Technological Advances or Loss of Humanity

There was time when a computer was used to play video games and seen nothing more than an entertainment console for kids, Commodore 64. Then Apple change things with computers that could interact with each other, Intranet. Then Windows came along making using a computer easier due the GUI, Graphic User Interface, causing a new revolution in way things were done. The Internet really changes how things are done at home and work. Now, you can talk to anyone in the world and interact with multiple people at once. Years go by and corporate world started to go paperless while it is good thing because it was supposed to cut down on cost and increase production, however, it also a cause a result that was not foreseen by anyone. The loss of human interaction beyond the computer screen and cause the creation of new technology like digital media, namely digital comics have been the most talked about on the ‘Net.

The creation of the Internet and it use has made us seem closer to understanding each other as people. It also has caused some of us to become wrapped up in the interplay with people we may never meet beyond a computer screen. Human interaction on the Internet is great, but you cannot shake hands or see the expression of those people, except with web-cams, when they post or send you a message. It is hard to judge what people mean with just words or emoticons. Sure, a new language was creating with lol, lmao, and other shortcuts. A novice to the Internet has hard problem telling a joke from an insult or dealing with what can be seen a High School mentality that sometime runs ramped on message board.(IE The Cool Posters) There are some place where various view point are giving with logic and respect for each other. There are places that exist in a Stalin state where different viewpoint are seen as idiotic or moronic no matter how logically or respectful they are presented by a poster.

We have messenger services like msn, yahoo, and AOL which allows us to “talk” to each through the use of the keyboard. There are services that are a lot better like Skype and Google talk where you use a headset to really talk to people. These things bring greater understanding of how people act on the ‘Net. Taking part of a large group session on the voice messenger is sometimes confusing, but it does help to bring a voice to these typed posts on message boards. You get an understanding if a person who you talk to is being serious or just kidding around. It also helps to discuss differences without angry typing or “knee jerk” reaction typically happening. There is a danger with these things that should be look at too. You can get too wrapped up in these things and ignore what is really important. Those important things are those relationships you have without the computer being involved. You can quite easily get sucked into a fantasy world where the people on the ‘Net become more important than those that you see “real world” on a daily bases. This can cause many problems that can affect your personal and professional life if you are not aware of what you are doing to yourself.

The computer age has made accessing information easier, but it also brought a new crime with it. Identify thief started when people start accessing computers via the web. Hackers have stolen credit card numbers and other information to line their pockets. The FBI created a new division to find and prosecute these people. It also made it really easy for people to do things and claim another person did it. Wives and Husband walk into divorce court with e-mails and Internet history claim their soon to be former spouse did such and such on the ‘Net. In truth, they faked it to get the case to go their way. Thankfully, those are not allowed to be presented anymore because judges learn that vindictive people can try to lying the system to for their gain. There also the matter of things like Napster that made sharing files peer to peer which can been seen as a good or bad thing depending on your perspective. The good part is music, art, or writing that normally would not get seen by any one is not easy to access. The bad part is that copy write material is also being sent out via torrents. This is something that will not most likely end because there are thousand upon thousand sites that do this type of thing and asking them to police it is like asking Google to stop porn being search on their search engine.

Anyone that has been looking for a job recently will testify that all application have to be done on-line for most jobs. While this does decrease the cost of most corporations, it does have real bad side effect. The lack to see these people in person because it is hard to tell what kind of worker someone is from just words on a screen. You must be able to look these people in the eye and see if they are telling you the truth. You could have pass over an outstanding worker because of their resume and never talking to them. You may end up with crap because their resume was to your liking. This is one place the human element must stay in place and it is worth the cost.

Lastly digital comics and art, something that has created vious opinions on the website that follow this type of thing. Digital comics have been seen the end of print by many because it is cheaper to produce and supposedly has the same effect on the customer. That is false. Anyone that has done sales with a pamphlet with tells you that part of the sale is handing the perspective customer the pamphlet to create a sense of ownership. When you buy a comic at a local shop or from an on-line shipper, you receive something that you can hold in your hand and can feel with every page turn. There is also the fact that you own that copy and not have to worry about making backups due to computer crashes or software issues. You have copy forever and it is there whenever you want to read it again. In other words, you don’t have to wait for someone to get done using the computer or another device to read your book.

Digital art while sometimes is quite good; it also can be done horrible. Joe Quesada’s art could be seen as an example of this statement. Before going digital, you can say that his art was more profound and more human. After going digital, it lacks something. It lacks that human touch where you can almost feel his humanity coming through his drawings. He recent works lacks his humanity because he relies too much on technology with his recent work. While this seems to be the future of this media, the fact remains that this current time the technology is not perfected yet and should be used sparingly by artist. There something to be said when an artist is willing to take pencil to paper and does the whole picture by hand. There is a challenge to that that very few can do it in a manner that leaves the customer amazed by their work.

While living in the age of new technology, we must never lose the sight of what is really important. Our humanity to touch, feel, and understand the world around us because that makes us better people. We can become desensitize to the suffering happening or we cause because we just can do it and see over and over again. We must never stop striving to understand each other and the Internet is a tool for that, but we must turn the computer off to interact with people in real world settings. The Internet world is sometimes a wonderful place to interact with people, but it should never be your only outlet. Met people and talk to them.