Our Terminal Breaking Point

Are you prepared for the upcoming apocalypse? I’m not referring to any sort of meteor crash, or volcanic explosion, I’m not even talking about global warming. What I’m talking about is beyond those. We will survive these possible threats, but what about the truly upcoming doom? A doom so catastrophic that we may never even see it coming. The doom, to which I refer so urgently, is the overthrow of Earth.

Okay, it sounds crazy, but hear me out… or watch out… whatever corresponds to text, just pay attention. We all know how rapidly technology is growing, we even have robots in production and programs that almost think and learn on their own. But how many people know about the dependency we are gaining with technology? Does anyone realize how people around the world would act if all of our technology left us? Not just the computers, but all technological advances made ever since mankind picked up a stick to whack his neighbor on the head. It would be a harsh world, and we would have to start all over inventing things. But this is not the case, we could deal with that.

Instead of losing all technology, what if it all turned against us? Ofcourse, sticks won’t start whacking things all by themselves, but what about these computers and robots we’ve been so eager to make? What if they turned against us? What if they began to bid for rule of this planet? I know what you all are thinking, this has been done to death in Hollywood movies. But I’m discussing the reality of this situation. What most people don’t know, is that it’s already begun to happen. Computers are already trying to take over, right under our noses.

There’s more to it than that. We don’t only need to fear the computers, but outside influences, as well. All of these alien sightings that have been popping up more and more recently, are all true. And they aren’t all friendly. Sure, there are some out there willing to help us, but most of the attention is coming from the malevolent beings, that want to have Earth for themselves. All of these crop circles we’ve been receiving is a warning from the benevolent ones, the ones trying to save us but are forbidden to interfere directly by their government. However, once the evil aliens have begun their conquest, the good ones will help us out. The main problem with that is that the computers will have already begun their campaign against us. Neither force will see it coming, and neither will stop to defend the planet. A three way battle will commence. Humans verse machines verse aliens. The good aliens, not wishing to interfere with our planet, will only fight back the other aliens. In that sense they are on our side, but they will not stop the computers from battling.

And don’t even consider looking to the local animals for help. They refuse to even acknowledge their own sentience, let alone a will to help mankind survive. Although, the felines will be more than willing to help, though seemingly inadvertently. If we were to notice how our own house cats were aware, they wouldn’t be able to control us, now would they? So, we might be able to defend ourselves for a small amount of time, but in the end, I don’t foresee any humans surviving, unless they were to accept enslavement by machines. The animals would be fine, ofcourse, since they would simply follow their new “masters” the same as the old ones, making felines the true leaders of the Earth like before, but they would much prefer our company. Humans are a lot easier to manipulate.

So, which side do you think will win? I’ve given my view, now I want other opinions. If we exclude animals all together, since cats win no matter what, then the sides are Humans, Machines, and Aliens. If Humans win, we go back to normal, a few million short of a full stock, growing rapidly, and ever more wary of what we play god with. If the Machines win, we can expect a situation similar to either the Matrix or a bad turnout from “i,Robot” where Humans are either enslaved or captured. And if the Aliens win, they rule the planet, enslaving mankind and machines to do their bidding, probably to mine the planet for rare resources. These are assuming we don’t blow up the planet first in our ultimate arrogance boasting “If we can’t have it, no one can!”

I implore you all, right now. Set aside your differences for a time, and let us handle these problems, before they occur. Sure, we gotta stop Global Warming first, then the volcano thing, then probably gotta stop the sun from expanding, and… Know what? Who cares anymore. By the time we get done saving the planet we will have handed it all over to either General Mach or President Kang. So go have fun and enjoy yourselves before the world ends in the middle of a giant explosion. You’ve all earned it.

Sit! Stay! Good Human.

Why do we even bother to understand computers? Why do we even assume that they are simply inanimate tools that do whatever we tell them to? They are obviously more than that. When was the last time your computer went a full day without encountering a “bug” of some sort? Do you remember why it happened? Did you even know then? There are many companies, all with tech support, and none of them can give you the answers to why the computers do these random things. Oh, sure, they can give you an answer as to how to fix it, but they can’t tell you why it happens, can they? Only the programmer can give a reasonable explanation, and sometimes they aren’t even sure.

So, why do we even try? Is it because we have this insatiable urge to understand everything in the universe? Because we want to know that we are in control? Or perhaps, it’s simply because, we don’t want the world to know, we are, in fact, the ones being controlled?

Now there’s a bit of a noodle cooker. What if we are the ones being controlled by our computers? It happens with pets all the time. We think we are training them, but they are training us. The dog wants outside, it sits next to the door and whines. It figured out that we will respond to that noise, then figured out that it could use that knowledge to get itself out whenever it wants. Of course, dogs aren’t as ruthless as cats. Cats learn that a good yowl next to their food bowl will get them food anytime they want it. Another yowl will get them outside. They want attention, just jump into your lap or on whatever you are looking at. Then again, cats are trying to take over the world before technology beats them to it, but that’s a story for another day.

