Blog questions challenge: Technology Edition
I came across three questions on gbrnt's gemlog:
I thought I'd give a go at formulating my answers to these to get my feet wet in interaction in gemspace.
When did you first get interested in technology?
I honestly can't remember. As a kid, in the late seventies / early eighties, even before I learned how to read, I was opening up my parents' electronic devices (much to their dismay) to see what was inside. When I was a bit older, I devoured everything the library had about electronics and computer design, eagerly awaiting the latest issues of electronics and computer magazines.
Technology, electronics and computers were developing rapidly. There was always something new featured in the magazines or the rare television programme dedicated to inventions and high-tech.
We went from tape decks (I'm a bit too young to have actually used punch cards) to floppy disks, hard-disks, CD/DVD media and finally flash storage. We went from simple single core 8-bit processors with a single operating mode to the complex CPUs with multiple processors, memory isolation and virtualisation of today. From dial-up modems and BBS-es to the modern day ubiquitous and always-on internet. Would you believe I remember the days that html and http didn't exist and the world wide web hadn't been invented yet?
What's your favourite piece of technology of all time?
The Commodore 64. What a magnificent machine. I never owned one in my formative years, but now, much later, I have a box full of them. I love what it stands for, I love its sounds, I love its graphics and most of all I love how a single person can grasp the machine in its entirity in a life-time.
What's your favourite piece of technology right now?
The Commodore 64. A lot has happened since, but I feel that with all advancements, something was lost, left behind along the way. The joy of computing has been replaced by a continuous drive to find new ways to extract profit. For many, computers are inscrutable. Tiny rectangles in their pocket that provide access to the internet 24/7. No-one is interested in how they work anymore. A computer is no longer a novelty you can explore and get to know deeply.
Development seems to have ceased as well. It's just more of the same it seems.
Incredibly, the Commodore 64 scene is still very much alive, with new games and demos released without abandon. Some call it nostalgia for a simpler time, where we had less worries and could loose ourselves for hours upon hours in discovering technology.
Name one cool piece of technology we'll have in 25 years
Honestly, over the decades, I've become a techno-pessimist. Maybe it's because I'm becoming a grumpy old man, but I haven't seen any cool new technology in at least a decade. All I see is more surveillance, more use of technology for nefarious purposes by manipulative psychopaths.
For myself, I find myself considering abandoning technology all-together. I'm done with it. There is no wonder left. Why work in technology and be an enabler of the abusive relation mankind has with tech? To earn a living? Perhaps I'm better off growing my own food.
But then, sometimes, something cool comes along. A glimmer of hope. Like the Gemini Protocol and its culture. And I'm transported back into my younger self's mind, exploring again, finding something of the promise technology held back then. A promise of development and creating a better werld. A promise that, sadly, was never fullfilled.
No, I don't think we will see any cool piece of technology in 25 years. Just bill-boards in space, AI-powered trackers at work to continuously judge our performance and flying cars to pollute the skies.