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Robots Without a Cause
WG55 writes "Have you noticed that more and more technology is more ingenious than useful? Stuart Jeffries of The Guardian writes in his article Robots without a cause that much technology produced today will change our lives little, if at all. He writes, 'Our response to being bored and rich is not to discard our possessions and live more simply, but to buy more stuff to reduce the space in which we might contemplate our shame.'"
The US population is gaining weight at an alarming rate, with over half the population over their ideal weight.
<sarcasm>Surely stuff like this couldn't be the cause, could it?</sarcasm>
consumerist technological zeitgeist
what does that mean? well that means that the author believes that our society likes to buy gadgets. but he can't just say that, because that would make sense. He has to make up ism's and reference Neitzsche. Remember, more syllables equals more better.
The Guardian is clearly the product of over-education. If he must rant about Americans being wasteful because we're "rich and bored, and have plenty of disposable income" why doesn't the author point the finger to his years of expensive schooling. For clearly that was a total waste of time as well.
If only the Guardian had grown up in a more impoverished country. He could be spending his time in the fruitful pursuits of agrarian farming, rather than wasting our time with this drivel.
It breaks my pluginses, my precious!
You have contradicted yourself. Either "there is no lasting value in life" or "the only lasting value in life is the joy we derive from life". Take your pick, but you can only pick one. Personally I prefer the first option because in so choosing I find a terrible burden is lifted off my shoulders. I no longer feel compelled to work for my own joy or anyone else's. Knowing that nothing lasts is a very liberating sensation. Trying to squeeze the most out of every moment (the hedonism you mention) is like trying grip water by tightening it within one's fist-- and please no picky-picky about how if you froze the water you could probably grab it without too much trouble. ;)
What I'd really like to see is "Zen Meditation: The Video Game". That would allow me to engage in "deep" contemplation and mindless distraction at the same time.
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