Predictions – Real Beats Digital
“I’m online I’m out in Hollywood.
I’m 6 foot 5 and I look damn good.
I drive a Maserati.
I’m a black belt in Karate,
And I love a good glass of wine.
It turns girls on that I’m mysterious.
I tell ‘em I don’t want nothing serious
‘cause even on a slow day, I can have a three way
Chat, with two women at one time.
I’m so much cooler online.
So much cooler online.”
Online - Brad Paisley
…..
It will not surprise regular readers of these missives that I am and have long been a Star Trek fan. Now, I was not fanatic enough to attend any conventions dressed as a Romulan, but I did write letters to the studio in the late 60s in an attempt to keep the show on the air. Our appeals were successful to get season 3 but failed to obtain a 4th season of the original series.
If you are not a fan of the various Star Trek iterations, you probably think the show is about space. It is not. It is really about the human condition and human nature and uses fictional aliens and artificial life forms to contrast their characteristics with that of the native species on earth. Spock and Data (TNG- the Next Generation android character) were without emotion to spotlight human activity that is emotionally driven.
Times change. Economies change. Countries change. The nature of human beings does not change. Not even in the 24th century.
In the last decade or so, everything it seems, is about how new technologies will transform everything. Facebook, Google, autonomous cars, smart homes, zoom meetings and so forth are going to change how everything happens and they will replace much of what we currently know. There is no question that technology changes things. The automobile replaced horses as a primary means of personal transportation. Over a period of decades, faster travel over greater distances was achieved. The desire to travel did not change, just the capability to do it. And horses did not go away. It is estimated that there are still about 50% as many horses in the United States now as there were before the Model T. The horses serve different purposes, but they are still with us. People like them. Television, and now streaming services, were both supposed to eliminate movie theaters. They have not. The human desire to “go out” and to see something in a social setting with other people is strong. One can hear much better quality music at home with modern stereo system technology than you will ever find at a concert particularly one in an arena or football stadium. Yet, concert going is at an all-time high. People want the experience of swaying and singing with others, seeing something “live,” as well as the spontaneity of the performers on stage.
So, what is my point here? Many of the most valuable companies in the planet today do not actually make anything tangible but merely provide a digital service of some sort. We have been inundated with how all that matters is what technology is going to disrupt what activity or industry and how nothing will be the same.
But just in the last few months, we have seen how those things we had taken for granted during this period, should not be taken for granted and are actually much more vital than Google. Without energy to run them, there are no computers and no internet. In fact, there is no life without energy. Without abundant food supplies, your Netflix subscription is of little value. If there is not a roof over your head that can withstand violent weather and does not absorb all of your income, the number of likes you have on Facebook seems rather trivial.
In my humble opinion, we have reached “peak technology” at least for a while. That does not mean there will not be new and important discoveries and innovations. There will be. But societies are recognizing how we have neglected the fundamentals of human existence so far in this century as we were distracted by new shiny objects. We see how young suicides have increased for many reasons but certainly in part because social media is not a substitute for real live in person friends and relationships. As a society we will need to and will therefore gravitate back to those things that are real and away from those things that are digital. This will involve some transfer of wealth from the tech-heavy coasts of the United States to inland areas where food, energy and housing are created, as well as political constructs with more freedom.
In Star Trek – The Next Generation, there is a character called Data, whom I mentioned earlier, who is an android. As such, his computational and retention skills as well as his physical strength are far superior to that of any human. But yet, in a number of episodes, he longs to give it all up to be human. To feel. To love. To pray. To hope.
The android wants to be human. It often seems in society today that we humans long to be more like an android. But our nature will not permit that. And I thank God for it.
Live Long and Prosper!
I remain respectfully,
Congressman John Campbell