Daniel Akill's Blog | MAN, AND MACHINES

MAN, AND MACHINES

27 November, 2007

Man and Machines

Ever since Man first stood up on his hind legs and opened his eyes - so to speak - and looked around him, and began to realise that the cards were all stacked against him; he began to think, and to reason, first by himself, then with his fellow-man, or fellow-men, about his surroundings and environment. And later, by adding thought to reason, he began to calculate and to work out how to protect himself from the elements and the forces of nature; and the other animals, most of which were constantly trying to kill and eat him; and how to provide himself with shelter, comfort, safety, and the bare necessities of life. He realised that he had to depend only on himself, mostly and only (and on his fellow-man, or men) if they were to survive as a species; and, as a result, he began to invent crude and very simple tools, implements, and weapons; and to forage and hunt, sometimes by himself, but mostly in groups. You watch and scratch my back, I'll watch and scratch yours.

First, he made a thick wooden club, which he used to kill some of the animals for food and skins, and to defend himself. Then he made a long wooden pole, which he later sharpened at one end with a knife made of flint or stone. Then he discovered that by making the pole thinner, and by adding a piece of sharpened flint, or stone, to one end as a head, he could hunt and kill by throwing or hurling it from a distance without the risk or danger of confrontation. Then, somewhat later, he discovered that by inventing a device, the bow, that could propel a shaft, the arrow, he could hunt and kill from a greater distance. He realised that although, compared to the other animals, he was weak and helpless, he could think and reason. In other words, he had a well-developed brain, and he could use his hands. This tipped the scales substantially, if not completely, in his favour. Thus, these ancient or pre-historic, primitive, and crude tools, implements, and weapons, became the first and the most basic class of machines ever made or invented by Man.

Much later on, he discovered fire through the effect of lightning striking dry wood and leaves, and by using his brain, aided by his hands, he multiplied thought by reason, and divided the result by hard work, and invented the wheel, which led to the development of several more useful and effective tools, implements, and weapons.

He had no choice. Picture the first Man. Look at him well with your mind’s eye. No fur to keep him warm, no hooves to protect his feet, and no horns or claws or fangs to hunt or fight or defend himself with; only a better-developed brain and hands, plus the fact that he could stand and walk or run in an upright position. Time would show and tell that these were far better and much more formidable advantages; and that, because of them, he became the lord and master of all life–forms.

Eventually, he began to invent machines, which are devices, each having a unique and specific purpose that augments or replaces human or animal effort for the accomplishment of specific physical tasks; and since then, Man has been able to invent and build bigger, better, and faster machines with awesome powers and incredible precision that can do things, and perform tasks that Man could never do. In fact, today, in almost all the factories, plants, firms, companies, schools, offices, and anywhere and everywhere people live, work, do business, or play, or indulge in any form of activities - or inactivities, for that matter - Man, because of his primordial fears, anxieties, and needs, and through the development of modern science and technology, has been able to create machines that can do the work of thousands of people, faster, better, and much more accurately; or kill thousands of people within minutes, or seconds. In truth, it boggles the mind to think, that this fragile and susceptible coloured marble in space, this smaller-than-the-smallest micro-dot in the awesome universe that took 4.5 billion years to form, could be destroyed completely within weeks, or days, or hours, or even minutes, by Man and his Machines.

Because of these machines, there is more leisure time, more entertainment, amusement, and diversity; much more knowledge; better education; faster transportation; instant information; much more safety, security, and comfort; better food; much more potent medication, and better health; better houses, buildings, and other structures.

Also, there is much more adversity, perversity, pestilence, immorality, strife, disease, wars, poverty, and starvation; more crime, sex, violence, and drug and alchohol abuse; more corruption of values, more eruption of family and society, and more distortion of family ties and social fabrics.

Machines have given Man everything he has ever wanted or needed, but, at the same time they have created more difficult and horrifying problems for him to solve. After hundreds of millions of years, Man realises that he is still in the same race against time, or back to square one, so to speak; but this time against a far more potent, much more formidable, much more powerful, and much more resilient and relentless, and yet the most indispensable enemy: The Machine! Who will win in the end, Man, or Machine?

Inventions and creations are the offspring of want and need, fostered by anxiety, and boosted by fear. In other words, necessity, anxiety, and fear are the parents of inventions, innovations, and creations! Man invents and innovates and creates because he wants to survive as a species, and, he needs food, clothes, medicines, shelter, transportation, and other essentials; but, most important, he is very much afraid and anxious.

Man’s capacity for good prompts him to invent and create these machines to improve his chances and lot, but simultaneously, it is Man’s inclination to evil that eventually turns these same machines against him. From his earliest beginnings, when he foraged, hunted, fought, and defended himself with a club, then the spear, then the bow and arrow, then on, and on, and on, to the present; each and every tool, implement, and machine that he invents or creates has been used against him. And now he waits for the time, the day, the hour, the minute, or the moment, when his most formidable, most powerful, most important, most dangerous, and most indispensable inventions and/or creations – Machines: The Computer and The Robot – will be used, or will turn, against him.

Posted by akill 06:06 | General | Comment(2) | Permalink

Comments

You forgot to say man invented sex. And is sex better than machines?

George | 30/11/2007, 05:22 [ Reply ]

Man invented sex? Where did you hear that? You must have heard it somewhere since you couldn’t have read it anywhere.
My dear ‘George of the jungle’ to some people – like me, for example – “SEX” is an ART; to some, it is a recreation; to some it is an amusement; to some, it is merely an activity that was included in 'the marriage contract' which needs to be done quickly and gotten over with; and to the rest, it is whatever it is they choose to name it, AND, and BUT! "SEX" is not to be compared to machines, not unless YOU USE SOME SORT OR KIND OF MACHINE TO HAVE YOUR SPECIAL SORT OR KIND OF SEX!
BY GOD!
The next time you have nothing to say, say it somewhere else!
BY GOD AGAIN!

Daniel in The Lion's Den | 02/12/2007, 09:05 [ Reply ]