Technology has offered the world a great many modern conveniences. However, in the wake of the 21st Century, the advance of the technological revolution has become an entity unto itself. Few realize the scope, impact, and implications the information technology (IT) sector has produced, supported, and enabled.
Technoscience, Posthuman Transhumanism, Cosmism:
Some philosophers, theorists, like Nick Land, think beyond the human life is in the blood, God created good domain. And embrace their eventual demise as an accepted evolutionary dream. This "technological singularity" holds forth "cosmism" goals that serve to support the end of humanity as we know it.
Their view:
It "would be a cosmic tragedy if humanity freezes evolution at the puny human level." (Source: Wikipedia, retrieved 11/13/2023).
A TECH OBSESSION ADDICTION TO THAT WHICH CAN REPLACE YOU IS THE SAME SATANIC DECEPTION TEMPTATION THAT THE SERPENT (SATAN) TOLD EVE IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN:
You will not surely die; you will be as gods - (Genesis 3:4-6).
It is a sad plight in the 21st Century, that many people worldwide have become addicted to technology. On February 22, 2024, various world news accounts touted headlines of AT&T massive nation wide shut downs, drastically effecting people, places, and things. It was boasted by the company that hackers cyber attacks were not involved. Investigations have ensued. Social media posts on X served to confirm that AT&T's loss of service caused many to "lose their freaking minds" (reference: Kayla Braxton. post).
Additionally, scores of lost and searching human souls have become victims to the addictive alter reality AI programmed world of "I" via the Internet's enticing alluring temptations. Adding to this technology mix are the iMac, iBook, iPad, iPhone, iChat, iMovie, iPad, iPhoto, iTunes, and AI, alternative reality constructs.
Forward workings of The Metaverse (Greek word base for "beyond", derived in sway by Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash) will serve to further indoctrinate the "I" will world addicted masses at large.
Many Generation Y's (those Millennials born between 1984 and 2002), have been trained and entrained to be socially viable Internet friends worldwide, yet remain isolated by the very technology they have come to crave. Despite Internet cyberspace popular frame fame that may have been achieved, many Y's lack personal, meaningful real life relationships.
Also of dire note, is the fact the Y's are not mature enough, nor prepared enough to face the real world, with some never desiring to leave their parents nest (home). A hot topic point within the 2006 romantic comedy movie, Failure to Launch, directed by Tom Key, staring Mathew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. Such transition and independence periods have also been cited by some psychologists/psychiatrists as the Failure to Launch Syndrome.
The U.S. department of labor reported that by the year 2025, 76 million Baby Boomers will have retired, and there will be only 46 million younger people to take their place (US Dept. of Labor, quote cited in Business and Legal Resources, "Improve Engagement and Performance Through Generational Total Awards," HR. BLR.com, May 22, 2008, http://hr.blr.com/ HR-newsf/Staffing - Training/Recruiting/ Improve-Engagement-and Performance -through-Generat/). Generation X (demographic cohort following the baby boomers preceding the Millennials, born from 1965-1980 - Wikipedia Source, retrieved 10/21/2023) is not large enough in number to replace them.
Atlanta, Georgia based, Dr. Tim Elmore, has written about the Y-generation subject matter within his thought-provoking 2010 book (foreword by President of Chick-fil-A, Dan Cathy), Generation iY - Our Last Chance to Save Their Future (referenced website of this non-profit organization is: www.growingleaders.com).
ADDICTION'S ESCALATING PROBLEMS:
WHAT ONE SEEDS THEY FEED
As with any addiction, (porn and computer gaming per examples) the lust for power and craving for more, increases exponentially. This exponential growth swing in favor of technology, has helped to produce and enable, a blind mind set and acceptance of all technology has to offer. Never realizing the danger that lurks behind the veil of technologies grasp. Whereby Big Data Collection has served to infringe upon basic human rights as privacy infractions have served to gain, rule, and reign.
Whistleblower William Binney testified that while targeted data collection operations could help prevent terror attacks, 'overcollection' of mass data undermined security and had consistently cost lives because of 'analysis paralysis.' Adding: "British government should 'redirect' intelligence agencies and law enforcement to targeted surveillance with it being based on probable cause and developing knowledge about the targets and make sure they qualify for things like 'warrants.' Binney states, ' retroactively analyzing people, anybody you want, any time you want that's certainly possible with bulk acquisition of data but that's certainly not what democracies are built on, that's what totalitarian states are built on."
Whistleblower, Edward J. Snowden, in 2016, also weighed in on Big Data's all seeing eye, spy collecting:
"What I protest most strongly is mass surveillance, indiscriminate surveillance where they are watching everyone. Targeted surveillance that's backed by a court...is the least intrusive means of achieving these investigative goals without destroying the rights of everyone else in a free society. He further noted that the men who committed recent terrorist attacks in France, Canada and Australia were under surveillance but they weren't singled out. It wasn't the fact that we weren't watching people or not, it was the fact that we were watching people so much that we did not understand what we had. The problem is that when you collect it all, when you monitor everyone, you understand nothing."
DATA LEAKS ARE A COMMON HACKING PROBLEM. FBI HACKS RANSOMWARE GROUP THAT UNLOCKS VICTIMS' DATA:
As stated, Umar Shakir, in The Verge.... "The Group known as Hive, offered software to 'affiliates' who would find targets. Hive had been taking a '20 percent cut in any proceeds and publishing stolen data on a HiveLeaks' site if someone refused to pay. ....Before shutting down the group, the FBI hackced into Hive's servers, quietly "snatching up over 300 decryption keys that were used to free victim's computer systems." Hacking problems and data leaks have become an everyday common problem. In the case as cited, the targeted Individuals included "1,500 victims in 80 countries, including a Texas school district and a Louisiana Hospital." As was reported within The Week - The Best of the U.S. and international Media magazine - Feb 10, 2023, Volume 23, Issue 1116, pg. 20 - Technology News).
Cognitive Overflow offering up too many data choices has remained a questioned quest achievement. "The SIGNT mission is far too vital to unnecessarily expand the haystacks while we search for the needles. Prioritization is key. We in the agency are at risk of a similar, collective paralysis in the face of a dizzying array of choices every single day. Analysis paralysis isn't only a cute rhyme. It's the term for what happens when you spend as much time analyzing a situation that you ultimately stymie any outcome ... It's what happens in SIGINT when we have access to endless possibilites, but we struggle to prioritize narrow, and exploit the best ones." (Source: Wikipedia, retrieved Aug. 2, 2023).