Wall-E and the Blobs

After watching Wall-E again and driving around so much during this Thanksgiving long weekend i am once again finding truth in cartoons, or animation at least.  The latest Pixar film to Blue-Ray disc foretells of humans becoming fat blobs who are completely dependent upon technology to do everything for them.  They float around in seats while electronics guide them along.

As i drove to and fro i passed, one after another, the ever increasing waistline of america all led along by their tiny navigation screens suction cupped to dashboards and windshields.    People cannot drive ANYWHERE now without flipping on their little display screens.  Have we all become so lazy?  Using maps is simple.  It is a skill set that everyone should posses.  In today's age of the internet driving directions have become even easier with sites like MapQuest and Google Maps.  All you need is your starting location and destination.  Apparently even this is too much work for the ever increasing mediocrity of homo sapiens.  They need something to tell them every left and right as they recline in their ever plush automobile captain's chair on the way to the next shopping adventure.

A recent OnStar ad tries to market their product by scaring people that they may not be able to get to their cellphone post accident.  What did people ever do when they got into accidents before the days of cellphones?  Maybe people actually stopped for one another when they saw each other off the road.

As i look at the huge growth in technology over my lifetime it seems to be occurring in markets that make us lazier or more complacent.  There has been much slower growth in genres that make the world a better place or our quality of life improve.  How we watch TV or movies has jumped so many steps but how doctors look at a potentially broken arm has hardly crawled along.

Call me simple, call me outdated. i think technology should help me do more, not less, and that is how i intend to use it.  We find ourselves controlled by what we THINK we need.  Once again people were sadly trampled to death this Black Friday as shoppers rushed to get what they THOUGHT they needed. Others got shot.  WHY?  For something that will be outdated by this time next year.

Finding where you are on a map or finding a new way home, these seem like simple things but they keep us thinking.  Once you find yourself thinking you may find yourself thinking more and more.  Eventually you may just find yourself thinking for yourself.  Imagine what could be done if that were to happen?

Until then, i will keep waving to people on the street dressed up in lobster costumes.  i think that is what Wall-E would do (WWWD).