I remember my father used to always tell me that history repeats itself…He wanted me to think deeper, analyze and, probably, be more responsible for our future. But from my life experience I can tell you only one thing: “You never know”. When we are talking about digital future and society, we can’t rely on any knowledge and facts. We can only assume, fantasize and come up with different theories. I would like to share with you some of my ideas and thoughts about our future.
With my very busy schedule (what a surprise for New Yorker) I prefer to do shopping online. First, it’s very simple and saves a lot of time. Second, if you are not satisfied with a product, you can easily return it. I think that our digital future will only make this procedure faster. Just imagine, that your digital device will automatically order milk, apples, shampoo or face cream if you run out of these products. We will definitely have to share a lot of personal information in order to make your computer/smartphone do shopping for us. I hope that world will not go against me knowing that I like coconut shower gel and milk chocolate with almonds.
I also expect our future digital society to be much safer. For example, future citizens will be obligated to have an application on Iphone (or whatever smart phone we will use), where they can easily report any sorts of crimes. Just press a bottom – and the police will know when, where and what type of law violation occurs. I believe people will behave more civilized knowing that others are constantly watching them. Does it remind you of anything? “At the heart of Bentham’s ‘panopticon’ design was the recognition that the best way of controlling the behavior of prison inmates was to give them the impression that they were under constant observation” (Athique 212). My dear classmates, do you feel like prisoners now?
“An Internet-enabled revolution in education will spread more opportunities, with less money spent on real estate and teachers” – I cannot agree on this more! Universal easy access to all human knowledge is such a great idea…only if you know how truthful and reliable this information is.
Will we have friends? Do we actually have them now? So many people in New York City… and it seems to me like all of them are lonely. Leanna Garfield in her article “8 ways dating and relationships may look different by 2040” fantasize about dates in our near future: “The real-time artificial intelligence would analyze video data at high speed, providing users with instant feedback about how their date is going.” Do we really need this, people? Why is it so hard to be ourselves? Why do we even have to involve computer in order to make our relationships more satisfying? I honestly believe that digital technologies will completely destroy ‘normal’ communication between people.
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Really interesting ideas !
Regarding your first question, i think more dating apps will appear. As you mentioned People in NYC has a busy schedule and sometimes do not have time for themselves. I can not say if if will be the perfect match for everybody but I’m sure for some people will be. I personally do not like dating apps, but I have a friend who met her husband in one of these apps. So, yes people will still using these apps but I do not think everyone will find their future couples.
I believe our future society will be more safe as well, because when everyone is comfortable using digital devices, there will be many apps to help report crimes with a simple click of a button. People can keep updated, alert and able to remain calm. I have already started seeing something similar, Facebook’s check-in for safety, where if Facebook’s detects your current location is near a major traffic condition, breaking news, etc. you have the option to confirm your safety so your friend’s know you are fine.
To answer question # 2, I think our future society is going to be both, dangerous and safe. It will be dangerous because not many people are aware (especially millennials) of the consequences of posting anything on social platforms. I think it will be safe if you are aware and educated. It also will be helpful in case of an emergency. An example will be Facebook, that will let you know if your friend(s) are ok in the event of an accident.
I feel like technology can be there for the convenience of finding your “perfect match” on dating sites but that’s all superficial. What if your “soulmate” doesn’t have a specific dating site? I don’t have a dating app/account but I assume that matches happen because a person has an account on the same site and also has matching phrases to yours. The future society is a risk in itself because there will be attempts to make things safer and convenient but this also gives people like hackers or suspects a challenge to find more loopholes.