Generation T

Most claim that we, the current generation, are Generation Y. I ask, why? And I counter-claim, that we are generation T. The generation that took Technology under its wing, and has caressed it ever since the American sociologist Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929) had harnessed the German concept 'Technik', which came from the Greek word 'Technikos', and ultimately is defined as 'the totality of man-made objects'. Veblen held a strong habitual liking to sociology and economics, and after helping to found the Technocracy Movement, which overall proposed that for the benefits of the economy, politicians and business people should be replaced with scientists and engineers with technical expertise, strongly believed that one day technology would allow social movements to organise the economy's affairs. A publication from Technocracy Inc. proposed this:

'Technocracy is the science of social engineering, the scientific operation of the entire social mechanism to produce and distribute goods and services to the entire population of this continent. For the first time in human history it will be done as a scientific, technical, engineering problem. There will be no place for Politics or Politicians, Finance or Financiers, Rackets or Racketeers... we are now held to an artificial scarcity forced upon us in order to continue a Price System which can distribute goods only by means of a medium of exchange... the natural resources and the natural boundary of this area make it an independent, self-sustaining geographical unit.' 

Ron Miller, from Technocracy Inc., says the following in a video called 'Meaning':

'The fundamental premise of Technocracy is that the application of energy and technology in our social system will ultimately destroy the price system. All of this is what is driving our standard of living. It is the reason we live so well. For the first time in history, people can live very well without having to work very hard for it.' 

The 'Price System', in case any of you were wondering, Technocracy Inc. says, is:

'Any Social System that exchanges GOODS and SERVICES based on COMMODITY EVALUATION and uses DEBT TOKENS or MONEY.'

Basically, the social system which the Technocracy Movement opposes still exists, and co-exists with technology and politicians. In fact, technology has grown far beyond the reach of any politician, and most scientists. It has sprouted out of proportions and almost out of control, and continues to spiral into longevity. It has taken hold of human minds and lives. It has obliterated the traditional methods of communicating and created its own, assisting in the slow but sure destruction of human speech and oral language. 

I find that, and I will be honest, when I sit in front of my laptop, I procrastinate quite heavily. I struggle to stay on task because this shiny metallic and ultra fast piece of technology on which I write has so many other uses that it becomes difficult for me not to stray - and whilst I approach this mystical piece of wonder with one motive, I leave it having adopted many. And boy, does time fly. It leaves my grasp without me having a mere chance of retrieving it. It slips further and further away and there is nothing I can do about it because I simply cannot escape technology. Nobody can.

The creation of Technology mirrors the opening of Pandora's Box - the biggest evil in the world has been released and it refuses to be contained. Instead, it develops itself and finds new ways to capture every ounce of our attention. And it never fails. It accommodates to the needs of all and once used, it becomes difficult for the user to go back to their original ways of going about the task at hand. It has replaced humans in professional environments. It will continue to replace other forms of professionals until our professions are, literally, in the hands of what we have wreaked. We have wreaked a form of havoc which both assists us and assists in destroying us.

I cannot recall a moment as of late wherein I have not been in the midst of any form of technology. In the toilet, there are lights and spray bottles and antiperspirant cans and the flushing system of the toilet and the toilet paper roll and perfectly square tiles and grout and a door handle and a ceiling fan, all of which are a form of technology or have been made from technology. In my bedroom - an alarm clock, a phone charger my mobile phone, a dresser, socks, underwear, blanket with intricate lion design, screws in the bed-frame - again, all of which are technology or were made by technology. I had fried eggs for dinner - they came delivered by a truck, in an egg carton which perfectly encapsulates every egg, each of which came from an egg farm, and I turned on my electric oven and brought out my frying pan then opened the contraption which contains oil and poured oil into the pan and, after a chemical reaction took place which fried my egg, I took out from my pantry an immaculate porcelain plate and used a kitchen device to pick up the fried egg and place it onto that immaculate porcelain plate, and I returned to the pantry to take out a loaf of bread that was cooked in a factory by machines, which the origins of its package are from a plastic company, and I sat down on a chair that has perfect machine-quality stitching holding down faux-leather, not made naturally from animals, which holds down the strange substance that is plush, and I sat down and ate the egg. Technologically.

No matter where you go, and what you do, technology creeps beside you. Be afraid, for technology also watches you. And be ashamed! For technology also controls you. And be amazed, for technology will continue to amaze you. And, last of all, feel deprived, because technology also deprives you of a natural state of being.


                                                                                                                                                                                         
References:
Wikipedia [en.wikipedia.org]
Technocracy Inc. [www.technocracy.org]