Thursday, January 17, 2008

The Wired Mind

A farm made up of human beings in fetal position, in liquid, with at tube used to feed through the mouth. All eyes are shut. All are dreaming. Dreaming of a life that they think they are living. Dreaming of a life they think is real.

Such was the reality that was introduced to us by the film The Matrix. When human beings are being controlled by "machines," electronic entities of their own making. Through the dream-like state the continues to fuel the mechanic existence, the human beings are unaware of the circular fate that awaits them - the endless dreamworld that they are now in.

I was awed by the premise of the movie and how it treats the seeming state of humanity as it is now. Like the movie's inhabitants, people now are also wired, glued in fact, to an entity as enigmatic and mechanical as the film's antagonist - the Internet.

Here we realize that we are now a part of a global society that is run by electronic information. We are defined by the vague e-mail addresses that we provide, we are described through the social networking accounts (Friendster, MySpace, Multiply) that we continue to fill with scraps of what we think is our humanity. We share information like it was perpetual, from the songs, to the videos that each of us talk about in virtual chatrooms.

Has this generation become a slave of its own machinations? Are we now living the movie that we think is still fiction? Or have we realized living in our own dreamworld is better than facing the real problems of disease, war, famine, hunger, and brokenness and depresion?

If you were asked to define the Internet based on your own experience, what would it be? What should it be? Seriously.

12 comments:

Unknown said...

For me, internet is defined as to a wide range or collection of computer networks around the globe.

yet in my epxperience internet means surfing the web...

gadget-wired-state has a tendency to destroy, the same is true with the human mind when injected with many data and information there's a tendency to be virused, data will be corrupted and as a manifestation, human tend to do something strange that will soon destroy not only themselves but the whole community. sometimes technolog has become a master and human became its servant...

on the other hand, being wired or connected to something is a great line to receive information abudantly...

Kim, Jee Eun said...

I do agree that many of us are somehow "controlled" by machines. Especially by the Internet. I remember the time when I attended a seminar held in AUP. The topic was about the Internet addiction and other problems occuring by the Internet. I forgot the exact number... But the survey mentioned a lot... A lot of people couldn't live without using the Internet for even one day. It really does look like the technology is controlling us.

But then, it is somehow confusing... Because all those technologies and electronic informations are actually originated by men. All those e-mail, blogs, and chatting and others, they were are made by us humans. Machines and technology can't create on its own. Humans are the one who are creating it. So is actually the humans or the technology who is controlling us? If it was created by human, is it still a fiction or a reality? I'm still not so sure yet... It's still confusing to me. Maybe I'm thinking too much...

If I were to define the Internet based on my own experience, it is a shortcut to information I need. When I say information, it doesn't only mean those educational, scientific facts or those paragraphs with big words we usually look in order to "copy and paste." Information can also be found in e-mail, blogs, chatting and other fun things we like to do.

As for what Internet should be, I feel that the way it is now is fine. The only problem lies on us. Whether to use the Internet as something that disturbs us in carrying out our daily lives, or to use it without letting it get in our way of reality, that is all up to us.

Anonymous said...

At some point I agree that the present generation is being enslave by the high tech gadgets he made. Why? Because most of us are depending so much the aid of our machine masters. This generation is just like
a dog waiting what its master will give to it.

In my own experience internet is the medium of which I could send mail to someone I want to write through e-mail.It is also an easy way of getting information without spending so much time, because I just type the word or phrase, then click it and the information I needed will appear.

Victoria & Hpone said...

Yah..I am being controlled by the machines....heheh:) W/O using internet i feel like i'm lacking something..well.many people are now addicted to internet. They chat,even voice/video chat and doing friendster, myspace and so on..Actually it takes alot of time to do this..since we created one then we need to check it often..
For me, internet is time stealer...:)because I wasted my time alot in it(doing meaningless things)..For the positive view, internet is my best friend because it helps me to communicate w/ my love ones...
Well, i want to say, Control your machines but don't let your machines control you..
God bless you all...

Anonymous said...

ohh..well.. i have watched the inhabitants but not the matrix becoz i dont like films with magics or fantasies...

yes..we are ruled by machines and eveything here on earth are run by machines... we should really have to realize that life is full of mysteries, problems and trials that we cannot really avoid but have to face it with courage..

i first used internet wen i was in 4th yr h-skul..but internet that time were not really a big matter for me, and when i stepped into college there comes a lot of requirements, research, internet really helps me do my work easily but in some point it really wont help me..it makes parasite sometimes. specially using friendster, though i dont like it that much i still check it from time to time..

it really consume my time, its enjoyable, though.

Anonymous said...

yeah,i believe that people nowadays become slave in its own invention if he/she is not wise in using it.oh how sad to know.....yes,human nature that we are always curious whatever new especialy about internet stuff.we want to involve in a modern world.its not bad actually but we must know our limitations.yes,we are in the world,but not for the world.yahooo...! so,wake up!and stop from daydreaming.lets face the reality.well,internet for me is,device to do work easier and faster!to make people more closer or make the world go round!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Being aware of using internet and other electronics has it's own advantages to us but to live and depend in them is not advisable.As of now it helps a lot to us students but we should not live our lives overusing these technologies and electronics..Let's just use it in accordance to our needs but not abuse ourselves by being over..Let us live normally and use this devices moderately.....

Anonymous said...

For me, internet is defined as to a wide range or collection of computer networks around the globe.

yet in my epxperience internet means surfing the web...

gadget-wired-state has a tendency to destroy, the same is true with the human mind when injected with many data and information there's a tendency to be virused, data will be corrupted and as a manifestation, human tend to do something strange that will soon destroy not only themselves but the whole community. sometimes technolog has become a master and human became its servant...

on the other hand, being wired or connected to something is a great line to receive information abudantly...

Anonymous said...

Well,Our world today has changed a great deal with the aid of information technology. Things that were once done manually or by hand have now become computerized operating systems, which simply require a single click of a mouse to get a task completed. That is actually an internet based. In my own experience,sometimes if I have project and reseach. I found it easier to surf the internet rather than to read books.And I can say that Technology really penetrate almost every aspect of my daily life from education to leisure and even society.And now I realized that being dependent with technology sometimes is not good.We should also consider the fact that technology has its own disadvantage and that is to make us lazy to think and solve the real problems of life. It seems that everything is artificial.Internet is there to assist us for learning not to control us from learning something.

Angeline said...

Technology is growing very fast and I think we are in a computer age generation right now. Many people love hi tech gadgets at this time and many of them can’t live without it. Technology isn’t bad at all and it is very helpful actually if we just use it in a right way. So I think technology being good or evil only depends on how people are going to use them in their lives.
Internet for me is a very useful device for learning and for making my projects and research work easily. It also helps me to have a communication to my long lost friends. But honestly, internet sometimes also stops me from learning in my research works coz sometimes when I’m lazy doing my research works. I’ll just copy and paste it just like other people do. ^_^

elizadee cuevas said...

I defined internet the most needed online business in a new millenium. Many people uses internet because its easy to surf. In my own experience, internet are part of my studies and my lifestyle also. I have my friendster and my email add. Im not totally addicted i use internet when its needed. For me internet is enjoyable and not bored to use. As long as you use it in a right way online is good. Internet is fun......

Anonymous said...

technology in this generation did not control us i think we or should i say some of them put their selves of being slaves or controlled by this technology.technology is good if we know how to use this.