Grateful for yang technology
I wake up in my comfortable bed. The bed, mattress, blankets, pillows, even the clothes on my back are products that have required a lot of technology to design and build. Instantly my hand is looking for glasses on the wooden nightstand. I check the time on my phone, which is the pinnacle of technology that is reachable for the everyday user.
I get up, brush my teeth with the electric toothbrush that has been charging over night on top of an induction bed. The shower warms up by the turn of the knob, the water flows. I'm indoors, but I have no problem seeing what's in front of me thanks to the lights on our ceilings. I stay warm, dry and safe thanks to unimaginable technological inventions in the past.
The machine brews the beans and presses them into a steaming cup of coffee. The microwave heats up the porridge. I ask the kids sit for a while in front of the TV so I can do some reading on the computer. I check the time and my steps on the wrist watch.
Almost everything in the house has needed some level of design process that has required technology to be made, but the most obvious technological needs are met with the appliances we use every day to keep up with our own daily lives: the phones, the computers, the watches, the cars, the kitchen appliances, the electricity and plumbing.
But then there is the other side of technology. Loss of privacy. Spying, recording, storing information on private citizens. Warfare that depends heavily on technology and its advances. Drones and guns, chemical weapons, terrorist recruiting. The fact that I type these words will possibly send a signal in the vast sea of the internet to a word fishing boat. These technological aspects are the black mirror of otherwise such wonderful opportunities.
Yin always comes with the yang. I acknowledge the existence of yin technology, but I choose to be grateful only for the yang technology.
I get up, brush my teeth with the electric toothbrush that has been charging over night on top of an induction bed. The shower warms up by the turn of the knob, the water flows. I'm indoors, but I have no problem seeing what's in front of me thanks to the lights on our ceilings. I stay warm, dry and safe thanks to unimaginable technological inventions in the past.
The machine brews the beans and presses them into a steaming cup of coffee. The microwave heats up the porridge. I ask the kids sit for a while in front of the TV so I can do some reading on the computer. I check the time and my steps on the wrist watch.
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| Image: pixabay.com |
Almost everything in the house has needed some level of design process that has required technology to be made, but the most obvious technological needs are met with the appliances we use every day to keep up with our own daily lives: the phones, the computers, the watches, the cars, the kitchen appliances, the electricity and plumbing.
But then there is the other side of technology. Loss of privacy. Spying, recording, storing information on private citizens. Warfare that depends heavily on technology and its advances. Drones and guns, chemical weapons, terrorist recruiting. The fact that I type these words will possibly send a signal in the vast sea of the internet to a word fishing boat. These technological aspects are the black mirror of otherwise such wonderful opportunities.
Yin always comes with the yang. I acknowledge the existence of yin technology, but I choose to be grateful only for the yang technology.
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