Few thoughts as a sequel to my prior post entitled ICT Therapy!? in which, referring to a column of Peter Hinsen, I discussed the frustrations of ICT professionals who in one way are obsessed with the control of reality and in the other way are facing the increasing complexity of the very own solutions they're using. The lost of control over technology is not only the premise of futurologists like Ray Kurzweil, it was already the theme of some Greek mythologies few millenniums ago.
The story of Prometheus is certainly the best illustration of this technological paradox. He was the Titan God who gave fire to humanity. Fire represents science and technology - the art of looking forward or anticipate (Προμηθεύς ="forethought"). Zeus, the supreme ruler of the Pantheon, didn't want mankind to reach this level of control and was very angry with Prometheus. As punishment, the latter "is chained to a rock where his regenerating liver is eaten daily by an eagle".
The liver - the only human internal organ that actually can regenerate itself to a significant extent - is a metaphor for "perpetual need". This way we can say that since mankind discovered technology, it has always wanted more, never being satisfied of its actual tools. This technological obsession has led humanity to a condition which is comparable to the punishment of Prometheus : chained to a rock !
The same can be said about the ICT professionals who Peter Hinssen describes as losing control over the system they're running and getting more and more stuck in an infinite web of applications. Some postmodern philosophers believe one day technology will take over control (the revenge of the machines !), but that's an other story...
David
14.10.07
Prom-IT-heus
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2 comments:
Excellent post, Dave.
Ik kende de Prometheus-mythe wel maar ik had nooit het verband gezien met ICT!
En het zijn heus niet alleen IT-professionals die door het IT-bos de bomen niet meer zien. Paradoxaal genoeg leidt de ongelofelijke vooruitgang niet tot vereenvoudiging en zeker niet tot uniformisering, ook niet voor de gewone gebruiker. Op een jaar tijd heb ik als IT-leek met meer dan 5 nieuwe niche-applicaties moeten leren werken en het ziet er niet naar uit dat dat er volgend jaar minder gaan worden.
Tot slot. Ik denk niet dat het geloof dat dat machines ons langzaam maar zeker boven het hoofd beginnen groeien, beperkt is tot postmoderne filosofen. Films als Gattaca en The Matrix waren voorlopers maar het thema van uit de hand lopende technologie wordt actueler dan ooit. Ik denk dat, eens de klimaathype gaat liggen, deze thematiek the next big thing wordt...
Dear Seel,
Thanks for your prophetic reaction! Prophetic because I like the hypothesis that “the lost of control over technology” could become a very important theme in the future (like you say: ‘once the ecological hype will fade away’). But prophetic also because one of my next posts will focus even more on this theme ;-) Movies like Matrix and 2001: A Space Odyssey will be mentioned. I didn’t know Gattaca.That's something for tonight.
Thanks mate!
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