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Is Efficiency More Valuable than Reality?




Growth requires failures and errors, yet technology is removing these for efficiency and convenience.

Maybe the most important question 21st-century citizens should ask is: “What level of technology do we need to live healthy and balanced lives in this world?”

Why do we need online technology at all? Why do we need smartphones? Why do we need AI?

And, importantly, what price will society pay for these technologies?

Is the price worth whatever benefits these technologies offer?

At this point, the prudent answer would be no, they are not worth the price, because, for one, they aren’t necessary, and two, they are detrimental to our character, development, and individual freedoms.

The main theme for the integration of online automation technologies in business and personal use is efficiency; it will streamline processes, take away mundane tasks, and all without pesky human error.

The problem is, people have a hard time arguing with efficiency, but is it the most important thing in life — doing things faster, better, and easier?

At what point are we going to realize that outsourcing life to robots isn’t progress? Rather, it is taking away our ability to grow, to live in reality; you know, the reality beyond the machines that are only alive because of a finite source of electricity.

The entire construct of the online world is held together by an illusion fueled by electricity. The larger this illusion gets, the more electricity is needed to power it.

Wouldn’t it make sense to use less electricity? Wouldn’t that be progress, considering electricity comes from finite resources, and the process does harm to our environment?

Yet, we are exponentially expanding the scope of online technologies, pretending all the data is being stored in a cloud; when in reality, it is being stored in huge data centers sucking down more energy than any other segment of society. Interesting how this works.

Are we interested in progress or simply being entertained? AI automation gives us more time to be entertained, right? Isn’t that the main purpose, to take away all the time-wasting activities, so we can party and dance on screens to bolster our neurosis?

The entire scope of humanity has come down to progress equaling efficiency. That’s why we need to put chips in our brains, to become cyborgs, because we will be more efficient!

Why will the world be better when we are all more efficient? Oh, yeah, so we can have time to scroll on our screens and worship the self, I remember. We need more time to enhance our self-absorbed neurosis and essentially think and act out our pleasures.

Efficiency and convenience are the two concepts that will be our downfall, isn’t that interesting? Our entire value system is out the window for these two themes of modern society; our freedoms will disappear for these two wonderfully important words.

The modern mantra: “There is nothing more important than being more efficient and having more convenience.”

Because then we will have the time to do things that are really important, like wonder who the hell we are and why we are doing what we are doing in the first place. Oh, wait, that would take self-reflection and critical thinking.

More like, commit sin and worship idols…

Let’s take a moment and simplify this argument. Wouldn’t it be wise to allow humans to think for themselves, to do things for themselves, instead of outsourcing these to automation? I can understand some technology, a modicum of advancement for the sake of providing a better life for more people, yet can’t we discern when this goes too far?

Making mistakes is part of being human; it helps us learn, problem solve, and grow as people. If technology takes that away in the name of efficiency, then people won’t grow, they won’t learn — they’ll be full of information, but devoid of wisdom, experience, and character.

That is another important aspect of making mistakes, forming character; being challenged, failing, and facing difficulties helps reveal what is inside of us, how we deal with hardships. If we can learn to deal with situations and people better when difficulties and failures arise, then we grow character as a person.

It is fairly obvious, as online technology advances and integrates into our lives, people’s characters are getting worse and worse. The younger generations have a crisis of character because they don’t know how to deal with failure, criticism, hardships, and making mistakes. They refuse to be accountable; they are entitled, spoiled, delusional, etc.

And online technology is creating this crisis of character.

But, it’s all worth it for more efficiency and convenience, right?

Well, it seems that’s the prevailing sentiment of folks. We surely will pay a price, and it will be much worse than having to do mundane tasks and dealing with human mistakes in workflow processes.

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