Evolution or Devolution?

15 years ago, I was a strapping, young lad of 13 years. When I wanted to socialize, I jumped on my bike, and willingly undertook the laborious, 10 minute ride to my friend’s house. I rang the doorbell and when someone opened the door I eloquently asked(if it was my friend’s older sister opening the door, my eloquatiousness would become guttural gurglings.),  if my friend would come out and play. I would either get a yes or a no.

If my friend was home and he wanted to play, we would do exactly that. We’d run around in the forest with sticks and stones, shouting and whispering. We’d climb some trees, dig some holes, dig up some worms, catch a frog and throw pinecones at the neighbour’s cat.

If he wasn’t home, I would just as happily jump back on my bike, ride like the wind to the next friend, or sometimes just back home. At home I would construct enormous lego towers, lego spaceships and lego cars(I was a really big lego fan). Or maybe I’d read a book, run around on the lawn or go for a one man expedition to my neighbourhoods trollforest and fend of some imaginary evil trolls with my trollsmiting stick and some well aimed troll-vanquishing rockgrenades.

Now I picture my 5 year old soon in the future. He goes to school, he does his homework, and then when he wants to socialize, he turns on the computer or Ipad, logs into facebook or msn, and chats with his friends. If they’re feeling up to it, they might even run around in the interactive landscapes of counter-strike or call of duty, and repetedly kill each other with really big guns.

There most certainly is a development in technology and in how we relate to said technology. The question we must ask ourself is; will this development turn the evolution of man into a progression or a regression?

It seems to me that the production of technology is a production of needs. In my home we recently acquired an Apple Ipad. I was at first a little sceptical, and I didn’t really think we had a NEED for this device. It turns out it makes my life SO MUCH EASIER! Now, when drinking my morning coffee, I can log onto facebook, check my e-mail and the news just while relaxing in the sofa. I don’t have to walk down all those stairs, balancing a cup of espresso intenso freshly made from our new Dolce Gusto capsule coffemachine(which is bloody hard work, but the coffee machine makes it REALLY EASY to make coffe) just to turn on the stationary computer.

I was also more than a little sceptic to Facebook when that first arrived, but now I’m logged in there every day. And its SO EASY to stay in touch with old school friends from 10 years back who I didn’t even like back then, but they write so many interesting things on their wall that I can’t imagine my earlier dislike of them.

So when everything becomes easier, less is demanded from our ability to both physically and mentally interact with our surroundings. Evolution permits all living things to evolve according to their surroundings. In the case of humanity, I suspect we have already begun our devolution….