Technology and Society: The Rise of the Human Machines

No, the title is not a Terminator X tagline; it is today’s societies’ tagline. With today’s advanced technology, there is hardly an action done without the help of some machine; from waking up to the synthetic buzz of an alarm, to eating the micro waved lunch at noon, to sending the 100s of emails at work, to listening to the loud music in your car during the drive home and to watching the late night DVD on your HD TV. To think that all of this has done nothing but make life easier is naïve. Such a major influence in our daily lives has led to many effects our life and society, positive and negative. The problem is that technology is a double edged sword, we can not get rid of the negative effects, and we just have to not succumb to them. Sadly, the opposite is happening.
Thanks for emails, faxes, phones, SMS and other means of contact, we can reach more people faster whenever we want. However, pure contact via technology has caused a decrease in direct human contact. True emailing and SMS-ing is more efficient but in the end they are messages in emotionless digital text. Calling is somewhat better but still lacks the total aspect in a human encounter such as facial expression and eye contact. Facebook, AIM, MSN and other social web features and tools have been revolutionary when it comes to bringing people together and increasing one’s social circle, however, the encounters are virtual in a sense. True, the people exist but again, the interaction is emotionless, via a keyboard and monitor. In addition to that, chartrooms have been a hotspot for sexual predators, pedophiles and stalkers and networking websites a medium to acquire personal and private information.
Television is another major influence in this era. From entertaining, to informational to educational, the TV makes life easier and better, but too much TV makes one a major sloth and sometimes obese as in what is currently happening to children in the US. From an addiction to soaps, series and movies to wasting a whole weekend watching sports or even History Channel or Discovery Channel, spending many hours facing a TV has been proved to be unhealthy physically and mentally. More lively outdoor activities and social interactive activities have been substituted by this new hobby, TV watching.
What is an even more important that the TV is the Computer. I do not need to explain how valuable computers are, but maybe I might have to point out some negative aspects of computer over-use. The most basic is obscene online material such as porn that objectify women and sex, violent games that desensitize humans to blood and death, leading to the creation of a more violent society. Also, just as watching TV, making using the computer a hobby is unhealthy and one should attempt to do more socially interactive activities. You want to play poker? Play normal poker with friends instead of online poker!
All of this is resulting in a society where human interaction is minimal and when it occurs, it is awkward. Teens are becoming more violent or anti-social while adults lazy and obese. Online dating, reality TV, online shopping, World of Warcraft (also known as WOW), YouTube, DiGG, StumbleUpon, Blogspot, ATMs etc are just a few of the many features of technology that have replaced an activity where the used to be more human interaction. And the number of these features is on the increase, from computer psychiatrists, robot waiters, programmed machine phone operators and many more yet to come.

Globalization & Urbanization: Atlanta’s MARTA needs a Boob Job!

After the 1996 Olympics which the city hosted, Atlanta saw years of economic boom and expanded in every direction possible. Accompanying the boom of course was a huge influx of people, from all backgrounds and social class. Just like most cities in the USA, more well to do people lived in the suburbs surrounding the city while the poorer people lived in the city, except for the well to do youth who moved into the many luxury city apartments and condominiums to enjoy HOTlanata’s night life. And just as in the American Dream, each person has a car and each person happily drives by him/herself everyday to work and back, all 5 million of them.

city planners thought commuting to the city would be a breeze given the size of the highways built, 7-lanes per direction (Picture Below). Not only one highway was built, but a few that all join together at multiple engineering marvels such as the famous Spaghetti Junction (Pictured Below). As marvelous as the designs are, it is still a fact that roadways are packed bumper to bumper with cars, SUVS, Semi's and more, stuck, not moving anywhere. People in the Atlanta area are warned not to venture onto the interstate without three quarters of a tank of gas, plenty of water, a little food and maybe a blanket as the interstate routinely gets shut down for several hours on end with accidents and worse.



Part of the problem with the interstate system around the Atlanta area is that everyone drives a separate car to work. It is kind of logical that too many people with too many cars, some of which are oversized as well, will fill up the roadways to an extent where the interstate becomes a parking lot. To fight this, an express lane was built for buses and cars with at least 2 passengers. The result: a few cars actually using the new lane while the rest are still locked in the hour plus jams.

