August 14, 2019: Generation of Swine, Boomer Report Card, Technology and Innovation

“In the year 5555
Your arms hangin' limp at your sides
Your legs got nothin' to do
Some machine's doin' that for you”-----Zager and Evan “In The Year 2525

Unless you are infatuated with the internet, it is difficult to award, as does Brooks, a grade of A- to this generation in the fields of technology and innovation.  With the exception of Robert Jarvik’s implantable heart, the contributions of the Swine have been problematic. 

With all due respect to the Luddites, the contributions of the Swine in the areas of technology and innovation have been a mixed bag.  As previously noted in these columns nearly every technological innovation has produced unintended negative consequences.  The auto brought ever expansive movement, but it also brought urban sprawl, the death of the inner cities, pollution, the increase in illegitimate birth rates (e.g. drive-in theatres) and over 30,000 deaths each year attributable to accident.  So, it is with the landmark inventions of this generation. 

Brooks would have us believe that the dawn of the internet is an unmitigated blessing, as is breaking the genetic code.  He didn’t mention artificial intelligence. 

But are they?  The internet has given voice to millions who would otherwise not find a platform.  This blog is one of them.  But it has also given the platform to hate groups, crypto-fascists, racists and others who would otherwise have remained under a rock well shy of the public forum.  Further, the internet has not only enabled corporate America to spy on all of us, follow our every move, open our very bank accounts to piracy, and revealed to anyone willing to pay a few dollars whatever ‘secrets’ one would otherwise harbor, but—in the spirit of the wild west—refuses to reign in on its abuses. 

Further, the poisoning of the public well by anti-social media is joined by the use of the platform by Amazon and others to drive retailers out of business and further concentrate wealth. 

Then, of course, there is the hacking into emails and the meddling in elections—not to mention the hacking into the power and transportation grids by hostile foreign interests. 

The Ayn Rand inspired idiotlogical imperative preventing swift public response to these threats to freedom betrays the lie that the Boomers excel at technology and innovation.  That they have innovated and introduced new technologies is without question; that they know not how to apply it is another matter altogether. 

Indeed, as observers warn that for the first-time technologies—driven by developments in artificial intelligence—threaten to destroy more jobs than they create, and the social costs of technological innovation will only mount.  Indeed, as the social contract is shredded by innovation our life span is beginning to decline despite our creations.  

The facts are that life was much more peaceful and secure before the arrival of these technologies.  Our news was more trustworthy, our politics less fractious, our discourse more civilized, our bank account and personal lives more secure.  We have created the means of our own destruction. They are not to be celebrated.  They are a scourge upon society and a blight upon the landscape. Life was better without them.

Grade F. 

“An Br’er Putin, he jus laugh and laugh”

Impeach and Imprison.

________________

*See, Brooks, David.  Baby Boomer Report Card. Ibid.