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As our world gets more and more complicated, we have started depending on technology in our every day lives, and to an astonishing degree. During the last 50 or so years one device above all others have increased exponentially, namely the computer. First as huge lumbering giants encased in military facilities, later in financial institutions and multi-national corporations, and more recently all around us.

These days you find them everywhere and in almost any device you might purchase, regardless of size or type. From the gas pump you use when you fill up your car, to the microwave oven you use to heat your lunch, and the smartphone in your pocket. Literally, computers are everywhere!

I think that's fine and dandy though. It removes a great deal of friction and annoyance from our lives, while it sadly introduces new ones at the same time. As things evolve and change, humans will eventually adapt to the new conditions. For a time we will have to suffer the friction that occurs when human habit meets new way of doing things, but it undoubtedly won't last too long. Not in the grand scheme of things, at least.

What happens if a computer or computer system, in colloquial terms, "goes down"? In many cases there are alternatives to fall back on for just those situations, but as society has grown more and more dependent on us always having a functioning computer at hand, on a personal level this is getting more and more difficult. Should you suffer a catastrophic failure of your computational device of choice and not be able to replace or repair it soon, it's not easy. Communication with friends, family, and colleagues to a very large degree take place in services on the Internet, not to mention that it's the place where a lot of people get their news every day.

Sometimes a failure in technology is a mere nuisance, while in others it can very much be a matter of life and death. Ponder the people who need a functioning device in order to survive, such as those with a pacemaker. Should that piece of technology fail, it's not quite like your personal computer gets a virus, is it? Perhaps this is the most extreme case of humans directly depending on any given piece of technology in order to survive, while still appearing like any other human in society.

There are those who say humans will inevitably meld with machines at some point in the future; to become cyborgs. I'd say we are already there, in depending on machines, although not yet in physically melding with them. If you want evidence for this claim, I invite you to go to nearly any semi-densely populated area and just look around. Observe what people do and how they do it, what things they need and depend on. Cyborgs, we are!

Robert Falck

Robert is a freelance tech writer from Sweden. You can follow his posts here on the British Tech Network, listen to him yap away on the British Tech iOS Show and read even more of his stuff on his site streakmachine.com or you can even follow him on twitter @streakmachine. (But you won't find him on Facebook!)

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Robert Falck

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