Postsingular blog 1

As I begin Postsingular, I feel as though I was entering into a new world. This new world however, seemed to be a world that the one we live in currently is about to turn into. All of the possibilities of what to do with nants seemed more efficient than the way our world operates today. For example, Chu and Ond spoke about using nants to make the sky as bright as the moon. This would save energy and the economy could run around the clock. There was also the idea of selling ads in the sky. As crazy as it might sounds, it also sounds crazy enough to be something we would try. We are constantly looking for ways to conserve energy and help our environment. More so, we are always looking for ways to save our failing economy. Like Ond said, the new environment would take some getting used to, but people would get used to it. In fact, people might end up liking it more. Humans are encouraging the rapid improvement of technology and it will only be so long before we expand it to the rate of a 24/7 economy. It is in human nature to adapt to the changes the world throws at us. I would go as far as to say that we not only adapt, we embrace the changes. Everyone wants the latest and greatest gadgets. It is a power struggle, or a status issue. Then, it grows into a necessity. For a while, people managed to get by without pagers, without internet, without cell phone phones. Now it seems to be a necessity to not only have a cell phone, but perhaps internet on your cell phone. The world we live in is not far from Postsingular, where technology is an addiction. The only difference is that Postsingular is more advanced than we are, at least than we are right now. Technology is constantly bringing new desires. The question is, how far will these desires take us? Technology has also created dependence. Therefore, if a new invention is created, we are bound to make ourselves believe that it is a necessity. Because we are so dependant of technology and because we desire everything new, we are likely to only encourage any changes.
One of the first lines of this novel was, “We’re unobservable now.” I thought it was interesting that while these boys were working with their inventions that they felt unobservable, much like most people feel when they are on drugs. The dependence individuals have on technology is like any dependence on a drug. It is hard to function without it. I’m not quite sure how I would function without my lap top, the internet and my cell phone, and those are only the basics of technology. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about the depths of technology and I still couldn’t function without the basics. I would be completely torn. What is sadder is that until this point I didn’t even realize that the dependence on technology is an addiction. On top of that, it is pretty safe to assume that the majority of the world is dependent on some sort of technology. I even see older generations beginning to adapt. Just this last year my dad taught himself how to email and set up an account and is learning to use the internet. It became a necessity for him in order to find more business. My mom has been forced to learn computers as well and although she still does not know the internet she can edit pictures from her camera and print them out. She also got On Demand this year and can work her TV better than I can. Even my grandmother takes advantage of Tivo. If the older generations are encouraging the change in technology, the new generations will completely embrace it. It makes me wonder when this will end? It’s definitely not simply a technology craze and something that will pass. It has proven to be a part of a lifestyle. This then makes me wonder, are there any limits to technology? Reading books like Postsingular kind of scare me because it makes me think of just how far we will take this lifestyle.