Gil Laroya wrote an interesting article today on The Huffington Post entitled, “Does Technology Replace Humanity?”    He posits that technology is slowly making us less and less human by distancing us from each other and enabling us to forget that we’re dealing with other humans on the other side of the line.

“As technology makes machines more life-like, it is slowly turning us humans into robot-like entities, creating voids of emotion and empathy. The scary thing about this, is that we that are more and more subconsciously driven to allow this to happen.”

As many of you may know, I’ve always been extremely fascinated by the juxtaposition of  humans and technology; it is what drove me to not only get my degree in computer science but a extensive minor in philosophy and my senior research in artificial intelligence.    Several of my friends are philosophers, fans of philosophy, or psychologists.   I love to observe the interaction we have with our electronic tools and communities.

In a nutshell, Mr. Laroya annoyed me with this article.   It very much stank of, “old man on a porch shaking a cane at the damned kids” syndrome which strikes any number of the older generation when faced with the enormous social change the boom of technology has perpetrated.   He is as gruff as a weathered farmer folding his arms and stating, matter-of-factly, “Well, sir, I just prefer a handshake myself, thank you very much.”

I met my wife online in a text-only chatroom and we progressed a great deal of our relationship within it; heck, we still keep up-to-date with each other via SMS/IM during the day.   I’ve made numerous friends through my online contacts, some of which I have met in real life and continued relationships with, and some I have never seen and yet hold dear to my heart and mind.   A great deal of them I would have never met had it not been for technology.  Many of them read this blog.

It was with these thoughts in mind that I composed my response to Mr. Laroya’s article:

Because we’re so sincere when we make happy small-talk with the person in the cubicle next door and then spend our lunch break railing on them to our friends about how they have the most annoying laugh or how you can’t stand their lack of work ethic.    Because we’re so real when we show up to family gatherings, fighting in the car about in-laws and ‘your slutty cousin’ and other relatives that we really loathe but we are happy and huggy and perfect once we arrive at the doorstep.    We’re so affectionate when we invite our friends over for a party only to bait-and-switch them into a marketing opportunity for our latest at-home-sales gig or to shame them into watching the kids or pulling favors.   It’s so truthful to wine and dine our customers so they’ll forget any issues between us when the alcoholic fog covers their brain cells.

Mr. Laroya is dating himself by insisting that the Internet is removing our humanity when it’s doing nothing of the sort but merely changing up the rules and modes of the game — the score stays the same.  It’s those that lament for personal interaction over technological connections that hold us back into antiquated systems and habits for the sake of being able to shake a hand and lie to the person’s face instead of over an email.   If you are finding that digital interactions are leaving you colder than physical, then you are either not communicating using the right rules or your expectations are stuck in a different medium.

Humanity is not defined by the transportation it uses to go between us but by the content of it.    Love, affection, and caring can all be delivered personally OR digitally without loss just as hate, lies, and fear.   It is still the people at either end that make the difference in what is sent.

So, I ask of you, dear readers — what are your thoughts on technology and its effect on our interactions?     Are we finding ourselves less human and less sensitive to those on the receiving end of our technology or are we simply engaging in a new game?

A thick, sludgy funk has enveloped my mind of late and reduced my thoughts to the pace of an old man’s nose-wiping ritual.  I offer unto your critical eyes the fact that I haven’t touched this love-child of mine in 21 days despite having the absolute best of intentions to continue the conversation, yet without the mental warehouse to back up the effort.

I find myself of late needing to break loose from a great deal of things.

Sticky things.   The kind that hang on for dear life with those creepy-ass suction cups that octopuses (octopussies? octopussai?) have.

Mind – As mentioned above, this gunky crap that seems to have settled on me leaves me unreceptive to truly taxing or inspirational thought; things that might actually make good, deep sense fall easily away and I’m reduced to finding the Kardashians to be mentally scintillating.    (This is nearly reaching a level of simply sticking a hot poker into my ear to prevent further damage; I assure you, I’ve considered.)   Just hammering out this prose is going to wind me and cause stars to swirl overhead.

