As we face the 21st century with bright-eyed optimism, I d like to take the first installment in a new era to offer a thought on how we might benefit from a slightly different look at how we consider the use of technology in the days to come. I m not saying that technology is bad. I m not even implying it. Technology has been extremely useful to me and will continue to be so. Having used technology for so many years and having watched it evolve, I rarely find an innovation that dazzles me.
Computers are merely tools.
They allow us to find information at speeds that make the mind boggle. Oh yeah, they re good for games, too. Moreover, because information is so readily available, it seems that some folks are losing their abilities to view that information with a critical eye. Clearly, the only printed word that is to be taken at face value is mine. For the man who is not aware of this, to throw the problem of his responsibility on the machine, whether it can learn or not, is to cast his responsibility to the winds, and to find it coming back seated on the whirlwind.