if one accepts the theory of evolution, it follows that humans, being animal, evolve according to selective pressures in the environment.  this would work fine in the wild.  but in cities, where the environment is predominantly technological, many natural selective pressures are not present; instead there are similar, but not by any means identical, artificial selective pressures.

technology is screwing up human emotions;

because the technological environment has a lot of unpleasant, unnatural aspects and trade-offs, human beings depend on various forms of escapism to forget its risks and rigors ("reducing stress!").  in search of fulfillment, people seek to escape the city and spend time in nature, or undergo simulations intended to produce powerful emotions (awe, lust, joy, fear etc.), all of which are experienced freely by animals in a natural setting.

the technological environment floods people with simulations at a pace which is steadily increasing (TV in restaurants; music in cars; and everywhere, advertisements with beautiful models).  each day in the life of a modern city-dweller is an orgiastic panorama of sensory input designed to be appealingly beautiful.  this input passes by quickly or is often even tuned out on purpose.  the exposure of beauty is increased and its healing power is therefore decreasing.  i submit that this explains the rise in cases of clinical depression as well as the sentiments of hopelessness and angst which one encounters in any city.

who's responsible for this flood of beauty?  essentially, techno-have advertisers who want to make a buck.  maybe to feed their families, or hire bikini girls to shove in a phone booth.  it doesn't matter.  give a child a hammer, and everything becomes a nail.

"the swan" is a terrible TV show and excellent example of the institutionalization of the dilution of beauty.  each episode chronicles the transformation of two normal-looking ("ugly!") female volunteers into conventionally beautiful women, through plastic surgery and intensive training.  besides being a horrifying mindfuck (participants are not allowed to see themselves until the transformation is complete), "the swan" upholds an artificial and basically arbitrary standard of beauty, strengthening an already popular expectation that everyone must look a certain way to be accepted.  in most cases this standard can only be acheived through astronomically expensive surgeries, and of course, not everyone will be able to afford them; so people are made miserable for the sake of capitalism and a hollow, external ideal.  even if everyone walking the streets was transformed into a stunning conventional beauty, i bet no-one would see them as beautiful for more than a couple of hours.

i thought they looked fine before.

and it's also screwing up the natural evolutionary process.

were it not for the invention of technology, human beings would now live in balance with the rest of nature, instead of teetering on the brink of junking the environment upon which we depend.  what we have done by creating technology is shirked the responsibility to evolve.  we are trying to make technology do it for us.

for technology is an externalization of capability.  and if capability is artificialized, then it can only be advanced by people working on it (witness the inflexibility of computers).  our minds and bodies have not been evolving to our benefit if we've been spending our lives accommodating and advancing technology; rather we have been evolving to be able to accommodate and advance technology.  and where will the advances take us?  if we don't watch it, further up the shit-creek that is the decline of human emotion and expression.

now, some people may argue that technology is a tool by which human beings can augment their relationship with reality.  i suggest technology can easily become a barrier which separates us from reality.  we're animals, after all.

take jackie chan.  jackie chan isn't a great martial artist because of his ability to bash people using ladders, stilts and refrigerator doors.  he's a great martial artist because he has the skill to move and react a certain way, so he can defend himself at least as ably empty-handed.  similarly, i'm not saying the first man to possess a tool was wrong (in an evolutionary sense) to pick it up off the ground.  i am saying the decision to carry it with him and make it a possession was at best a questionable one.  the tool became technology, while an aspect of the tool-maker's skill became destined to depend on manipulating that particular tool, rather than manipulating the world.

birds have no possessions.  but who's to say that a flock of birds, a group of seeing, feeling minds optimized and evolved beautifully to work with their environment, is any less complex than all the human beings connected via the internet?  perhaps they are the same.  but even in that case, the fact remains that birds do not need electricity or complicated hardware to maintain their pattern.  they do it naturally.  human beings, by comparison, are solitary units dependent on an external (technological) entity to make that sort of leap.

there's no shortage of opportunities to connect in a natural, nonartificial way with the rest of the human flock (consider a busload of people, sitting wordlessly, en route to school or work).  the problem is in our psyches, in the doctrine of society and dependence we have been fed by our only slightly less technological predecessors.  it's virtually impossible to break out of: i admit, on an intellectual level, that i'd love for technology to go thunk and nature to take its course; but in my brain and heart, i am too frightened by the risks to my loved ones to wholly embrace any kind of effort to make a sweeping change without lengthy consideration.

i'm not out to pigeonhole technology as bad.  but i do think we should CHILL OUT until our minds catch up with the abundant gizmos of today.  human reaction time, eyesight, strength, accuracy... all pale when compared to a properly designed, specialized machine.  the current stuff can work what would seem like miracles to cavemen, and yet people bitch about their 'slow' computer.  the truth is, we don't begin to know how to use what we've got to the fullest extent, so let's stop putting the cart before the horse until we can understand our creation as a whole.  if it feels like that leaves a void, everyone can always think more, love more without buying into the associated materialistic line of crap (true love's free AND all-natural!), and talk more.

© 2009