Have we reached an age where we give up thinking for ourselves and now use the computer/internet to do our ...

Question

bidding?

I am thinking of a song called:

Zager And Evans | In The Year 2525 Lyrics In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may find
In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
Everything you think, do, and say
Is in the pill you took today

In the year 4545
Ain't gonna need your teeth, won't need your eyes
You won't find a thing to chew
Nobody's gonna look at you

In the year 5555
Your arms are hanging limp at your sides
Your legs got nothing to do
Some machine is doing that for you

In the year 6565
Ain't gonna need no husband, won't need no wife
You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long glass tube' Whoooa

In the year 7510
If God's a-comin' he ought to make it by then
Maybe he'll look around himself and say
Guess it's time for the Judgement day

In the year 8510
God is gonna shake his mighty head then
He'll either say I'm pleased where man has been
Or tear it down and start again

In the year 9595
I'm kinda wondering if man is gonna be alive
He's taken everything this old earth can give
And he ain't put back nothing

Now it's been 10,000 years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what he never knew
Now man's reign is through
But through eternal night
The twinkling of starlight
So very far away
Maybe it's only yesterday

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may thrive
In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
Everything you think, do or say
Is in the pill you took today ....(fading...)

Namaste

Peace and Love

Answer 1

I think that since so much of the internet is written material, it lends itself to more reflective thought. If I were to apply the ideas behind the song to any technology, I'd think the television is a much more likely culprit.

Answer 2

I think some people have always been willing to let something (or someone) do the thinking for them. It's not a new phenomenon.

And while technology undoubtedly makes life easier in many ways I think that there will always be those who walk to the beat of a different drummer.

I remember in the 1970s a Sunday newspaper published predictions of what life would be like in the year 2000. One aspect they seem to have gotten right was the increased diversity of spiritual practices. And I think that as technology and 'society' get more complex, more will drift away (albeit probably taking advantage of the increased time labour saving devices allow us) and concentrate on the spiritual side of life.

Just look at us here. A network of people around the world who can share and discuss out beliefs. Technology can be good too. We always have a choice. We just have to make the right ones.
.

Answer 3

Not really. The thought often comes before the search on the internet. the internet doesn't tell us what to think... just gives information, then we make our own decision.

I enjoyed those lyrics.

And just because today we spend time on the internet, doesn't mean that tomorrow the internet will still be here. Earth's resources are finite. The oil will run out. I wonder what they will make computers out of when there is no more petroleum for plastic? Recycled plastic? Wood and crystal?

That is assuming that any trees can grow in the heat.

I think we are all going to have to return to a more simple way of life - one that gives back to the earth, and cleanses the atomosphere. I'm preparing myself for that right now, and making steps towards it.

Answer 4

Not YET. The path seems to be leading in that direction. Kithy makes a good point about letting the Internet do our thinking for us, but we don't ALL do that. Pills are increasingly handed out like candy, for a zit or or a circumstantial anxiety, yet we can take responsibility for that as well.

I found myself focusing on the 8th verse. If we were to go BACK 10,000 years, there'd not even be a concept of where we "are" today. If we PROJECT10,000 years? & 7th verse...if we're still alive, if the earth hasn't been so abused it has turned into a dead little rock in space, in my wildest imaginiation I couldn't speculate "what" humans would be. I wonder, if we "vanish," would we return to the stardust of which we're all made? Or would we be anti--matter (a fascinating topic)! Pure energy, matter being nothing but trapped energy. I'm not pessimistic or optimistic. Think of the cycles of infinite universes, galaxies! Were/are they good or bad? I can think of no technology, scientific discovery, law, or dogma that hasn't an inherent risk for abuse, or "negative" results. Okay! I say--not YET.

Answer 5

Hm.... well, some of the issues raised in the song certainly are taking place today, such as our specie's reliance on pharmaceuticals to adjust mood, instead of good diet, exercise, and things like that, and too much reliance on contraptions causing us to get out of shape, but as far as thinking for ourselves and the net, any information you find there is only as good as the people who write it, same as in a book or newspaper, and what you choose to do with it, once you have it. I enjoy the net as a more accessible source of information without having to go to a library or bookstore, and it offers more points of view than the usual sources, I think. I can go to the Vatican, the Louvre, the Smithsonian, when I might not be able to go there physically, and although I have visited the Smithsonian on many occasions, I am not holding my breath that I will ever be able to visit the Louvre, or the Vatican in person. We can be in the same "room" having a conversation, such as right now, with someone in China, or Russia, if we want to.... If anything, I think the net is a last frontier of free thought, you can find things out there you can't find through the convential means we grew up with..... Or at least as long as "net neutrality" holds out, if we can keep the big companies from trying to set up toll booths on the information highway...

Answer 6

Cool, never heard of this song before. Will have to look it up. =>

I think some people do let the internet do their thinking for them. I have seen some very good questions asked in here and some people only know how to answer by copy/pasting from a website... as if providing the info from a website automatically makes it true.

Answer 7

Nope, the net is a tool but it's no substitute for a brain.