Technology and Constraints

It’s midweek again, the time when energy starts flagging and the weekend seems at once both so far away and so close that we can almost feel the breeze through an open door. And, if you are reading this post, you are looking at the screen of some device (and probably have been for several hours, especially if you are reading this while taking a break from Pokémon GO.) It is appropriate then to share this quote by R. Buckminster Fuller.

"Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all he wrong reasons" R. Buckminster Fuller

As we spend more time in front of increasingly small screens, it is imperative that sometimes we step back and reflect on what technology (in this case, mainly thinking about computer and related technology instead of such technology as the pen or indoor heating) means for us and for our communities. No one can hold back the tsunami that is technological change, but that doesn’t mean we have to mindlessly use it or not consider what the right reasons for using it would be.

So let’s agree to be thoughtful about how we use technology and how we acquire technology. Let’s decide together what we should be using different technologies for instead of blindly following whatever marketing tells us. Let’s put down the smartphone and actually have a conversation or a bit of quiet so we can create whatever art we want to create. Because we can decide what constraints we want to put around technology and its use so that technology truly benefits us.

Let’s use technology to move towards utopias that science fiction has promised rather than the horrible dystopias that it warned us about. We have that power; we just need to use it.

I hope you have a wonderful day and create something beautiful (maybe even something with your hands that doesn’t rely on a computer or mobile device). 🙂 I’m looking forward to seeing friends after work and plotting out another story in my journal with a fountain pen. How about you?