Beware the Seductive Power of Technology

I Like Technology. I'm conceding all the good and fun things that computer-based technology has brought into our lives; I'll not fight that battle. Not only would I lose any argument against the wonderful additions technology has made to our lives, I would be fighting against myself. I love it that I can flip open a Star Trek "communicator" and talk to almost anyone, anytime. I love the very idea of having a communication device out in my back yard, near the bird feeder, that is communicating with a satellite in low earth orbit. Wow! And do I ever love my computer-oops, computers. As in many computers. In fact, my job is strongly tied to technology and I love to get paid. However, this article is a warning, a plea to open our eyes wider than our big screen TVs, to step back out of cell phone range, to put down our PDAs for a minute and look at what has gotten a hold on us.

Technology is Seductive

Technology has the power to draw us in and cause us to lose perspective about what is happening. Just try talking to your child (or maybe your spouse or best friend) the next time some slick TV program or commercial is shimmering across the screen and you'll see what has all of their attention. Technology draws us in. But if we're drawn in, we're also leaving something behind. We could be abandoning loving or developing relationships or the quiet time necessary to think purposefully about our lives, where we are going and how we want to live five years from now. To continue this idea, that technology is seductive, let's look at the natural progression of how we respond to new technology.

Technology as a Toy

All new technology comes to us in the guise of a toy, thus its initial seductive pull on us. No matter the age, the new technology feels like a toy. It is smooth, pretty and flashes little lights. It makes cute sounds and we respond to it from the childlike (or childish) center of our being. It is not the sophisticated 35 year old business executive that is responding to the new all-purpose, highly-evolved technology thing, it is instead the seven year old child inside that is gushing and filled with Christmas morning lust. We might not even have any way to use it yet, but we play with it. We turn channels, set the volume on the 96 surround sound speakers (yours doesn't have 96?), take pictures of our toes with it, and enthusiastically pursue carpel tunnel problems as quickly as our thumbs and fingers can fly over fun little colored buttons. It is a toy. But it does move evolve into our next category and that makes us feel a little better about it and helps us avoid the fact that we just spent a year of future retirement on a toy.

Technology as a Tool

The toy usually becomes a tool. In our strong desires to justify the purchase of the toy, we look for things it can do. Ah, it keeps my calendar. Cool! Now I won't have to keep track of my $29.00 day planner and worry about losing it. I just need to worry about losing my $495 PDA. But it can also take pictures. That's important. It's also good that it can erase them because I find I take a lot of pictures that are really crap and now I not only spent time taking the pictures, I also get to spend time erasing them. But the toys often turn into very serious tools. I may continue to use my cell phone toy as I unconsciously blow through red lights and make turns without signaling (need that spare arm for the cell), but I also realize this toy is a serious safety tool. I don't want to be broken down on the highway and not have this link to help. The same 50" flat screen wall hanging that is a toy is also a tool to be aware of threatening weather and important current events. And the notebook computer that empowers me to look at pictures of potential Russian brides helps me write this article and project investment returns. Toys have the potential of becoming tools. From puppies to working dogs. But there is a third and more dangerous level.

Technology as a Tyrant

Dictionary.com offers one definition of a tyrant as, "a tyrannical or compulsory influence." Wow! Think cellphone, e-mail, Skype, compulsive checking of forums, chat rooms, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and all the other current flavors of Turkish delight known as technology. These things can be toys (relatively harmless except for what they might be replacing), they can be tools, or they can become tyrants. When deeply engrained into our work or social structure, they change from being puppies or work dogs and become pit bulls that can bite and clamp down so that it is very difficult to dislodge them. I used to be able to keep up with the demands of my job. Once upon a time I actually had a little time that I could budget weekly that was "walk around and get to know everyone better" time. No more. Now I am constantly juggling attention among appointments, drop-in unannounced visitors, snail mail, phone calls with the pink reminders, cell phone calls, and e-mail. I can never get one caught up without intrusions from all of the others. The first four were barely manageable, with cell and e-mail added, I'm no longer in control, the pit bull is. So, what happened?

How Did We Get Like This?

