(The title of this post is fixed now but for future reference – if a reader ever catches me with my spelling pants down, I insist you remark upon it. No excuse to spell “technology” wrong with all the spell check tech available these days. None at all…)
By and large, I think I agree with him.
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama told the 2009 Vancouver Peace Summit Sunday that technology may be getting in the way of peace.
Even as he used the technology of a tiny microphone attached to his ear and watched his friend Archbishop Desmond Tutu speak from South Africa via video, the revered spiritual leader expressed concern about how technology may be eliminating compassion.
“I think technology may have some benefits for a smart brain, but no capacity to produce compassion,” he told about 12,000 devoted fans at the opening session of the peace summit.
In a panel discussion about peace, the Dalai Lama said it is that compassion and awareness that will lead to peace.
It’s harder to care about things you’re not dealing with face to face, or people you’ve never met, no matter how often you’ve passed electronic notes back and forth.
And things like the internet make it far easier to be in specialized cliques. Hang out in forums with the people who think like you do, join groups or blogrolls for the same reason, RSS your news and blog feeds so you never have to read about things that don’t interest you, that might not “apply” to you. You can have a thousand friends on Facebook and not give a damn about any of them.
Cars mean people don’t have to stay and shop local and get to know locals. You can go where the best deal is, and not care about the world impact of a supercenter over supporting the little guys.
TV and satellite let us connect with what celebrities are doing so we can cry over their fake lives, laugh and mock their real lives, but we never seem to use that TV time to get to know the neighbours instead. To care as much about our friends or family, let alone the plight of hundred of thousands a hundred and more miles away.
I’d be willing to claim that technology gives us the tacit approval to be self centered and shallow. Not only can insult the world anonymously, but we also can mock people’s very real pain.
Last year, for example, a boy committed suicide by overdose while a slice of the world watched him go by video.
The teenager was pronounced dead Wednesday afternoon in Pembroke Pines, Florida, said Wendy Crane, investigator for the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office.
The cause of death was found to be an overdose of benzodiazepine, an antidepressant, as well as other opiate drugs used to treat depression, Crane said. CNN is not reporting the teenager’s name.
The youth’s body was found in his apartment behind a locked door, which police broke down. Police turned off the webcam and computer, Crane said.
She said he did not take anything on camera, according to footage she reviewed, but he blogged between 3 and 4 a.m. Wednesday that he had taken an overdose of drugs. He also posted a suicide note.
He was seen lying on his bed on the streaming video, posted on the Web site Justin.tv. On the site, a person can stream video from a Web camera while “viewers” chat with each other in a box next to the video, Crane said. The comments and video have since been removed from the Web site.
Crane read the comments posted during the 10 hours the youth could be seen lying on his bed.
As the teenager was lying on his bed, she said, people were typing things like, “Oh, that’s not enough to kill you.” Others, she said, were egging him on, saying things like “Go ahead and do it.” Still others thought it wasn’t real, Crane said.
About 11 a.m. Wednesday, Crane said, some viewers began to get concerned, writing things like, “He’s not moving” and “He’s not breathing.”
One contacted the site’s moderator to get the youth’s contact information, she said, and the police were notified.
One person gave a damn out of how many? Ten hours it took before someone cared enough to call anyone in a position to do something. And I wonder how many of those comment makers missed the news reports and still think he was faking it.
Notice how I haven’t mentioned political/war examples of technology and the so-called peace process. All I think I’ll say about that is this; as it gets easier to kill people, it might also get easier to justify it. To declare there is some moral reason to have that person dead instead of breathing, to bomb the piss out of a country rather than find some measure of compromise with its leaders. But maybe compromise is truly impossible. I don’t know, I’m not into politics. When each side seems to lack the capacity to care about the other, what hope do we as individuals have? If we’re looking to our leaders to really guide us, why don’t they care more about where they’re taking us?
September 29, 2009 at 7:42 am
I agree that compassion is missing in our society but whether or not technology is the cause or vehicle that allows humans to act less compassionate, I’m just not sure. People of been killing each other, wars have been waged, genocide unleashed upon the world since, well, since we’ve been humans. One might be able to argue that most people are MORE compassionate now than, say, during the Spanish inquisition. Interesting topic, though. Thanks for the post.
September 29, 2009 at 10:46 am
Well, that’s true, I guess. We aren’t that much different than our stone age ancestors. A little more sophisticated maybe but not always better behaved or understanding.
Even weapons count as technology, though. Think how devastating the first arrows would have been when people were still wearing chain mail. No more need to look people in the eye when you kill them…
Industry moving toward machinery over human labour. Think of how many revolts were caused when ideas like combine harvesters or vehicle assembly lines got the brains of the workers in a tizzy. Those ideas were truly innovative at the time. Now we barely blink, hardly contemplate how much technology has become part of life.
We’re positively gleeful when we find out our favourite techno company has given us another toy to play with. Nevermind that whole countries are without running water. I want a Wii, dammit. How come you’re sold out again?
I think culturally we may have a greater opportunity for compassion, now that we can view the world as a whole, and see where the problems are. And there are people who are choosing to help with the problems, and are diplomates or peace keepers or volunteers for Red Cross or whatever. More people need to be doing it though. But if it’s a choice between buying a game or supporting a cause, where will your money go?