Is technology making us less human?

[Homeless Nutter]

I don't need to quote an article here, because I know it is making us less human.

Well, if you know the answer - why ask the question in the thread title?

We're not interacting one-on-one with as much frequency anymore and every damn time I see someone in public they are more interested with what's happening on their phones than with what is happening around them.

Perhaps that's because what's happening around them is... you?

[Edwardo Piet]

I think humanness is emotion.

LMAO, no.

(1) Other animals feel emotions too. (2) Emotions are merely one thing that makes us human (3) There are many other arbitrary things you could have selected that equally make us human.

You could have just as easily said "I think humanness is wearing clothes. Wouldn't you agree?"... in fact that would actually be more accurate (or less inaccurate) than the answer you gave. Other animals have emotions but other animals don't wear clothes.

And again, the ironic thing about suggesting that technology is making us less human is technology is perhaps the best possible single example of what separates us from the rest of the animals.

This doesn't make us special, of course. As all animals are special in their own way and saying every animal is special is just another way to say no animal is special.

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No.  It is a description.   You feeling of humanness is part of being humanness.   Other people’s way of life that you may regard as inhuman is just as much a part of humanness.

The only things that are inhuman are things that are nicer done by any human or never an attribute of any human.   Being trump, for example.

Good thing I know word salad from reason.

Yeah you do. Reason means "Simple shit Kit can understand" and word salad means "Complicated shit too complicated for Kit to understand."

I mean if it's too complicated for you to make sense of it then it must make no sense, right? (A perfect example is yourself on the free will thread. Although, that's not even complicated it's a clear and very basic logical contradiction that you fail to spot. Although... complicated and "complicated for Kit" are two very different things! I mean, CL is a theist so she believes in a magical soul... what was your excuse?).

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I get cranky when I see a bunch of people in a waiting room or bus stop with their eyes glued to screens, completely ignorant of their surroundings and I want to slap their phones from their hands.
Don't get me started on those who do it while walking down the street.
Are they less human? No.
These stupid creatures are too human.

I agree. Too human.

What pisses me off is not people at bus stops or waiting rooms glued to their screens though. They're not bothering or harming me in any way. What pisses me off is the following. Allow me to provide two examples:

(1) People walking on the sidewalk looking at their phones so they are not only much slower at walking and totally unaware of the fact that I want to get the fuck past them... they are not only completely oblivious: But they also stop in the middle of fucking walking. It's like so self-absorbed it's borderline solipsistic. And not only that they're often so absorbed they don't hear me saying over and over "Excuse me please. Excuse me please. Excuse me please. Excuse me please. EXCUSE ME PLEASE. Sorry you didn't hear me the first few times and I've been waiting here a while."

(2) People talking extremely loudly on buses or trains to other people on the phone... and laughing and swearing extremely loudly... as if no one else on the bus/train exists and as if they have no responsibility to actually give a fuck about the people around them at all.

Both cases are example of not just complete obliviousness to other people (that in itself doesn't bother me) but also complete obliviousness that affects other people. And that REALLY pisses me off. I don't mind self-absorbedness when it isn't unfair to others... but when it is I get very frustrated indeed.

[brewer]

I think humanness is emotion.  Wouldn't you agree?

I thought TD got banned.

[Brian37]

I don't see social media as any different than any other new and growing technology, be it medicine or weapons.

Anything can be used for ill intent. 

It is still always up to humans as to how we use anything.

[Edwardo Piet]

I think humanness is emotion.  Wouldn't you agree?

I thought TD got banned.

He did but then he hacked into Kit's account

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I don't see social media as any different than any other new and growing technology, be it medicine or weapons.

Anything can be used for ill intent. 

It is still always up to humans as to how we use anything.

That makes Steven Wilson seem pretty anti-internet... but he makes himself more clear in a much more recent interview, 6:47 into this video:





"Listen, I'm not saying that the internet is a bad thing. For me the internet is a wonderful thing. Technology is only as good as the way people choose to use it. Now, the problem we have is we have wonderful technology, we have internet, we have cellphones, we have the TV and all of those things are incredible inventions and have the potential to be incredible portals of knowledge and information and... to bring people closer together. But in fact, the problem is the way human beings are; not the way the technology is. Most human beings use the internet for downloading music, pornography and talking bullshit. On Twitter and Facebook [for example]. So much information on the internet is just noise. It's just people talking crap to each other... and there's no real sense of insight, or... intellect, it seems to me, in a lot of that stuff. So the problem is not the technology: the problem is the way human beings relate to that technology. And it's always been that way. It's always been that way. I think human beings by nature are quite passive... we're quite passive. If we're given technology that enables us to be really lazy... we'll be really lazy. Unfortunately. And you have to, kind of, push yourself to find creative ways of using technology. So listen: I love the internet. For me, as a musician, it's a fantastic way to get my music out there. But at the same time you won't find me on Facebook - I don't have my own Facebook page, I don't have my own - I have a fan page... which is great, get information out . . . you won't find me on Facebook talking about what I had for breakfast or telling my fans "Hey! I'm doing my shopping in Sainsbury's!"... but a lot of people do do that. I don't wanna know that. I don't need to know that. You know, so, that's the downside, for me, of the internet." - Steven Wilson

Couldn't say it better myself. That sums it all up for me.