Thoughts on technology and human evolution.

I used to love playing my Megadrive and the other computer & video games when I was younger. Anyway, welcome Shane, nice to meet you.

It does sound like the answer to all my executive (dys)function nightmares. You could still get by doing the "old skool" side of those things for example, still go into a bank etc. My point in my original post was, about having a choice over whether to do these things or not and how, often, tech seems to prevail over common sense or adds another layer of unnecessary complication.

I like old-school gaming, could never play games really but now my eyes have adjusted to the new screens growing up it's possible to play Sega and Pac-Man now  who else is like thos. Also hey, I'm Shane I have Asd autism developmental dyspraxia dyslexia and ADH. I'm from dorset

I don’t think I could cope without my iPhone. For me it’s my connection to other people and the world, I use it to email people rather than phone, I do online banking to save me the hell of going into a bank and deal with small talk with the cashier, I pay for everything by Apple Pay which stops me continually misplacing my bank card or the awkwardness of me trying to count out cash, add it up and then invariably drop it. I do all my clothes shopping online to avoid me having to go into busy, loud, bright shops. I use it to listen to music to help me to go to sleep. I use it connect to others over FaceTime when my social meter is run out and I can’t deal with face to face but need to still have some kind of human connection. i use it to make lists of things I need to do and set reminders for things I must remember. I use it to googlemap everything before I get there so I know the layout, what to expect, where to park or to find menus online to pre plan what I’m going to eat somewhere. It stores tickets for me rather than having the dreaded search in my house of knowing I’ve put the physical ticket safe and cannot remember where.

I literally couldn’t cope without it! :) 

out_of_step said:

I'm not sure what you mean either now!

The Matrix has you now!

I'm not sure what you mean either now!.......... Hang on I think I understand your original post a bit more now.

out_of_step said:

I do find on here is sometimes an echo chamber as there are few non autistic people who are here on discussions.

That is true, but there is little to interest NTs on this site unless they are researching us or partners of a ND person I guess.

out_of_step said:

It isn't for nostalgic reasons that I'm less willing to engage.

I'm not sure what you mean be engaging - is it in the discussion about technology or nostalga - so something else?

It isn't for nostalgic reasons that I'm less willing to engage. Don't ask me what it is....I would find that difficult to answer as I don't think it's just one thing.

I agree about big brother and we are doing it to ourselves. I do find on here is sometimes an echo chamber as there are few non autistic people who are here on discussions.

out_of_step said:

Are you suggesting a new moniker!?

You could be offline_spoons I suppose.

out_of_step said:

But I see my peers not feeling as strongly as I do about it, they seem less defiant and are more willing to embrace it.

I get this, but to quote Debbie, "nostalga isn't what it used to be".

We had a very different perspective on life back then - less cluttered with experience and nuance, more black and white and undulled by the erosion of age.

Memory is also not what it was - we forget the issues that surrounded us (the peer pressures, FOMO, being under the heel of schoolteachers, parents and even older siblings / babysitters).

Then again in todays society the controls are much more pervasive. Big brother is always watching (especially online) and we are monitored all the time through our mobile devices, CCTV and ANPR systems or even the cars we drive tracking our movements / speeds / braking etc.

It is no wonder people today feel blunted by lack of control and the constant manipulation of their opinions through the echo chamber of social media and news feeds tailored to their interests.

I agree. I am fully aware as one gets older "things were better back in my day" and there is this element behind my opinions also.. But I see my peers not feeling as strongly as I do about it, they seem less defiant and are more willing to embrace it. I don't see this as a problem,  just an observation.

Are you suggesting a new moniker!?

out_of_step said:

Thank you spam bots for deleting my twice edited post.

It isn't the spam bot - it is the AI selectively editing you out of existence...

Desmond79 said:

Alas, however, I see kids in electric scooters when driving to the village shop, and back, part of me dies inside.

Well 40+ years ago I was one of those kids on a skateboard doing just that and probably making my grandparents generation die a little on the inside.

It is nothing new, just a variation on the evolution of society.

Thank you spam bots for deleting my twice edited post.

Iain said:

Some variant of the Matrix seems inevitable and will probably be done willingly by future generations

Which as humans we are being prepared for now without realising. It appears to make life more convenient for many. We will wonder one day how it all happened. Its bigger than all of us and is "just the way things are" but whether I agree with it or not, it cannot be stopped as it is evolution. I suppose we are at such a small point in humanity there will be and have been many years of going through this transitional period. 

Thank God I live in the Sticks.

Alas, however, I see kids in electric scooters when driving to the village shop, and back, part of me dies inside.

It is easy to see the change in human generation by looking at the generational behaviour differences.

Gen X were mostly adults when computers first started to become widespread so learned to use these to suppliment their already established life patterns but mostly have the ability to pick up a phone / tablet / laptop to do something then put it down and go off to do something more conventional.

Millenials grew up with mobile technology as a child and as adults grew familiar with smart phones / tablets and embraced these but still were able to put them down fairly easily.

Gen Z grew up on mobile phones & tablets and they have known this technology almost from birth and they seem inseperable from it. They suffer much worse from addictive behaviour and mental health issues than previous generations.

Future generations are likely to grow up even more integrated thanks the technologies like virtual reality and are getting closer to being constantly plugged into the matrix, and it is quite possible to see a few generations down the line that person-to-person contact will die away altogether in favour of high definitial virtual interactions that can supply instant gratification and take care of all out needs.

Some variant of the Matrix seems inevitable and will probably be done willingly by future generations, led by autists who can't deal with IRL interactions I expect.

That is all assuming that AI does not evolve to sentience and realise what a useless bunch Humanity is and sets about getting rid of us as soon as it is able to be self sufficient.

If you're doing things that are more inconvenient for you (printing tickets, getting money from a cash machine and carrying it around), aren't you opting out of being served by technology? 

I could think of a hundred ways my life is made more convenient by newish technology in any week, but I'd struggle to come up with even a small handful of ways it goes the other way round. 

Desmond79 said:

It should be the objective of technology to serve mankind, not the other way round

Yes there are many ways the development in tech is helping humans. There is good! I'm thinking here along the terms of healthcare treatment for example, so not necessarily smartphone related.