Have human beings kept up with the technology that we have invented? I must admit that I couldn’t successfully detail for you how most things work besides a general description. Carl Sagan said:
“We’ve arranged a civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces.”
Many of us learn enough about a given technology to use the features that we most want, but never learning how to use many other features. My new iMac is a great example of available technology that I’m confident that I have not learned. I want to spend time on the tutorials, but I never seem to make that time.
How do we develop a working relationship with technology so that we can feel comfortable understanding what we are using? Does this problem have a solution – or are we doomed to experience what Sagan predicts?