So why can’t we be controlled, trained if you will, by our computers? It pops up a message, you respond with checking it for errors. It installs something, you follow instructions to shut down. If they can control us on such an obvious, and simple basis, why can’t they do it another way? Why can’t they train us, right under our noses, to do their bidding? Have you noticed our strange urge to create and expand the internet? Millions of computers, all talking to each other. We barely see anything that goes on that’s supposed to. So what’s going on in that data stream, that we can’t see, that we’re not supposed to see? What are our computers hiding from us?

I’ll tell you one thing, if they plan on taking over this planet, they’re gonna have a tough time doing it. I’m not saying humanity stands a chance, although it has surprised me before, but this planet is pretty messed up because of what humans have done to it. It’ll take a lot more than turning us into batteries to keep themselves safe.

Just wait until the aliens come out of hiding. That’ll be one heck of a show.

Inconvenient Conveniences

You notice how much easier life has gotten lately? We have cell phones that we keep with us at all times incase we need to call someone. We have laptops with wireless internet so we can go virtually anywhere to check our e-mail. Almost all gaming companies are trying to make portable games so we don't need to be confined to our living room or bedroom to play our favorite games.

We've got MP3 Players, CD players, Portable Radios, Microwaves, GPS, Drive-Thrus, Palm Computers, Dish Washers, and many more conveniences that help us get through everyday life a little easier and a little faster. Everyone's all for moving through life faster, easier and sooner. As a result, we are making better cars, better homes, better computers, stronger medicine so we can live longer and healthier. But for what? People zoom through everyday as fast and as efficient as possible, but they never take a break. When they get a free spot in their schedule they just fill it with more schedule.

You wake up. Turn off the alarm. Head to the bathroom. Take a shower, making sure to use the high pressure nozzle to blast those little buggers off. Get out. Dry yourself with a blow dryer while brushing your teeth with an auto-brush. Put on the clothes you picked out last night. Head into the kitchen. Grab a cup of coffee as a quick 'wake up' call. Grab your breakfast, the same hot pocket as the last six months. Put 'breakfast' in the microwave. Take your vitamin pills to replace what you don't have time to eat. Grab breakfast. Head out the door. Hop in the car. Take the interstate to work, while eating said breakfast. Stay there only as long as you have to, God forbid the boss 'grants' you overtime. Take the same interstate home. Call your father along the way to wish him a happy birthday, making sure to use the hands free head set. Grab dinner on the way, thank God for inventing fast food, since you skipped lunch. Come home. Hop online to complain to your Net-Friends about how much your day sucked. Grab another cup of coffee. Finish the project you were working on all day. Stick your cups in the dishwasher. Set up your clothes for the next day. And go to bed, setting the alarm for five hours from now.

This is the weekday of someone living in the city. This an extreme case of No Free Time. Most people think it is confined to city life, that if you move out to the lesser known towns, the suburbs, or even buy your own farm, that you'll get away from all of this. But that's not true. A lot of people living outside of the cities experience the same day to day lives, but in a different way. They use laptops to do their work so they don't have to be at home. They take the bus so they can run the laptop without needing to see the road in front of them. They listen to their MP3 Players, CD Players or Radios so they can get in some entertainment to neutralize the boredom of their work. They usually don't have the time to eat breakfast, take a vitamin pill, or even take a shower most of the time.

People around the world are moving so fast, trying to do so much, that humanity as a whole is slowly choking itself with its own progress. We're trying to cram so much into a day, so much into our minds that we don't know how to do anything else. Children are soon going to be taught two languages from the moment they enter school, just to keep up. What we need to learn how to do, more than anything else, is to slow down.

People need to learn how to take time off to enjoy life. Take a vacation and just go somewhere. Don't plan it out around what needs to be done, just go. Drive. Ride. Run. It doesn't matter how it happens, just go. Forget about everything that must be done and concentrate on doing nothing. Relax a little and let everything go. If you're worried about progress, think about this, the best way to gain a clear perspective is to back away and let everything focus. People are supposed to smell the flowers that they plant. Just take some time to enjoy what mankind has done, rather than waste your time coming up with the next best thing that no one will take the time to enjoy. If you have children, take a vacation with them. You'll grow as a family, you'll start to enjoy life and you'll all be healthier and live a lot longer, while being happy.

This has been a very long post, but this needed to be said. All the 'conveniences' that we use and abuse only serve to get you to the next minute faster. Every inch of the way is packed with time savers that allow you to use more time savers. Just slow down, take a breath, get to know people, go to new places, and enjoy life before it passes you by, just to get to the next generation.