Metaphor of Technology

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2000)

OK, think about it. You're using the latest advance in technology to transport information right now. Suppose somebody came up with a technological method tomorrow to transport any amount of matter from one place to another. Not two dimensional text or photos, but three dimensional objects. Food, clothing, machinery,even people, transported electronically. No more airlines, trucks, automotive industries, OPEC, Middle East crises, on and on. Hasn't the aim of technology (since Faraday) been to organize "essential" matter? Starting with manipulable electromagnetic waves to form impulses into telegraphic and then radio waves, technology has sought to shrink distance. Seth Brundle's (fictional) invention is the logical outcome of this quest. The joke to this theme is in the title. The "fly" is the proverbial fly in the ointment. The dark side of technology is it's capacity to inflict massive suffering on humanity, in the form of war machinery, totalitarian regimes, and biomedical disasters. The author of the original story, "The Fly", had a prescient understanding of the runaway obsession with technology we are now caught up in. How many dotcom commercials have you seen or heard lately? Get ready, the fly is about to hatch.