In the last thirty or forty years, the rapid pace of technological progress has been dazzling. I still remember my first desk-sized computer, with its massive 20 megabytes of storage, its MS-DOS operating system with the old C: prompt, and the modems that emitted a kind of high-pitched banshee wailing. Ah, those were the days. Now, the phone in my pocket is a thousand times more powerful, and my laptop can handle tasks unimaginable back then. With AI, it seems the sky is the limit. Soon, we’ll all be sitting in the sun with our feet up as robots jump to our remotely issued commands and do everything. Sounds wonderful, but is it actually increasing our happiness? Personally, I find that the onslaught of information, news and social media simply increases my anxiety levels. I need to unplug every so often to recover my peace of mind. I’m seriously considering deleting all my social media accounts and trading my smartphone for something a lot dumber.
Maybe that’s a bit drastic, and I’ll probably find it hard to do, but I do think the exponential growth of technology has its downsides. First of all, where is it all going to? Do we have any specific goal in mind, beyond making life easier? What shall we do with our easy lives? I don’t know about you, but I find sitting around idly rather boring. Is a life of pure recreation fulfilling? I once took a three-month vacation with my true love, complete with sun, sand, and surf, but by the end, I couldn’t wait to get back home. It comes back to the first point of spirituality: we are spiritual beings meant for spiritual happiness. No matter how much pleasure we indulge in, we are never satisfied, and eventually it becomes jaded and even nasty.
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/a-vulture-like-civilization/
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