Is Technology Alive?
Technology is not a thing, but a life-like, evolving organism that has its own ‘wants’ and ‘needs’. Kevin Kelly argues we need to understand what ‘it’ wants to project where technology is headed to capture its full gifts.
Technology is stitching together all the minds of the living, wrapping the planet in a vibrating cloak of electronic nerves, How can this not stir that organ in us that is sensitive to something larger than ourselves? – Kevin Kelly
Kevin Kelly muses on what technology means in our lives — from its impact at the personal level to its place in the cosmos.
“There are children born today whose technological possibilities have not yet come about. I would argue that, in a certain sense, we have a moral obligation to increase the technology of the world — of the universe — to insure that the genius of every person born will have some way to express its fullness. In the end, this is what the technium wants, too. What the other six kingdoms of life want. What we want. To increase choices. To open up new freedoms. To expand the possible.”-Kevin Kelly
Do Technologies Go Extinct?
“One of my hypothesis is that species of technology, unlike species in biology, do not go extinct. When I really look at supposed extinct species of technology, I find they still survive in some fashion. A close examination of by-gone technologies shows that somewhere on the planet someone is still producing it. A technique or artifact may be rare in the developed world but quite common in the developing world. For instance, Burma is full of ox-cart technology; basketry is ubiquitous in most of Africa; hand spinning still thriving in Bolivia. A technology may be enthusiastically embraced by a heritage-based minority in modern society, if only for traditional satisfaction. Consider the traditional ways of the Amish, or modern tribal communities. Often old technology is obsolete, that is, it is not very ubiquitous or second rate, but it still may be in small-time use, as many old-fashioned ways are.” -Kevin Kelly