Okay. Here is the crux of this article. Technology is on a different evolutionary rate than us humans. It reproduces faster than mice and changes species with each generation. We were enticed, and continue to be enticed, by technology due to its seductive dark side. It beckons to the seven year old inside and draws us in. As a tool, technology is embraced and embedded into our lives, seemingly as a partner, one called alongside of us to help us. But, without an understanding of the evolutionary path of technology, we do not control its place in our lives. It becomes a tyrant that bullies us and pulls us around on its lease instead of the other way around. Because of the initial seductive nature of technology, we don't easily see that it will tend to take us to where we don't want to go and make us pay more than we first thought we were willing to pay. So, what shall we then do?

What We Must Do

I'm not offering a plan but an approach. The approach depends upon fully understanding what has gotten a grip on us. I suggest the following critical pieces for beginning to manage technology and protect our humanity:

Clearly see that technology is seductive and separate out and control the childish reactions to the initial toy aspects of new technology. Gratification can be delayed (an adult response) and toys can be both played with and put away.
Think through both intended and unintended consequences of bringing a shiny, new technology toy into your life. What is it replacing? How will you control it so it doesn't put you on a leash?
Do not assume that a new technology tool is better than an older one that worked well for you in the past. I have a colleague who keeps in a pocket a little list of things to do, thoughts, and insights. His pen and paper list worked a lot better than my PDA when when my technology tool lost both primary and backup batteries and I lost passwords to multiple accounts and forums. Which is better?
Many new technology tools cannot be avoided. However, they can be managed. Think of ways to limit their use and how to communicate your policies for your use to your colleagues, family, and friends. For example, I check my email once a day and make it clear to my colleagues that I am not sitting at my computer all day waiting for the chime (evidently, they are).
Finally, pay attention to the things that technology tends to replace and redouble your effort to work on relationships so you have no regrets.

To rewrite a common adage, no one's last words are likely to be, "I wish I had purchased the 60" HD instead of the 54".

Jacob is involved in learning and teaching effective parenting. Since he is a math guy, he is also a gadget lover. Head on over to his site http://www.electronicnotepad.org/ to learn about a Electronic Notepad and how this inexpensive tech tool (yes, tool) can save you time by producing both a digital copy and a hard copy of your notes and sketches.

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TED + YouTube: Releasing the power of video to shape ideas, 5 years on

TED has shared a wealth of innovative ideas with you over the years. We wish the TED team the happiest 5th anniversary and look forward to their continued contribution of inspiring content to YouTube and the world. We welcome Emily McManus as a guest to the YouTube blog today to discuss TED’s journey with us so far.

Today TED celebrates five years of spreading ideas online, and YouTube has been a key part of our mission from the start. In fact, TED and YouTube have grown up together as we've spent the past half-decade unlocking the power of video to set free convention-breaking ideas across the globe. On June 27, 2006 TED flipped the switch on a simple web page with six videos. Now five years later, TEDsters all over the world are using video to spread ideas feverishly across the Internet. We're excited to celebrate with the YouTube community a few amazing TEDTalks to mark our anniversary and pay tribute to the fascinating people who have inspired, intrigued and stirred our hearts and minds!

Together we’ve unlocked all kinds of ideas—from silly memes to paradigm shifts in human ingenuity to political change. Harnessing radical openness of the Internet, in fact, has been the topic of other TEDTalks including Clay Shirky, Sal Khan and Peter Gabriel. And we've found some of our most beloved speakers through YouTube—like Johnny Lee, the Wii-mote hacker, whose demo Chris spotted online early in 2008. A plane ticket later, Lee's demo of creating teaching tools with game controllers was on its way to ruling the web. If you haven’t seen it, check out TED's curator Chris Anderson in his own TEDTalk about "How web video powers global innovation." He starts by showing how YouTube-powered video is driving street dance to evolve globally at lightning speed.

With 70 million cumulative views, TEDTalks on YouTube is a killer platform for us, for ideas both big—Sam Richards, and and not-so-big—Terry Moore / How to tie your shoes. We treasure you for your smart insights, active commenting and dedicated subscribership to TED. Fan Ghazzawi9 calls us "weekly dosages of pure enlightenment and inspiration." (Thank you!)

Today's TEDTalk highlights another amazing YouTube power -- sharing ideas in more than one language. Emiliano Salinas' talk, which he delivered in Spanish, is instantly accessible to viewers around the world through YouTube's and TED's subtitle community.



