Whatever Comes to Mind

I just saw I, Robot - I know I should read the book -- but it takes me forever to find time to finish a book -- and I'm not saying the movie is good or bad just taking an idea from it and running away on one of my tangents. Anyway, I was thinking about the ending and the Robot's logic of protecting the humans and mankind by keeping them from doing anything - going outside, getting in a war, polluting the earth, etc. Is that what are goal is with technology, to find a way to keep us completely safe from ourselves, our freewill. To keep us, and others, safe from wrong decisions 20 steps ahead, or even 2 steps ahead. Is that what makes us different from animals, the fact that we can control the safety of our lives and others' life. Are our creations there to protech us. This is just a string of thoughts, so don't read it as researched fact -- I'll think, and type through some examples I'm thinking of:

Media -- home/visited/interactive entertainment -- The expansion of entertainment with the use of technology has subdued the populus. Entertainment used to be crowd areas of sport or drama, stadiums and ampitheaters of people with limit security to contain the enthusiasm of victory or loss. With the games being brought to us via cable/satilite/local radio, the crowds can enjoy the sport with perfect safety. After the game, reports are made about weather or not to travel into the site of the sport - "after the game, riots break out"(but the report of riots are rarely broadcast now - due to enthusiasm for drunken brawls) -- Movie, TV Drama, sitcoms, "reality tv" fill in the gaps of time we have between our jobs, eating, and sleeping. -- Wake Up with the Morning Show, find out what happened the night before when you were watching the late show - come home to the news and financial planning maniac right before you sit down to enjoy that home-micro-ed meal(brought to by GE). So home entertainment has been around a while, and it's ever changing - BETA, VCR, DVD, Blockbuster, Netflix, TIVO, ipod video, etc. The mass media market grows every second - every tv, computer, cell phone, H2 with video screens captures another set of eyes. Right now you're glue to my words. What does this, the stationary entertainment, keep you from. Does it keep you from doing good or bad? Does it keep you from enjoying your time on earth? Does if keep you from interacting with other, good or bad? Does it keep you happy? Are you safe?

Transportation -- Modern cities grew out of the need to be in a central location for an industrial job(industrial, my meaning of a non-farm job). As the cities became crowded, planners developed methods of transporting goods and people further and further away -greater ships, trains, cars, trucks, planes. The great planners of the twentieth century saw the need for highways and superhighways, subways, elevated rails - where the public was safe from the vehicles and the vehicles keep the public safe. Advances in design and safety has led to faster and more secure transport. The secure transport lets people move away from the cities they work in. Giving them options of space, confort, securtiy, and health. And this transport, comforts them on the average hour and half commute to work each day. They can listen to their satilite radio, audiobook, new favorite pop star, or the morning show( insert station here).

Could we change the world, with technolgy holding us down? What would you be without technology? What would your purpose be?

This stream of thoughts went in many directions -- so comments all around would be appreciated.

The winters are starting all over the country. Georgia's weather is cooling down to reasonable tempertures, right before they drop to cold without warning.

Depression season starts for those that find themselves lonely on a weekend night.

As I was sitting in a resturant, watching the busy traffic fill Ponce De Leon Ave., I started to think about space and the relationship of comfort. Some people want to be around others just to have them close, to feel the buzz of energy going on is other people's lives, and personal space is given up for comfort. Others may want complete space from everything, freedom to walk for miles, drive for miles, with no one around, that is comfort to them.

How do you transition a city to have less space to roam, more people in it, and have the comfort of personal and literal space? Atlanta is going through this transition now. Housing and Commercial Developments have grow exponentially since I've been in this city. The first years of college, the city had traffic problems, too many drivers, but everyone lived on the out-skirts of the city. Those that needed to commute in, did. Those that didn't, usually lived outside, only to come in on special occasions or that once-in-a-while weekend night. Now, we have so much housing development, the hum is back in this ant hill.

People are falling over each other whie living in the city, mainly because they refuse to get rid of their cars and legislate for good public transportation. With gas being so expensive, I'm glad I can walk to work - or it's close enough too. I don't want to move out of the area, because driving 30 min to work isn't fun.

When the Segway came out, it promised of times when personal travel would be fast, inexpensive, quiet, and stressfree. I can't imaging planning a city where people were trying to go really fast on personal carts because the space has gotten limited. The car is a bloated version of our bodies and as space gets limited, the cars get smaller, the people more packed in. Each city humming like an ant colony with cars driving all over eachother just to keep the status-quo going.

I guess this post is a my disgust with growth without actually growing, but more like shrinking.