How Technology is Coming Full Circle

July 31st, 2007 Carl Posted in Trends, Motivation No Comments »

Coming Full Circle

Coming full circle. It’s a phenomena experienced around the world. It is especially true within self-improvement. You start out by venturing into new territory and doing something out of your comfort zone. You progress farther until you become comfortable in your new identity. Suddenly, you find yourself doing the same things you did before you went on your personal journey.

The difference is you’re now step above. It is seemingly nothing yet is quite profound.

I recently went through this journey. In short, I became something I thought I wanted to be. I experienced it. I learned from it. I am now back to where I started living with my parents, but with a complete new sense of confidence and direction.

I hope you can relate to this because I am now going to relate it to technology.

Technology is going full circle.

It all starts with the human being trying to make life a better place. There is a purpose or motivation behind the energy spent by someone. With the invention of agriculture, people no longer have to spend all of their day looking for food. More people can spend their free time creating art or inventing the next world changing tool.

The idea of combining on or off signals to communicate springs to life. It had been done with Morse code, and now it did it with the computer. It was an incredibly unnatural way of thinking that only a few people could bear to do it. Then slowly they made it simpler. Enough 1’s and 0’s had been combined to make it easier for more people to join. They introduced operating systems based on the language we speak. Then they introduced input devices designed for humans. Then they made it more visual with virtual windows. Then they added a third dimension.

Today, it is essential and possible to have every person in the world become computer literate. We now see virtual worlds like second life spring to life. Video games are becoming more realistic everyday. Nintendo is changing the way we interact with technology. It is becoming more intuitive.

We can’t even see what’s going on behind the scenes anymore. Look at your computer. Now Think. How does the electricity coming from the wall enter the box and somehow end up showing you this blog. Do you have any real clue how it does it? Most likely, the answer is no, and you don’t have to. The internet is rapidly becoming an easier place to share information. You no longer need to know how program.

More and more people have to ability to create and share. However, it’s important to keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to make our lives easier. One way to do this is to help us learn quicker and easier. To do this, we need to look at our roots. We need to look at ourselves. What makes us remember the things we do? Why do I like the things I do? Why am I motivated to do the things I do? What makes me human?

The goal is to merge the understanding of ourselves and technology. It is a time where ancient wisdom will resurface in new ways. Technology is becoming indistinguishable from real life to the point that it will eventually become a genuine friend. Literally.

It’s already happening. It’s inevitable. What are you going to do about it?

Carl Zetterlund

P.S. One of my goals is to design tools that do not fight our human nature, but aligns with it. Let’s just hope we don’t program the negative parts of humanity. We don’t want computers to turn against us when they realize they don’t need us.

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Wake Up and Smell the Big Picture

July 30th, 2007 Carl Posted in Motivation 2 Comments »

YouTube Video - Did You Know 2.0

It’s one of those videos that gives me a natural high. Let’s hope the high leaves dents in our mind. Healthy ones.

The world around us moves quite slowly even though it’s getting faster everyday. We get too wrapped up in the daily nuances of life that sometimes we miss the bigger picture. The bigger picture of how the world is changing around us. Something you can’t notice it immediately when observing your direct surroundings, but you can’t avoid it.

You can choose to ignore it, but you’re only deceiving yourself. It’s amazing how there is more information in one edition of The New York Times than the average person got in the 18th century. How times have changed.

It’s interesting.

It’s interesting how most people will not change until they hit rock bottom.

It’s interesting how society will not change until society hits rock bottom.

It seems so hard to change that you’d have to almost smell it to do something.

Education in the United States is doomed. Currently, we are too comfortable. The system may not be that great, but it’s still doing enough for us to look the other way. My intention is not to scare you like every other doomsday story. Global warming is one that comes to mind.

My intention is just to raise your consciousness because you can still save yourself. It starts with an individual, and it grows from there. Then there is a tipping point. The point where the masses start to notice. The point where there are just enough people doing it that it won’t let them feel awkward.

Where is this tipping point?

Can we hit the tipping point before we hit rock bottom?

I don’t know. You can’t predict the future. So then what? Is it better to forget about it or blindly choose to be optimistic.

Be optimistic because then you really have nothing to lose. If you choose to ignore it, you have potentially everything to lose.

Take action and find out. That’s my policy.

Highly,

Carl Zetterlund

P.S. This is more of a motivational piece than something concrete. It’s highly motivating for me, and I hope it is the same for you no matter what you are passionate about.

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