I travelled to Victoria yesterday to watch my niece perform in the Nutcracker at the Royal Theatre. I ended up sitting in the balcony at the back of the theatre (seats were expensive).
The show overall was great, however my experiences before, during the intermission and after the show made me think about culture and technology. During these moments I counted 20 cell phones being used for communication, surfing or gameplay as well as 3 laptops. Phones I could understand, but who brings their laptop to the theatre?
I started to think about this question and came to the realization that in reality I could have been one of the laptop users. While waiting I could have used my Mac to complete or work on my MP#2. Perhaps these other users were in the same boat. Work to complete, a speech to write, banking to complete - who knows. Basically we are and are increaingly becoming a 24/7 society. It is more commonplace. Technology is ubiquitous. We can do more in a 15 minute interval now, than we could in an eight hour day even in the 70's or 80's, not so long ago!
Ray Kurzweil discusses the Singularity, whereby computer abilility will outperform the human brain. Haley and Haraway discuss cyborgs. Murphie and Potts discuss Lyotard and changes in society. Well if you have a look around the evidence is streaming off the page and lectures and finding its way into our daily lives.
The change is not coming for humanity, based on this experience, I would say the change is already here.
It is going to be a wild ride!
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