From Stone Tools to Smartphones
Humanity is inextricably intertwined with technology. It is of us as we are of it. This shapes us.
Groog was quite pleased with herself. She’d managed to create a really sharp edge chipping those stones. The cut on her thumb was painful. And proof. She muttered words of praise under her breath, words that the stone knife would serve her well and a thanks to the earth mother for the gift.
Shane felt the three short buzzes from the phone in his pocket. It was his blood sugar readings. He swiftly pulled it from his pocket, anxious to see the reading. It was perfect. His smart watch monitored the level throughout the day. The trend was good, He whispered words of thanks under his breath, almost as if it were a ritual prayer. His family would be pleased.
Groog did not know where the idea to knock stones together came from, but was certain it must be a message from one of their gods. This is what she told the others in her clan when they first saw what it could do and were afraid. When the shaman gave his blessing, that it must be a gift from the gods, the clan was relieved. And started bashing stones together with glee.
Shane himself did not know what made his smartphone work. When it messed up he just turned it on and off again. Almost ritualistically. He often gave quiet thanks to Apple for the wonder of what it could do. As if Apple where some shaman bestowed with powers.
Throughout our time on this planet, we have often held technologies in both awe and fear. Technologies have shaped us and we have shaped them. They change power dynamics, they have influenced the development of our brains and social systems.
Language enabled myths, which became stories, which helped us work together and form societies, to create culture, our unique form of evolutionary survival. Technologies are extensions of humans. Spears extended reach, books extend our memory, smartphones have extended our social connections. Many technologies blur the lines between our biological and technological evolution.
Yet in many ways, much has remained the same since we first smashed stones together. We still ritualize many technologies. Such as how we use our smartphones during the day and the apps we rely on. We still use communications technologies to form social groups and network, the same as tribes and inter-tribal relations.
When revolutionary technologies come along, we still react with a mixture of fear and awe. Just as Groog’s tribe reacted to her stone knife creation, so too are we reacting the same today with Artificial Intelligence. We may not thank the gods, but we thank the leaders of these technology companies that bring these tools to life. Sometimes too, we also curse them.
We no longer hunt and gather for food, but we still hunt and gather information, form online tribes and gather together in digital spaces. Just as our ancient ancestors created norms and traditions around stone tools, then bronze, copper and iron, so too do we do the same today. Often without realizing what we are doing is the same as our ancestors.
The aboriginal people of Australia told the story of the didgeridoo being created when a man lifted a small log from a fire and blew the flaming termites into the air, creating a sound and the termites forming the stars. Yet at a concert we lift our phones into the air, their screens like brittle stars as we pay homage to the band on the stage.
We are of technology and technology is of us. Where once caves with their drawings and scratches served as sanctuaries, today our smartphones are our digital sanctuaries. They hold our memories from photos to messages, our personal records and entertainment. Just as caves did.
Just as long ago we would fast to conserve our energy, today we have digital detoxes, a form of fasting to save our mental energies. Some communities practice a digital sabbath, borrowed from the Jewish concept of the Shabbat on Saturdays when no technology is to be used.
For thousands of years we have been concerned that younger generations would be corrupted by technologies, that traditional skills would be lost to time, that communications technologies would change how or what we think or we’d end up not thinking at all.
Yet onward we have stepped, for somehow, technology always ended up making our lives better. It wasn’t always an easy path, but it has worked. As a species, we simply cannot survive without technology. Though we may blame technologies for our woes when things go awry, it is not the technology to blame, but how we choose to use it.
We are inextricably intertwined with technology. No doubt Groog would look at a smartphone today and think it was some sort of magic. While she may not understand that magic, just as children pick up using a smartphone so quickly, she and her clan likely would too.
When we frame technologies in this way, we can better understand them, that they always have unintended consequences and are a double edged sword, yet they also help us to grow, to redefine what it means to be human and to propel us forward. As messy as that can sometimes be.