Finally, the city of Atlanta decides to use a mass transport system and thus, MARTA was born. MARTA stands for Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority which is made up of a bus and railway system. However, it is apparent how serious the municipality is about MARTA. Regarding the bus system, the buses are never on schedule with waits up to an hour long during regular working days. Also, there is no good enough route system that connects all areas together in an efficient way with multi-stop and expressway busses. As for the railway system, a picture of the rail map should be more than enough to show how incomprehensive the system is. With only 2 perpendicular lines running in a huge city, less than a quarter of the city is covered by rail and only a few select locations are accessible, most of them being touristy landmarks. Also, there is no access to the railway system from the suburbs and the farthermost stations barely have enough parking built to accommodate a few hundred cars. Thus, the MARTA is left for the poorest of Atlanta’s inhabitants and as a hub for crime and gang activity, making its stations one of the most dangerous places to be after sunset.

Even if the major traffic jams are not good enough proof of the city’s transport problem or the increase in fuel prices, the deficit in parking spaces in the city should be. It is about time the city let go of the firm grasp of the car industry and starts making plans for a good efficient mass transport system. MARTA needs a MAJOR boob job now.

Globalization & Identity: Join the ME Club International

Who am I? I am me. What makes me me? Well, there are many labels I can attach to myself. Some labels I chose, some I was born with, some the government gave me, some my parents, some my friends and some my society. In the end, I am me, just another me in this world. One of the first labels I was given was my name, given to me by my parents. I am Ameer, another Ameer, for there are many with same name tag.

As I go on living life, I gain labels. Some are welcome (Arab) some are not (Sand Nigger). Some I chose for myself (Electro Junkie) while others where thrown at me (Nerd). I am proud and fanatic for some (Free Thinker) and I try to get rid of some (Stubborn Arse). Some labels I got easily without effort (Pisces) while others I had to earn (College Student). Many change while others I still have not found. For example, I am racially Lebanese, both my parents are Lebanese and my whole ancestors are Lebanese, however, I was born in the USA, therefore I am an American, but I lived in Lebanon for 15 years, so I am not really American, but also, I am not Lebanese! I also have no native language. I speak Arabic and English fluently but I have an accent in both and every language I learn (Japanese, French and Chinese) I have an accent in and are not my native language. Am I confused? Sounds like it. NO! I am one of the children of the earth, a global citizen. Globalization has brought people together, people that think alike mostly. On the internet there are countless sites that are dedicated to something with its many fans. Online communities, online forums and other virtual get togethers of people with similar ideas and opinions.

It is amazing how people sharing a similar hobby, idea or like can meet and chat or more even though they might be miles apart. It is also beneficial for all. It is good and more progressive for people that share something get together. However, sometimes, the similarity is too superficial or not basic enough. For example, I used to go with my family to Druze get togethers. (Druze is the religion I am labeled with, born into, though relabeled myself as Atheist) and most people there did not really get along because the only common thing is religion, which is supposed to be a personal thing. However, when I meet up with all my friends, it is way better since we all share something in common and are friends. Another example is my semester abroad in Paris. We were 20 students with a similar interest, learning French, put together in one hostel for 6 weeks and forced to interact together. It was a disaster; we were all different with different personalities, likes, hobbies and even different reasons for studying French, so there was a lot of tension and a lot of problems.

This post was meant to talk about the positives of labeling one’s identity but of course there are many negatives that have arose from labeling. It is bad when people take their labels to a fanatic level and attack people with different labels. I agree with having labels though for similar people to get together and enjoy the similar aspect and have a sense of belonging and identity, not to attack the people who are different. Also, I am against the government or any public institution labeling people. I hate when I have to fill out an application and there is race, religion, skin color etc…

BONUS SECTION:
I read in other Blogs that the Singaporean Government is trying to get rid of Singlish by having “Speak Good English” campaigns. I am completely against this and denounce all the dumb excuses used to attack Singlish. Singlish is one of the most apparent aspect that makes Singaporeans Singaporean, and not just Chinese or Indian or Malay, at least for us foreigners. I love listening to Singlish and I have tried to speak it at times. I <3 Singlish!


References & Thumbs Up for these Blog posts:
http://niveknat.wordpress.com/
http://ohtakemeawaypls.wordpress.com/
http://ian0304.wordpress.com/
http://jjworksforfood.wordpress.com/
http://mentaldiarrhoea.wordpress.com/
http://ntusocihs103.blogspot.com/
http://inobjectivity.wordpress.com/