Having reached the 5-year milestone, we look back in awe and look forward with excitement. Thanks, YouTubers, for helping us expand minds, open hearts and inspire others in ways we never expected.

Guest to The Official YouTube Blog Emily McManus, Editor of TED.com, on behalf of the worldwide TED team, recently watched “Google Chrome: It Gets Better."

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Inside an abandoned coal power plant (photos from Boing Boing Flickr Pool)

Photographer and Boing Boing reader Tom Blackwell shot a wonderful series of images from a visit to an abandoned coal power plant in the UK: the Thorpe Marsh Power Station. He shared them with us in the BB Flickr pool, and explains about the image above:

I have only ever seen these from a great distance and was always aware of their vast magnitude, but the size becomes breathtakingly apparent when looking directly up at one.

During regular operation they are filled with an array of equipment to assist with the cooling of the moisture that they vent; but many of the towers at Thorpe Marsh have been gutted of their innards and allow superb views right up through the interior.

A few more below, with Tom's notes. Do have a look at the whole set in his Flickr stream.

The crumbling skeleton of this coal-fired giant sits broodingly in low lying fields to the north of Doncaster. The story of Thorpe Marsh Power Station began with its construction in 1959, amid much fanfare heralding its advanced generators and state-of-the-art component technologies.

After decades of faithful service to the National Grid, the station was finally terminated in 1994 and is rapidly succumbing to the ravages of foliage and the British weather. It's one of the more intruiging abandoned places that I've visited.

For many photographers there's always a ghostly awareness of the activities that once transpired in derelict structures but Thorpe Marsh is a truly thrilling spot to visit due to the sheer scale of it. The 45 acres that encompass the property were clearly seething with human activity once upon a time - but now are as still as the grave, awaiting their fate in silence broken only by whistling winds.

Although earmarked for demolition, no action has yet been taken to raze the towers for reasons of safety. It is said that any explosion big enough to bring these things down would generate enough of a shockwave to rupture the wall of the nearby canal, bringing massive disruption to the area. In addition to that concern, the structures are liberally packed with asbestos that would be scattered across farmland for miles around following an exposive demolition. As such, the towers prevail for now at least.

Click here to see an aerial view of this location.

Cooling towers are cast in a hyperboloid shape, which make for some fun perspectives when photographing them. They also generate some incredible echos inside. It was a very windy day when I visited Thorpe Marsh and the rustling of some old debris at the base of the tower turned into a crescendo of loud whispers which was very eerie indeed.

Have a look at this image to see how these structures appear during construction.

Whilst this site has long since ceased to generate anything, it remains connected to the grid as part of the "Sheffield Ring" - a group of circuits and substations which transport electricity to the Sheffield conurbation and allow the transmission of power more generally across the whole of England. The remaining Thorpe Marsh switching station, a 275 kilovolt unit, was shut down on the week commencing 25th June 2007 when flooding threatened to consume the site.

It is believed that the national grid would have been temporarily knocked out if flood waters had eventually overrun the land here, but it came to pass that the rain receded. It's an interesting thought that there is still a spark of essential electrical life at the heart of this abandoned giant.

All of the towers at the abandoned Thorpe Marsh Power Station are equipped with one of these tiny doorways peeking out from the sheer concrete drop, about a quarter of the way up. They used to provide access to a central inspection walkway over the grid of pipework and cooling equipment in the bottom level. For a sense of scale, one of these doorways can be seen cut into a place near the top of a tower in the lower left of this photograph.

The calling card of an old British industrial manufacturer which was founded in 1918 and largely disbanded in 1968. Old logos and brands are always valued by photographers in abandoned places - they make a great comment on the transient nature of commercialism when you see a powerful company of the past reduced to an obituary in the form of a rusty plaque.

This shed could once be considered the mouth of the power station. When running smoothly, this hungry beast could consume well over half a million tonnes of coal per year so it was important to have consistent and continuous supply. Railway vehicles known as hoppers would roll over the large pits beneath these rails and shed their load of coal to stock up the fuel reserves and keep Yorkshire's light bulbs burning brightly.

Fellow Flickr user Bob Daniels photographed Thorpe Marsh in its final months and captured images all around the area. Some of the photos in his collection include this coal drop point - there's an internal view of the building here and a nice external shot of a coal hopper on the line just outside.