. Our species' (seemingly unique) ability to create technology naturally creates additional environmental factors to which we are not instantly adapted (individually and in larger selection units). Given that evolution is a fundamentally non-directed process, we have no reason to expect that we will adapt to these changes. It is as much to say, we have reason to believe that we will spend a lot of time figuring it out and no reason to believe that we will ever actually get it. In reference to our relationship with our communication technology, you write: “As a culture, we’re still figuring it out.” This is true, and indeed it applies to our relationship with all of our technology.

So what? Is this statement intended to be revelatory? Do you think that you are disclosing something interesting about the human condition? Much of our history as a species distinct from other primates has been characterized by our figuring out one technology or the other. The hittites made iron weapons, and their neighbors were forced to figure out how to deal with it. The cold war was, in no small part, our attempt to figure out how to deal with nuclear weapons. Other examples abound. Indeed, it is not only in the modern era that we have been forced to figure out how to handle communication technology. The movable type printing press was a new communication technology not as revolutionary, but in fact, more revolutionary than the cellular phone. A lot of figuring out needed to be done with respect to our relationship to the new availability and distributability (yes, I know this is not a word) of information that came about with the invention of the movable type press.

The point is this: I agree with most of what you say, but it is not novel or interesting. Humans have been going through this for millennia. We will continue going through it. Our species’ (seemingly unique) ability to create technology naturally creates additional environmental factors to which we are not instantly adapted (individually and in larger selection units). Given that evolution is a fundamentally non-directed process, we have no reason to expect that we will adapt to these changes. It is as much to say, we have reason to believe that we will spend a lot of time figuring it out and no reason to believe that we will ever actually get it. ]]>