Body — More and more am I being impressed upon that this bulk of a beast is causing issues and I am best to move it along to a different stage of existence.    For that matter, I’ve done rather well of late in establishing a good cardio routine and weight lifting series; the subject at hand has been known to grunt 80lbs up and down in the air like he knows what he’s doing with it (on occasion) and has so far avoided damaging the furniture; this all being said, I still feel like I am waylaid in a tarpit full of molasses and buxom young cheerleaders during a severe blonde drought.

I know I can break free and actually shed this coat, the question is simply a matter of how.     Women, I hear, find there to be a corporate/governmental glass ceiling, but mine’s made out of sheets of subcutaneous fat.     It doesn’t shatter well without the careful application of an M80.

Maybe I need one of those rice, spring water, and cod liver oil cleanses or something.   Are they back in fashion now?

Profession — Computer programming has forever been a matter of being in the correct mindset, of obtaining that particular zen-state of being where code flows from one’s mind directly into the fingertips and out across history, forever captured like a beautiful painting is frozen in pigment blotches.   You can force a painter to do his art, of course, but the true inspiration comes from within, not without.

I glimpsed this on Sunday for awhile, feeling that creep down my arms and light me on fire as the world slowly faded and I became one with the machine and the thought.    Past that, the pursuit has been unclear again this month and I can only hope for a little light to suddenly turn on — or enough caffeine to artificially induce me.

The Inescapable Truth — I’m stuck, I guess…not really spinning my wheels, but at the same time, I’m not really headed anywhere, either.   And eating at McDonald’s all the time vs. just not eating…well, sometimes it’s not always better, ya know?

The lifelines I cling to right now are my lovely wife, my adorable and entertaining son, my never-dull job, and all of you people out there, doing the things I wished I was, writing the blog posts I know I can if I only I could clear this spiderweb, and hammering the lines with all sorts of funny quips, inspirational quotes, profound emotions, and memorable times.   I cling to you all, I hope you know that.    Purely platonic, of course, although I’ve been known to glance at a boob from time to time.

In truth, we can’t go anywhere but onwards, right?

Exposing yourself to the world at large is now a wholly easier experience given the multitude of social networking and publishing sites and tools we have available at our fingertips.    Catching up on the neighborhood gossip or seeing how that old girlfriend is doing (and if she’s put on weight) is now as easy as stalking her on Facebook and we find out all sorts of interesting tidbits about people from their Twitter feeds.     Got something intimate to say?  Why not post it on your blog so lots of people can weigh in?

Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, was recently interviewed by TechCrunch and one of the questions was about privacy and what people were willing to post online today versus when Facebook first started.   He said he views Facebook as needing to be at the leading edge of the social norm for what was considered, “private”, and to make innovations to match stride with the way people are changing their online personas and information.    He also said that the social norm has shifted and the mainstream no longer thinks of privacy as something as important anymore.

Older generations seem to have huge issues with privacy and keeping identifications and information under wraps; I have almost none of this.   Do you want to know my underwear size?   I’ll tell you.   What do I care?   Ultimately it doesn’t matter.    If that’s going to be the deciding factor on what you think about me, then so be it, we might as well get that out right now.    I just don’t see what the point is of keeping about 98% of what we have traditionally kept private as…private.

Sure, there’s plenty of things I don’t discuss with others.   I don’t talk about the things that only pass between myself and my wife and don’t belong in anyone else’s ears.   I don’t talk about family issues with just anyone.   I don’t talk about my job because I like being employed and I prefer to stay that way.

There are tons of things, however, that people get tied up about that just seem nonsense to me.    Where you work, where you went to school, what clothes you wear, what religion you have, what political party you belong to, what you do in your spare time.    What’s the point of keeping all this under wraps?

Maybe I’m just naturally trusting and open.    Maybe I have an innate sense of when to open my mouth and when to just listen.    I see the revealing of myself through the various channels available as being something inspiring and connecting.   Maybe I’m just a dolt.

Folks, what’s your take on privacy and where we are these days?   Do you feel like you are becoming less private and more open, or do you guard yourself tighter given the environment today?    Do you think this trend is good, bad, or indifferent?