IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Winter 2014 - 6

Atomised bits and pieces
Of things and people
De-corporealisation
Dehumanization.
Creating because we can
Wars and bombs
Radical innovations
Computational machinery
Spy satellites
High-speed trains
Drones
Brain-to-computer interfaces
Robots
Hubots
Artificial intelligence
Brain in a vat
Let's see how far we can go.
From inventing for survival
Then for the shareholders
Then for convenience
And finally for the sheer sake of inventing.
It's called need
No, it's actually greed
No, it's called optimisation and efficiency
No, no, no, it's called freedom and liberation
Smart grids,
Smart homes
Smart meters
Smart cars
Smart clothes
Smart peopleYes, yes, enslavement in disguise.
This is the upgrade generation
The throwaway generation
Buy a new printer
It's cheaper and faster than getting a new toner for
your old oneLeave it on the scrap heap of e-waste
It's somebody else's environmental problem.
We're the consumption generation
Soldering whitegoods for a few dollars each
Impoverished workers suicide
Unable to cope with production demands
But that's over there, and we're over here.
We're the all you can eat fast food and frozen pizza
generation
The Genetically Modified quantifiable generation
Like the lifetime of DDTPersistence
We're the plastic generation
We can't be bio-degradably broken down that easily.
We're the Do-It-Yourselfer generation
Equipped with 3D printers
And electronic checkouts,
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We currently scan out our goods on our own
While they're all-too-busy scanning us!
We're the "always on" generation
Mobiles
Social media
Content
Instant gratification
Living in the cloud.
We're the generation that witnesses cyberbullying and
viral videos
And as a result 13 years olds who take their own
life.
We're the generation that hears about 3 month old
babies dying of dehydration
While their parents raise the perfect online child.
We're the generation where 30-somethings forget
themselves at Internet Cafes
And can't keep a 9 to 5 job.
We're the generation that manufactures toxic toys for
kids under 3.
We're the generation that wirelessly broadcasts
Music that glorifies
Murder
Rape
Abuse.
We are living a locked-in syndrome
Like the moth effect
Positive phototaxis-
Look for the light
It's blue
It's coming from over there
Let me go to it and see what it is about
Oh, I am alive
Reaffirmation I'm not alone
Well, I'm lonely, but at least I have1,007 online Facebook friends following me
And I don't know most of them,
But who cares it gives me something to do
Better than being bored.
I'm coming to you, oh screen, where art thou?
Watch out-don't get too close
Because if you get too close, then you are no
longer
Like the moth that is drawn to the lightTzzzZap
RIP
Too late.
Hang onAll this technology
Surely some good can come from it!
In touch every second of every day
Out of touch however physically-
I text you "I luv u"
IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

| WINTER 2014
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Winter 2014
