Hurtling into oblivion or How we finally disconnected from each other

Our voracious technology appetite is a response to a deep hunger which things will never satisfy.  This is a hunger for connection with each other and the natural world,  Yet we are told to consume in order to feed our hunger.  Advertising tells us we are lacking and in order to feel better we should buy stuff.   We are programmed with an insatiable addictive consumer drive to acquire the latest iPhone or Android, or buy the big/bigger/biggest wide screen TV.  Feeding these gadgets is content, the vast set of entertainment, misogynistic porn, gambling and mental titillation which washes over us almost 24x7, distracting us, temporarily soothing us, briefly making the pain go away.  Where is this tidal wave of information leading us to?  For all the stories of the internet building community (admittedly this is how you are reading this blog) consumerism and becoming lost in the  sea of content is driving us apart and further disconnecting one from the other.  When we mainline soul absent "entertainment" we become addicts who ignore their loved ones and only focus on the next fix.

Consumerism has two components in this addictive, connection wrecking cycle; the purchasing of products created at an almost inconceivable and tuning into the thousands of channels of largely useless, mindless, heartless content.  These two aspects of consumerism substitute for actual human to human and human to nature connections.

Consider what it takes to create the all the products we consume.  The atrocities done to the planet and her people to mine raw materials, to transport the materials, to fuel the factories, to transform the raw materials into electronics, to assemble electronics into finished products and then transport these products to our shores for distribution are staggering (see Conflict Minerals - this deserves a post of its own),

And what are we doing with all that content?  We spend more and more time in front of a screen rather than in nature or in conversation with each other (face to face, without someone texting or reading the latest FB post).

I wonder if the greatly hyped "Virtual Reality", which is enabled by strap on head goggles fully blocking our view of the "Real Reality" will drive us closer to the dystopian view of the Matrix or other future shock movies where humans no longer interact person to person, but all connection is mediated through a machine?  Will we finally disconnect ourselves from each other and, rather, plug into the nearest wall outlet?

As the news article at the end of this blog states, all this content, especially virtual reality will drive more and more demand for internet bandwidth.  The race for more bits per second will continue at a blinding rate.  Driving faster electronics, driving faster obsolesce, driving the hunger for more raw materials.

When does it stop?  Does it stop when the Earth, the women and the children have been raped until there is nothing left?

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Armed groups earn hundreds of millions of dollars every year by trading conflict minerals. These minerals are in all our electronics devices.  Government troops and militias fight to control the mines, murdering and raping civilians to fracture the structure of society.
                                                                 Source:  Conflict Minerals 

But, we don't have to hurtle into oblivion.

Unplug.  
  Consume less.  
    Walk, talk, sing and dance more.  

We are the resistance. 
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Virtual Reality 

Rackspace’s Robert Scoble spoke about a variety of forth coming consumer technologies and trends.  Robert stated that Virtual Reality (VR) is the most important product since the original iPhone came out.  At VR events and demos, everyone exits with superlatives and expletives -- “Holy #%$1*!” The emotional response is amazing and an indicator of the impact the technology is and will make on people - he mentioned that VR is in stark contrast to the “ho hum” response of consumers to 3D TV technology.    Robert asked Steve Glennon of CableLabs to join him on stage to discuss VR technologies. Steve began by providing a summary of the responses from CableLabs consumer testing focus groups.  88% of those who tried said they could see themselves owning one in 3 years (independent of cost). Steve also mentioned that the VR headsets having bandwidth needs of over 100Mbps in the next 2 years – becoming a banner high bandwidth application driving consumers to higher tiers of broadband service.`

​Virtual Reality picture source:  ​http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=32997.0
Virtual Reality article source:  Sorry, lost the press source, but a similar article can be found at ​http://www.cablelabs.com/vr-you-have-to-experience-it/