How technological and medical advancements have changed our lives

I find it interesting to see how technological and medical advancements change people’s viewpoints. As computers became able to take over more tasks for us it was thought that they would take over our jobs, and they did. People thought that they would give us more leisure time, paperless offices and instead we spend more time on the computer and are flooded with paperwork. We tend to spend more time with our computers then our families.

As we became more comfortable with computers new sciences and technology became everyday. Then our science fiction became probable and possible. Now what was science fiction in the 70 and 80’s are now commonplace commodities. Every time I look around I see things people created in stories in the 50’s and 60’s being used as every day items. Now there are quite a few things have surpassed the original ideas. For today’s invertors or scientists the idea of teleportation devices, holograph rooms, cars that run on air or water, or devices that let the blind see are not some far off idea but something people are working on at different labs or have already been created.

It is nothing to have friends from all over the world that you chat with on the computer, not typing but actually talking face to face, play a game or party all online. At this point some doctors actually use robotics and computers to operate on someone. Now people are actually having chips imbedded in their bodies that hold their identity, and credit card info. We can JPS our pets using chips and now there is talk of trying to have ones made for our kids. Not a bad idea but does give life to some of the dooms day and big brother is watching you science fiction found in many books and movies.

People are always looking for the fountain of youth, be it in a bottle or surgery, but now it is possible to create organs so we can be young inside. It is possible for humans to extend our life span to indefinite depending on the science of organ growing and how long our minds can actually last. We have already created cyborgs, man blended with machine and robots, both as external skeletal units and limb attachments and internal with artificial harts.

The only thing holding us back from creating a world of our dreams is that not everyone has the same dreams.

Online RPG’s make changes in how people interact with each other

Years ago I remember reading in sci-fi stories about how technology would eventually cause people to become physically isolated from the rest of humanity. People would no longer have direct contact, but would only interact through some type of technology like computers and the Internet. At the time there were many different stories each with a different outcome and all were seen as being farfetched. The most common idea was that technology would remove the need to get out of our homes and see each other. That day is actually here, or at least the start of it is.

We can order food online, from restaurants and grocery stores. We can talk with friends and family on the phone or on our computers and even use web cams to see each other with out ever leaving our homes. There are many people working from home, online. With the advancements with online games such as EverQuest we can do all our socializing online. We can develop long lasting friendships and even romantic relationships with out ever dealing with each other face to face as it were. So our need to leave our homes is being slowly reduced. With some of the current trends in science the need to go to a Dr. may even be eliminated eventually. Currently some Dr.’s even operate long distance using special programs and equipment that allows them to operate on someone and not even be in the same time zone. And we all know how fast the sex industry is trying to develop the technology so that people will have equipment and programs that will let them have “sex” with each other online. There are even sex robots currently being created to fill that need if someone does not have a relationship.

It is quite easy to see that some of the predictions made by sci-fi authors in the 50 and 60 are not that far off from being possible. We are actively working toward creating the very technology that would make it possible. We have people working on creating or growing body parts to be used to extend our lives and ways to keep people healthy with out actually seeing a Doctor. We have a way to socialize with out leaving our homes. We are finding ways to work from home. The robot technology is already there and advancing rapidly. Robots can assist us, get our food for us, take care of us and even be our spouse (a lady has already married one on November 12 2007). Our drive for companionship, socialization, shelter, food and purpose can all be met with out us leaving our homes for the most part. It is a good thing for our species that for the most part we are not satisfied with having such a none physical contact with others. Though in the long run it may be a way for natural selection to assert itself. As the virtual worlds become harder to remove ourselves from, those who do not get caught in them will be the ones that have children, because they will actually have contact with real live people.