Who can forget the Blackberry (BBM)? That keyboard was hailed as a divine creation, celebrated by everyone from local stock investors to enthusiasts of tactile experiences. We all have memories of typing blindly on BBM or borrowing our parents' Blackberries to play the pre-installed brick-breaker game. Despite the iPhone's presence, it was only after Blackberry's fall—prompted by complaints about oversized keyboards—that Apple rose to prominence. Today, Android users might dismiss Apple products, and iPhone owners might shudder at green text bubbles, but generally, the overlap between what technology can do and what we desire from a single device seems to be stabilizing.
This leads to the argument that we should halt the pursuit of hyper-advanced tech if the current technology isn't being utilized effectively. Climate change, famine, disease, drought—the list of solvable problems goes on. Yet, Silicon Valley giants are more concerned with retrofitting technology for trains, as all self-driving cars will require some form of 'track' to follow. My question is, who is demanding this? Didn't ride-share apps promise to eliminate the need for taxis, rickshaws, or horse-drawn carriages? Perhaps, instead of these, we should focus on building high-speed rail across vast countries, where political divisions mirror geographical ones. As a Canadian, I can't think of anyone here who wouldn't want high-speed rail connecting the coasts to the Great Plains. That's a problem technology should address, rather than teaching AI to experience love and then exposing it to toxic memes from social media.
This technocratic fervor is especially significant for Gen-Z, who have grown up with rapid technological advancements, from AI to sustainable energy, to carrying powerful devices like modern cell phones. Technology now seems to be outpacing us, whether through robots threatening jobs or streaming services tracking eye movements to control ad displays. A poignant take on this issue came from Onion staff writer Alex Blechman on X, formerly Twitter.
- Sci-Fi Author: I invented the Torment Nexus as a cautionary tale- Tech Company: We have created the Torment Nexus from the classic sci-fi novel Don't Create The Torment Nexus
It's tempting to blame uncontrolled mad scientists, but the reality is simple greed, driven by the relentless pursuit of something 'better' to consume. It's not enough that my phone loads quickly with crystal-clear images; it must load even faster and be even crisper, for no reason other than to appease... what? The spirit of Steve Jobs? As Gen-Z, we're already disrupting this cycle, whether by reclaiming physical media or refusing to engage with new technology just because it's newer and better. The plateau has flattened, so let's concentrate on enjoying the technology we already have.
