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A Zen Helper  Concerning
The Blissful State of 21^st Century Technology

Have you ever considered how incredibly lucky we are to live in the 21^st century? What if we were stuck way back in the Middle Ages or something? Nothing to do all day but work in the fields, cook a sparse meal, and worry about if you’re going to catch plague.

Fast forward, to the gleaming, wondrous 21^st century! We’ve had centuries of time during which the human race, as a collective whole, has been making ‘progress’. That’s what it’s all about, right? A life of ease and luxury, where we can explore our full potential as human beings.

In the Middle Ages, I would have had to worry constantly about horrible diseases, getting gored by wild boars, and being falsely accused of a crime by the lord of the village. After which I’d get hung.

Today, I can dispense with those worries! Now there are only minor concerns, such as contracting horrible diseases, getting in a car accident, or being falsely accused of a crime by the Homeland Security officials. After which I’d get tortured and then put on an electric chair.

In the Middle Ages, I would have had to actually visit my friends and family if I wanted to see them. Imagine all the tedious walking!

Now, I can just sit down to my computer, check my email, delete the spam, hope my anti-virus catches all the spyware and trojans, and then see if anyone decided to send me a virtual letter.

In the Middle Ages, I had to grow and raise my food. Then (gag!) I had to kill it myself. Then I had to cook it after lighting a fire. A fire, by the way, that was fueled by trees that I had to cut down myself and drag all the way home.

Today, I can stop at any grocery and pick up my food, which has been conveniently killed, squished into pleasing shapes, and treated so as not to rot prematurely. I get to eat foods that are fresh and clean, having been processed in huge facilities of metal and concrete, injected with the proper chemicals and preservatives, and packaged in oil derivatives.

And do I have to cook it over a fire? No way! I just throw it in the microwave! Granted, I did have to go to work to pay for the microwave, but that’s not the same as tree-dragging! It’s much more exciting. Sure, someone had to tear down numerous forests and build factories to make the components for the microwave, and someone had to build big yellow earth-moving machines to tear down the forests, and to fuel those machines we had to build other machines to mine the earth for oil and coal, but so what?

Oh, so now you’re saying the machines driving around are making it so we need to have smog alerts in the big cities? Doomsayer. That’s better than the Middle Ages, when I wouldn’t be able to go outside because of . . . um . . . the rain. Yeah. No umbrellas back then, see?

I could go further and divulge the great achievements of television, the genius of running our power supply along tall, flimsy poles prone to snapping in any high winds, or the indisputable progress made in home heating. I mean, back then I had to heat with wood in the winter! Now I just program my heater and it does it all on its own! Unless the electricity goes out, and my pipes explode, and I have to sit huddled over my collection of decorator candles . . .

Next time you think your life isn’t going so well, just get a little perspective. Sit back and think of how hundreds of years of achievement by the most intelligent species on this planet have brought us to where we are now – surrounded by thousands of types of technology that make our life easier and better every day.

I’m going to go read the 78 page manual on my new digital camera now, so I’ll be busy for the next three days. But after that, I’ll be able to take pictures and probably use four of its fifty-six different functions!

Yours in Technology Worship,

Kenton

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 7th, 2006 at 3:41 am and is filed under Zen Helpers. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site. Your comments will be queued for moderation and posted as quickly as possible.