The insanity of rampant mindless new technology
It's not that I'm against new technology. It has many benefits. It's just that there can be too much of a good thing.
As an illustration, I'm looking at the plan to employ "human-like" robots to provide companionship to lonely aged people, in particular, to those with dementia. In Australia, there's a government-encouraged plan that is developing these robots. The robots are meant to provide cheery company and entertainment, to groups of old people and to individuals. They can initiate games, blow bubbles, and provide a stream of wisecracking banter (I heard a sample of this on Australia's ABC Radio National).
above - "Nadine" - robot, Japan
Just what a dementia person needs- NOT! The last thing that a demented person needs is smart-aleck wisecracks. What they do need is a gentle touch, a human hand leading them for a walk, very little talk, and simple talk, not stuff that will add to their confusion. What they need is empathy - and that's one thing that a robot cannot give.
Of course, the robot gobbles up electricity. And that must cost a bit, but presumably cheaper than paying a human to do this task?
The companion robot is just one example of the useless bits of new technology that waste not only our time, but also huge amounts of electricity and water.
Consider how many trillions of unnecessary emojis, emails, digital posts of all kinds, must be increasingly stored in those dirty great steel data containers that are deceptively called "the cloud" . The big deception is that we're supposed to think that there's some kind of innocuous beneficial vapour, into which all our digital rubbish just fades away.
That massive dirty digital steel rubbish "cloud" bank is forever guzzling electricity and the necessary cooling water.
As artificial intelligence races away, and the squillionares like Jeff Bezos rule the world, unhindered wasteful new technology is leading us towards a collective insanity. The nuclear lobbyists must be licking their lips - as electricity usage booms with AI, the argument for nuclear energy booms, too.
There would be many ways to limit our digital use, if only there was a general acceptance of the idea of moderate use, and the motivation to be more frugal in our digital management.
Rampant energy use for completely wasteful purposes not only destroys employment for humans, but it also leads to the toxic world of nuclear power, (and of course, its twin, nuclear weapons.)