Forums like this are a good place to explore the psychology of the technophile. And I speak affectionately, not critically, of them, because I certainly count myself as one. But although I have always been nostalgic for the future, I have always been a bit leery of it, too. Unlike most sci-fi fans and techies, I'm not convinced our starship has anyone actually in command on the bridge; our journey into the future is just as much a set of accidents as the one that got us here from the past. I don't think I'm alone in this, science fiction and its fans have always been well aware of the multiple dystopias lurking in our future.

My first exposure to the gadget mentality now personified by the modern techie was a favorite uncle from the 50s who was a big hi-fi (that's an archaic term for sound reproduction equipment) fan, constantly talking about and demonstrating his gear and its capabilities, but who never seemed capable of just sitting down and listening to an album of music all the way through.

I just watched one of these youthy wild-eyed techies on one of the morning news shows, talking briefly about some of the latest fashion trends in technology (like a specially-designed vest to carry all your miniaturized devices, or a digitized talking barbecue thermometer--I kid you not). Not that much has really changed. This was the technology that was supposed to take us to the stars?

Sure, it's a harmless perversion, but I wonder if young people seduced by all these technological marvels realize that some day they will be just as befuddled by new technology as us old farts are today. What I wonder is if future technology will be beyond even the enthusiasm and energy of the brightest youngsters in our future--unless they become over-specialized drudges incapable of incorporating that technology into a meaningful and worthwhile life and civilization because their one narrow specialty will be their entire world; that is, they will be slaves of the machine.

I learned how to program as a science/math student in 1964, I did it all through college for my old-school professors who had trouble getting with the program, and eventually worked as a professional scientific programmer in computer graphics, satellite remote sensing and digital image processing in Silicon Valley. I've earned my living in front of a screen since 1978, sometimes on the very frontier, but I was always close to the application. I was always solving equations and dealing with real problems from the real world--physics and chemistry, engineering and geology, light and optics. But today, I dread the passing of Windows XP and the coming world of Windows 7, much less the unthinkable alternative of migrating to an Apple operating system.

I've been busting my ass just to keep up, running as fast as I can and going nowhere, and all I've really learned is a bunch of obsolete languages and operating systems. I've got nothing to show for it. Although I am still fairly up to date in physics, math and astronomy, everything I've ever learned in technology is out of date. It's like I've been wasting my time for the last 30-40 years, learning one dead language after another and then never speaking a syllable of it again.
The technological universe is changing faster than we can keep up with it. That's Fugue, by definition.

I may be wrong, just getting old and set in my ways, but I don't think its going to get any better in the future. People who work with computers all the time now do just that, they work with computers, they are not using them as tools to do science and engineering, which is how I saw the technology. In fact, I've found many computer specialists to be scientific and mathematical illiterates. They've been in management too long and can't find their way around a lab. I always saw the machines as working for me, but lately, all my professional efforts have been directed to modifying my activities to take advantage of new technologies, or learning new technology now suddenly "essential" to work I've been doing perfectly well for years. I don't use computers to solve my problems, I solve computer problems. They don't work for me any more. I work for them.