[higgmeister]

"...Technology is grand, but sometimes I pine for the lost yesteryears. We didn’t know that we had it so bad back then... But then again, to have the entire world and its knowledge in the palm of one’s hand is pretty amazing..."

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So true. I was a big proponent of technology for the last thirty to forty years, always out in front, showing my friends and family what could be done. But I see some things that are decidedly not constructive. We clearly see the double edged sword that is technology. I have begun to wish there were no cell phones. I love having the world at my fingertips, but seeing a family of four at breakfast in a hotel I was staying at, all with their faces in their phones is a disconcerting sight to me.

And I think there is a destructive aspect to it, not just the cultural and societal, bu the governmental. You summed it up nicely.

One of our own, LS, is writing a book about technology and its effects on society both good and bad.

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After forty plus years as a telecommunications technician with the USAF, ITT, Sprint, and having retired after 31 years of employment at Verizon(legacy MCI). I have a different perspective. I have always been a dedicated technophile, but apparently, like you, I have developed a heightened understanding and intuition about our technological trends. I am not a slave to technology. It holds no mystery. I do not worship, nor do bow to the great god Electron.

If a telephone rings I can let it ring all day if I don't want to answer it. Another person in the nearby vicinity is much more important than the cell phone connection that is disturbing others or is causing others to be slighted and ignored.

I have literally been on individual phone calls for ten hours straight coordinating restoration of service. The worst time was facilitating service restoration for American Express around its tragic losses on 9/11. I have been on conference calls with numerous locations around the world.

Phones, TV and data processing means nothing in the grand scheme. It isn't magic. We do not have to let technology make us slaves.

I will look for Larry's book when he completes it. I actually cannot wait to see his insights.

[rlmorel]

I feel exactly the same way that you do.

Funny, neither my wife nor I are big cell phone users. We tend not to call people or each other. Heh, we have never been phone talkers anyway.

But I love having music all the time, and what I want. I fully appreciate GPS, though I can follow a map. And having the Internet at your fingertips is prettttttttty cool.