Why I Love Technology

This week, the Consumer Electronics Show, the world's largest consumer technology trade show, is taking place in Las Vegas. I'm a media geek and a gadget addict.  I love consuming content 24/7 through multi-media.  Although I readily admit that there are plenty of flaws in this digital age of ours, I will still defend all the positives wrought by our technological advancements. 

I know some people take it too far and would gladly be morphed into cyborg beings if they could.  I still cherish the human experience. I think there can and should be a balance between nature and the electronic realm.  I enjoy movies, television, music, and the Internet, but I also love seeing and participating in live theater, having dinner with friends, visiting museums, vacationing in the Caribbean.

Just as there are those technophiles out there who overdo it, there are technophobes on the other extreme who do not appreciate the importance of technology.  The use of tools is a defining feature that separates homo sapiens from other creatures on this planet, and the development of technology over the history of our species has carried us to ever greater heights.  We have found ways to build marvels of engineering.  We have cured diseases.  We have reached the moon.  Humans have shown that the gift of intelligence enables us to achieve what might seem at first to be the impossible. 

Rather than define technology on a moral scale of "good" or "bad," we should view it as neutral and instead focus on how we use technology.  So much information is now available at our fingertips.  We can share our ideas as never before.  Such progress has its pitfalls, but it also opens up so many possibilities.  To deny that is to be blinded by the negatives.