From the ancient Egyptians and their wonderful inventions such as the Giza pyramids to the not so modern Americans and their world changing inventions such as cars, mobile phones and the internet. Technology has been an important fabric in civilization across the ages and it is one of the most direct manifestation of how the world has progressed.
Technology's role isn't one sided as we think of it. As much as we shape technology, it also shapes us too. And we have come to develop this dualistic love-hate relationship with it in which not only is it a panacea to our problems but it is also a nightmare of our destruction (not in a literal sense!).
It might sound a bit corny or weird but it seems we've become interdependent with technology. This doesn't necessarily mean it is sentient but with the current progress it is making, it won't take that long for it to develop to a level of sentient-ness. I bet its first profound realisation will be there's a class of beings call humans who rely on them for survival!
Progress And Regress
Progress and regress are two seemingly alternating states that we experience although they sometimes can happen simultaneously. With civilizations, the alternating state of progress and regress is something constant.
According to known history, there was a time the Asian civilization flourished then it fell, the Middle East with some parts of Africa took over and then they also fell, Europe took over after that and then it also fell. America then took the torch but it hasn't fell yet.
What's interesting about the coming and going of these civilizations is that technology was at background but it didn't fell. Like a cat with nine lives, it continued to survive and grew stronger with each new civilization. It could be that technology is not natural in a strict sense so this law of progress and regress didn't apply to it.
On the human level however, there is also an interesting discovery. I can't tell for the past ages and you can correct me if I'm wrong but I've come to notice in the modern era that as technology progresses, the average human regresses from a general perspective. Be it naturally, academically or psychologically.
My point in saying that is because technology has gone from helping us do things to doing things for us. This is a world of doing and if we seem to have nothing to do, we regress.
Now, this regression doesn't mean going back to old ways. What it means here is like going back to sleep from an awakened state. When you do things, there's activity and the possibility to be aware. It is not so when you don't do things.
Coming to the simultaneous part of progress and regress, We could say while tech is progressing, the average human is regressing. When we take a step back, zoom out and glimpse at the future, we're almost certain that whether we do or don't do, tech will continue to progress since it has been doing so for all these years.
On the other hand, it will make all the difference whether we do or don't do in deciding if the average human will continue to regress or not as tech progress further.
Of course, all of this is not easily apparent but it is happening nonetheless, in the background like always.
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