As I observed the woman in front of me swipe her card through the terminal, paying for her purchases, she never ceased holding her cell phone to her ear and incessantly talking into it. I wondered if there was an actual person on the other end, since she talked nonstop. Such is life in our fast and furious 21st-century culture.

Life has speeded up, everything is instantaneous. We have become accustomed and assimilated to technological tools that work fast, at the push of a button, the click of a mouse. The frustration level rises if that click does not work or fails us.

Is it easier? Simpler? Required to focus on many things at once, is it possible we are losing something in the process? Reinventing ourselves as “multitaskers,” excellence and quality also had to be reinvented as computers and multitasking became part of our workplace experience and home environments.

Is there a cost to this abundant technology invading every facet of our lives? What happens to privacy and security? As fast as a better security system is devised, the need arises to develop a way to stop interlopers breaking in.

It is difficult for the younger crowd to even imagine life without television, DVDs, CDs, computers, flash drives, world-wide web, iPods, cell phones, now Apple’s iPhone -- all a significant part of 21st-century lifestyles. There was a time just 55 years ago when Americans were fortunate to have a radio (plug-in not battery-operated) in their homes along with a landline phone shared with two or more parties. Yes, we’ve come a long way baby!

Many questions remain unanswered as to mankind’s future and man’s fascination with developing cyber-borgie technological tools. How far will we go? Globally it is obvious that the wave of the future is inter-connectiveness, economically and tribally.

Why do we keep on attempting to improve and benefit our lives by following this technological path? Despite these progressive advances supposedly producing simplicity, ease, comfort and many conveniences (in some ways), our lives are more complicated. The words “stress” and “burn out” are recent human-applied descriptions.

Many in the tech research and development fields could probably give various reasons for “why they do what they do.” But taking into account human nature, we could say “we explore because it’s there.” The same inclination existed in conquering nations, exploring uncharted territory and reaching for the stars --- “because it’s there.”

Just as visionary writers of a century ago imagined men exploring under the seas and reaching the moon and Mars, we have only to look at today’s science fiction for a glimpse at what our future might be a century from now. Far fetched? That’s what was said of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells in their era.

I recently finished reading Stephen King’s “Cell.” A fantasy, sci-fi type tale, it highlights our mistaken assumptions about technology. King premised that, in one exact moment in time, millions of people on their cellphones have their brains wiped clean or swiped, leaving rudimentary minds, crazy, violent, appearing to follow some commanding voice in their heads. The cause is never determined. But, in an instance, the world changes forever.

Will we remain human or are we facing a future that overtakes our humanness, creating monstrous beings? Half organic and half machine.

Some of you might remember Star Trek’s Captain Picard, captured and turned into a Borg connected and directed by one collective mass mind. It may be imaginative to see all humans connected to a one-mind, mass-directed organic-machine, Borg, controlling our minds and bodies. But aren’t we just a few steps away from such development with the ongoing research into Artificial Intelligence and the introduction of biological components into machines and vice versa?

Could this happen? As man’s exploration and inventiveness continues gathering strength and future generations, reared in the daylight of “push the envelop” technology, absorb it, the world will be transformed. But Pandora’s Box has opened alongside creating problems and complications which may over time accumulatively cross some invisible line leading to our downfall.

How this technology affects humans, from individuals to nations and governments, is the real question. Some universities offer whole courses devoted to exploring the effects of modern technology on humans. Tech tools are changing us, including the woman on the cell phone, even if we find these cyborg tools convenient. Questions abound as to the deeper ramifications on mankind and our world.

Chips under the skin, laser scanners, bionics, gene mixing, designer babies, global communications, cloning, genetic interventions, nano robotics, etc.,

--- we are already living a global, pre-Borg lifestyle.

© 2007 Bonnie Alba

Comments: tttalba@hotmail.com