Thoughts

The Fool

The foolishness of man ruins his way,
And his heart rages against the LORD.
(Proverbs 19:3 (NASB95)

This is the way of it, isn’t it? A man ruins his life by his words and deeds and blames everyone else apart from himself. If he’s not so completely foolish (Psa 14:1) and happens to believe in a “higher power”, he would dare look upwards and blame God as well. I hate to break the news, but mankind is not evolving. His condition isn’t improving with time despite advances in technology and medicine. His fundamental nature has remained the same from the beginning. Man will always miss the mark, every time. He can’t even live up to his own moral standards let alone the Divine Imperatives.

Tech and Safety

As a truck driver, I must stay constantly on alert. For 12 to 14 hours a day, every day, I have to be aware of what’s going on around me in and out of the truck, for the safety of others and myself. I have a better view than most. I sit either parallel or just above the top of most vehicles. I can see directly into your car without even paying attention. Just a quick glance and I know what you're doing. This may sound kind creepy to some but it’s really an advantage in terms of safety. I know whether a driver is distracted, what his possible intentions are, and just what kind of driver he is. And the kind of driver I see is disturbing. Most people have their phones in hand or resting on their knee. What’s most alarming is many are texting and driving while traveling up to or exceeding speeds of 70 mph on the interstate! Offhand, I don’t know the statistics, but this seems to be a greater problem than driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol. I don’t care what your business is or what's going on in your life, there is nothing more important than paying attention to what you’re doing behind the wheel.

“Abject Culture” and the Dehumanization of Man

A certain friend, in one of his more contemplative moods, seriously considered how tech and social media is affecting our culture. He even bought a domain and toyed with the idea of creating a website addressing these issues. It was a good plan and I hope he does something with it. When he approached me as a possible contributor I had already been collecting articles on the negative effects of social media, and at last count, I had acquired some 40 essays or so over the last 5 years. One of the first articles I bookmarked concluded that the jury was still out. Though in most court cases the jury must reach a unanimous decision to convict, but not all cases do. So far, the consensus is social media and tech is harmful to individuals and dehumanizing society as a whole. The list of negative effects is too long for this thought, so to give you an idea of the problem I’ll leave you with this quote:

“Tech companies are conducting a massive, real-time experiment on our kids, and, at present, no one is really holding them accountable,” said Common Sense’s CEO, James Steyer, warning that tech companies’ attention-grabbing business models may hurt “the social, emotional and cognitive development of kids”.

“When parents learn how these companies can take advantage of our kids, they will join us in demanding the industry change its ways and improve certain practices.” --

(Center for Humane Technology, led by former Google design ethicist Tristan Harris and former Facebook investor and adviser Roger McNamee.) --The quote is taken from the article, “Former Facebook and Google workers launch campaign to fight tech addiction”. The Guardian.