Keeping the flame alive
I don’t know for sure but I suspect that a proportion of the Rust’s estimated 875,000 daily readers would agree with me in occasionally becoming tired and frustrated at the incessant complaints of some of our most prolific columnists about the modern world and the way that technology and society is progressing.
I don’t buy all harping back to ‘the good old days of deckchairs, cucumber sandwiches at tea-time on the village cricket green, warm beer and the sound of willow upon leather’; how in the 1950s people were taught the basics of Latin and English grammar under the threat of the cane and were better equipped for life because of it; and how back then you could always tell in which direction the car in front was going to turn off the road because a yellow arrow indicator came out of the roof on whichever side of the car it was going to be.
To hell with that rose-tinted and rather myopic view of the world and the tired attitude towards life propounded by some of the curmudgeonly old farts on our team, I say!
I particularly get riled by those who suggest week after week that human beings should only strive to ‘keep up’ with modern progress to a certain point – and then just bail out and let the horrendous modern world go on without you. It’s tantamount to ‘giving up’ and advising everyone on sit around on their sofas at home, eating popcorn and watching dire mid-afternoon television, waiting for the Grim Reaper to call.
To expand: it’s defeatist, naff and completely contrary to the noblest aspects of the human spirit, i.e. the desire to explore the natural world, to conquer, to capture the power of the Earth and bend it to our will, and to test ourselves to the limit in adventures on the world’s oceans, in the highest mountain regions, in the harsh environments of the South and North Poles, and in man setting foot on the Moon.
I am proud to report that over the weekend I splashed out and made my own personal statement of intent to continue striving to explore new pastures, expand my knowledge of the world, stay in touch with the latest developments on the internet and in social media, and just simply to live better, healthier and longer.
No longer are you going to find me lying back and letting life pass me by. I’m going to strive to go higher, faster, further until my dying breath. Or until my bad back finally gives out, anyway.
I went online, formally signed myself up as a ‘guinea pig’ on a new research project and then shelled out the princely sum of US7,700 (approximately £6,000 in UK money) – including packaging a posting) in order to receive ‘Sandy’, a new robotic helper. Over the next five years I shall be taking part in one of the largest studies into how AI (artificial intelligence) robots can best play their part in easing the everyday burdens of human existence.
I am assured by the sales literature that Sandy is a potentially perfect housekeeper, has a certificate of distinction in European cooking from the Prue Leith School in west London, can answer the phone without giving away the fact that I am sitting in my favourite armchair in front of the television eating a burger and chips during the Monday Night football Game on Sky Sports, will respond only when given a command by her owner and will otherwise remain totally mute.
See here – from the – DAILY MAIL
