Dave Pires

In this city.

Last night I went to a public forum billed, “The Future of News: How Much Control Does the Public Have?” Despite the quality speakers, I was a little disappointed because the night focused mainly on the former part of the question, and I didn’t really learn anything. Except that Ian Hanomansing is a G.

Michael Tippett, the founder of Nowpublic.com, did spark some thought though. He was answering a question about the relationship between technology and community when he emphatically said something to the effect of, “our social fabric has been completely decimated!”

Technology and its effects on how people interact is something I have been thinking about a lot lately (with regard to my life in particular) and I’ve reflected a few times on E.F. Schumacher words, “Machines have become as much like people as people have become like machines. They pulsate with life, while man becomes a robot.”

I’m no Luddite, but I’ve found that technology constantly promises a greater connection to the people around us, despite often achieving the exact opposite. I think it’s really important to accurately evaluate those claims. Right now I’m focusing on how technology affects the social fabric of my life, and trying to properly balance its impact.

Interestingly enough, my computer gave out a couple of days ago, and despite the fact that it’s working again, the diagnosis is that it could die permanently at any moment. The uncertain long-term survival of the single largest technological presence in my life forced me to evaluate its worth, as well as its wealth of positive and negative effects.

I’m almost disappointed in how fully prepared I am to buy another one. I have embraced the fact that it plays a necessary function in my life, but I suppose having or not having is one decision, how you use something once you have it is completely another. The thing about that is, you always have the opportunity to answer the simpler question before the more complicated one. Not a privilege to be scoffed at.