How To Respond To Technology
High-tech/ high-touch is a
formula used to describe the way we respond to technology. What happens is that
whenever a new technology is introduced, a counterbalancing human response is
needed. So, the more "high-tech" the more "high touch."
The parallel growth of high-tech
and high-touch took place during the last three decades, a period that appeared
chaotic but had it own rhythm and sense. The alienation of the 1950's was a
response to the most intensely industrialized period in history. In the 60's we
mass-marketed the products of the past industrial era. Then high-tech was
everywhere. High-touch resulted alongside the technology invasion.
Now, high-tech/ high-touch has
truly come of age. Technology and our human potential are the two great
challenges and adventures facing humankind today. The great lesson we must
learn from the principle of high-tech/ high-touch is a modern version of the
ancient Greek ideal "balance."
The appropriate response to
more technology is not to stop it, but to accommodate it, to respond to it, and
to shape it. In the interplay of technology and our reaction, technological
progress does not proceed along a straight course, it proceeds as part of
lurching dynamic, complicated patterns, and processes. The technology of the
heart transplants and brain scanners led to a new interest in the family doctor
and neighborhood clinics. Jet planes have led to more meetings. The high
technology we put into our hospitals increases the popularity of home care
products.
Meanwhile, the immensely popular
Star Wars saga is very high tech - high touch. It portrays a contest between
characters that have used technology within human control and scale. The good
guys are not anti-technology: When Luke Skywalker flies in the final run, the
force with him; he turns off his computer, but not his engine.
The more technology we
introduce into society, the more people will aggregate, will want to be with
other people: movies, rock concerts, shopping. Shopping malls for example, are
now the third most frequented space in our lives, following home and workplace.
After the invention of huge
screens, a report was issued suggesting that there would almost be no movie
theaters in the United States. What they didn't understand was high-tech/
high-touch. People don't go to movies to just see a movie. They go there to
laugh and cry with 100 more other people. It is an event. Perhaps it is the
high-touch need to be together that enables us to tolerate the high levels of
density we experience in the crowded cities.
Because we want to be with
each other, few people will choose to work at home in his electronic house.
Very few will be willing to stay home and tap out messages to the office. It is
good for emergencies to stay home and during certain periods but for most part,
we seek the high-touch of the office.
Most of us want to develop our
own ways to compensate for the high tech-influence of the computers in our work
and environment. To do this, we need to be out with nature too often. In the
information world, we will want to use our hands and bodies more often to
balance the constant use of mental energies at work. We can see this already in
the popularity of gardening, cooking, and home repair.
Living in a high-tech world
indeed requires high-touch wisdom. High-tech will not totally solve
technological fantasies like waiting for the magical pill to enable us to eat
all the fattening food we want and not gain weight; burn all the gasoline we
want and not pollute air, or live as immoderately as we choose, and not contact
cancer, heart disease or aids. But of course, high touch will.
The equation of
"high-tech"/ high-touch" reminds us that inner knowledge and
wisdom are still the primary requirements of the most advanced technology in
the evolution of human race.
/Rose Flores
my old article. a repost on 02082024
reference. High Tech/High Touch by John Naisbitt
/From Ezine Articles.com
Comments
Post a Comment