We’re
screwed.
I’m
sorry, but it’s the truth. When it comes to the end—which we know
is predicted to be powered by artificial intelligence led by robots,
but frankly could be anything that destroys what we know as or
at least consider to be life on the planet—we are going to be
so massively helpless it’s not even going to qualify as comical.
(I
probably need to set a few things here, since I’m about to argue
that most of us are now incapable of operating a light switch.)
A
friend of mine has been sick recently. We could joke about it.
Review her illness in ways that exaggerate things. Try to come
up with some hilarity that would explain at ridiculous levels
why she was taken down for a few weeks by a cold. But that wouldn’t
be funny.
She
was sick.
Nothing
funny about that.
What
was funny was when she started
complaining about losing her voice. Turns out virtually everything
in her house has been set up for modern day ease and convenience
from the advancements of technology and voice activation. According
to her, never mind operating the television or streaming options,
she couldn’t make any sound that resulted in turning on the lights
so she could read a book.
If
you have things set up for wireless communication, and the wireless
network gets taken out, what happens? She couldn’t speak. Voice
activation gone. Seems funny. But let’s move slightly adjacent
to the thought, step just a bit to the side and consider wireless
routers and network settings.
If
you have an electrical outlet set up for voice activation, and
you can’t voice activate it, what’s the next step? Are you going
to walk around, unplug all of the things you have plugged into
them, then plug those things into regular outlets and operate
them manually? Did convenience just create a lot of work?
Electric
cars are wonderful. And then a storm comes along, knocks out the
power, and you can’t plug them in to charge. Thwarted by Mother
Nature.
We
joke about how only those familiar with and prepared for wilderness
survival will be ready for the zombie apocalypse. Work hard, train
hard, think ahead, prepare. Possibly fair. But also not covering
it all. We need to consider that those best suited for technology
outages are those that don’t use technology.
Think
about that.
It
has a bit of a logic to it.
Some
common sense.
Those
best suited to do without something are the ones that are already
without it. You can’t be inconvenienced by losing something you
were never convenienced with.
This
isn’t some investigation I’m launching to say technology is evil.
I am most definitely not trying to tell you that advancements
and conveniences aren’t worth it. I’m simply pointing out that
something supposedly completely foolproof is often neither complete
nor foolproof. A reality that often gets exposed in the most unexpected
of ways.
When
the uprising arrives, will you have done the right amount of nothing
to be safe?