Shift Happens!

My first reaction to the "Shift Happens" video was a resounding "WOW!". The numerous interesting facts and information presented seemed almost surreal- even though they are statistics, they really put in perspective the complete transformation that the human race is experiencing. I feel a strange sense of bleakness and apprehension about our future because of the predictions, specifically those regarding technology. If the premonitions are correct, than mankind is at the threshold of developing a technology that can actually replace the human brain, and in essence will be surrendering all of our humanity to a machine. It sounds very sci-fi, but it is truly a scary thought. I do not believe that many people, aware that we are in the post-industrial, "information age", truly understand how rapidly our technology is expanding and in such a short time. The text book really portrays how short of a time human beings have occupied this earth when, in the first paragraph of chapter 20, it refers to the timeline of the history of Earth as a clock. In the 24 hours that represents the existence of our planet, human-like apes have only occupied it for the last 2 minutes, and modern man for only the last 4 seconds (Gidden et al. 655). This is a really scary perspective; it is very humbling to think of ourselves as relatively small and insignificant in the history of Earth. At the same token, it is quite frightening to think of what the human race is capable of doing, and has done in such a short time.

Even the tone of which this video presents this information reinforces the fact that our future is frightening. Simply playing that creepy music in the background sets the mood, and the viewer can not help but wonder if all this mega-super-fast-crazy technology we are all enjoying now will cease to be beneficial, and will we become slaves to it in the future (figuratively or literally)? If it is true that during a student's four-year college career, the technological information learned in the first year will be obsolete by the third, then how can our students truly prepare for anything? The textbook goes into detail about the changes that have taken place in the service sector of industry over recent years, that blue-collar jobs that used to be the most prevalent are now taking a back-seat to the technological service jobs that did not even exist 10 or so years ago.

The technological advances we have made are fascinating: they add a new dimension of accessibility, speed, and convenience that mankind has never experienced before. Globalization is taking on an entire different meaning than it ever has, and the world is interconnected in direct ways that truly tie most of the world together. It seems that soon there will no longer be a need for face-to-face interaction, people meet online, work online, shop online, etc. The human race, being an evolutionary species, will grow and change to adapt to this new civilization, and there is no telling what parts of us will cease to exist in the future. We are at a serious crossroads, sociologically AND scientifically speaking, and it is very interesting to think about how sociologists will have to alter their perspective of human interaction to accommodate the emerging "new" human race.