As impressive as a robot playing Giant Steps by John Coltrane might be, it has no soul. It’s clearly not human. We can appreciate the technical merits, however we cannot appreciate it musically. For that we need the real thing as played by a talented human being.
Likewise, while we can appreciate all of the things that computers and technology can do for us in life, but we must remember that they have no soul, and our souls require that we mingle with other souls in order to truly be happy and satisfied. As much as computers and technology play a role in helping us do our work or entertaining us, we need to unplug and just be human sometimes. If we don’t, then how can we be happy or satisfied?
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Great article. Thanks for sharing Mark. I wonder if if tech. such as the computer is an escapist mechanism for the soul that feels comfort in residing in “fantasy” rather than the reality of facing the world. Having said that however the computer has become an access for information in a nanosecond. Hope all is well and you are staying warm. xo, Corinne
Thanks Corinne,
For many, I think that is how it might be. It can be an escape from the world. For some, perhaps they have a world that is worth escaping, for a while at least. For most, they’re missing out on a good world which has much more to offer than the virtual worlds.
By no means am i trying to demonize the computer here. As you point out, it’s a wonderful tool for finding information, communication, publishing, solving problems, learning, and even having some fun.
But it’s never going to replace everything. People who use computers to excess are displacing other activities in the real world that are probably more valuable and enriching that whatever they are doing in their virtual worlds.
Makes me think of the PBS series Frontier House. The one piece that stayed with me was the millionaire’s wife in the last espisode. Powerful! Kind of summarizes life today.
If you want to catch a glimpse of people who live without technology check out a movie I watched this past weekend, The Story of the Weeping Camel.