Technocracy?

I was watching T.V. yesterday with my mom and dad, and a Windows commercial came on.  The commercial depicted a frustrated mother looking at recently snapped pictures of her distracted and rambunctious family.  Needless to say, only the mom is looking at the camera in the photos.  Using Windows' new photo shopping tools, the mother makes changes to the photos to make it appear as though everyone is looking straight at the camera.  The commercial ends with the mother saying, "Windows gives me the family that Nature never could."  No emphasis added.

I found myself disturbed by that last sentence.  "Windows gives me the family that Nature never could."  It would seem that the undercurrent idea in a seemingly comedic and lighthearted ad portrays human creators as greater than the Creator.  This commercial states that creations, specifically man's creations, overshadow those things which preceded them.  In a handful of articles I have read over the past years, my views on technology and the dangers inherent have radically changed.  I never thought too ill of the rapid advances in technology.  Other than making life simpler and easier, I felt that it had no adverse effect on my life and the lives of those I knew and loved.  How could it?  I have only presently become aware of some of the detrimental and dehumanizing effects this advancement has on lives here and abroad.  We are told time and time again that technology seeks to eliminate the age old dilemma of separation due to distance and time.  However, the very opposite seems to have taken place, especially when communication devices are concerned.  The masses are far too absorbed by their cell phones (texts, emails, games, etc.) to carry on a real, genuine conversation or to tell a gripping story.  Certainly all of us know of times when we were so absorbed in our phones that we missed out on what was going on around us.  How many times have we missed a conversation with someone who was right in front of us because we were texting?  However, we shouldn't limit the trouble of technology with phones.  Television, the internet, and cars are all culpable at moving us farther and farther apart from one another in a variety of ways.  Knowledge of facts seems to have increased exponentially, but analysis and logic have declined to depressingly low levels.  Patience and silence abdicate to noise and convenience.  Physical bodies are replaced by a mediated, plastic substitute.

Read the article below.  I have hopes that it will provoke you to find and read more on this subject.  And, as the article convicts, read all of it.  I chanced upon a commercial for Google's new Droid phones immediately after reading this article.  A man was sitting in a meeting using his phone to access information concerning the discussion at hand.  As the man used the phone, the skin on his arms slowly peeled back to reveal that he was turning into a robot or "Droid" as he used the phone.  Creepy.  I hope to post more articles on this topic in the near future that will better explain my thoughts on this matter.  I know I have present technology only vaguely, but I hope to elaborate my views in later posts.  This is a general introduction to the discomfort I have with rampant and reckless development of technology for the masses.  Anyway, enjoy.

"Is Google Making Us Stupid?"