Technology 10/14

If I was to describe a normal work day for me, today would be it. Left house a little after 5, got to office, pulled messages and sorted the mail, made sure crews were going the right ways, and went off to my route of backflow tests and customer visits. Busy morning. Office in Redmond, then Woodinville, then Tukwilla, then back to redmond. Took care of invoices and a couple of emails. Deposited receipts and then went to football practice. Came home, saw family for a little while, ate dinner, read to kids, just put them to bed. For the last 10 years that has much been my work day, plus or minus a few changes. The role that technology has played for me during that time has mostly been as a time/work saving device that supports how I run my business and my life. It is not something that I percieve as interacting with, rather something that I depend on to do its part so I can do mine. For the most part, my entire work/life is propped up in some fashion by technology, but as long as it works smoothly, little thought is given to its presence.

The thought that I raised here earlier was that as the reliability of a technolgy increases, so does our dependence on that technology. As we rely on something more and more, we trust that it will be freely and fairly available. The harbinger of doom that lies within me (and raises his ugly head once in a while) says "what if someone starts to controll the electricity, and we end up in a sort of strange mad max version of society where electricity is scarce and controlled by a few violent and corrupt individuals?"

The answer to the above question might be that it already occurs depending on where you live and that we saw a glimpse of this with the tactics used by energy traders in the early part of this decade. But my gut feeling is that the cycle of dependence and exploitation has always occurred with new technologies. As long as new technologies continue to be developed and we adapt our lives to their uses, we will not be held hostage by the technology or those who attempt to manipulate it.