Robert Sheckley has a story called Something for Free. There, a certain machine from the future falls into the hands of the character - a "utilizer of class A" - fulfilling any desires.
Russian downshifters deliberately abandoned all the benefits of a highly developed civilization and chose life in the taiga
The hero starts small, then gets a taste, requires palaces, luxury cars and, finally, immortality. However, the people of the future catch up with him and explain that the -class A is not a privileged social category, but a form of credit. And they issue a gigantic bill - pay! Here is a pickaxe for you, you will mine marble in the quarry until you pay off the debt. The first thousand years is difficult, then you get used to it … "Yes, I won't live that long!" You live, they answer him, you got immortality. -But on the bill. - he recalls, - there was no immortality at all. How much did they count me for immortality ?! " Not at all, they answer him with a smile. This is what we reward for free …
High tech traps
Is anything given for free to the people of our time? Yes! These are high technologies, including the Internet. "That's it for nothing!" - the reader may exclaim.
- Scientists created this talent and invested will, did not spare their health, and you say, for nothing?
But I meant something else. Ordinary people, not scientists, not geniuses, really got it all for free, as it fell from the sky (monetary value does not count). Is it good or bad? It would seem great - there are so many problems off your shoulders! You don't need to learn to multiply with a column and divide by a corner - what is it for when there are calculators? No need to write letters - there is Skype and mobile phones. Of course, all this is very convenient. But does this make a modern person more intelligent, developed, does it make him a creator in the broad sense of the word? Rather the opposite.
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We are surrounded by the smartest machines, but not many of us can understand what is happening in their bowels. Machines replace us in everything, turning off our own minds as unnecessary. Here I recall a character from another story, who has fallen into the past and is confident in his absolute superiority over these primitive people. And when the "primitive" ask him to share the fruits of progress, he cannot even explain how the locomotive works. In this progress, he only consumed. Are not many of us similar to this character?
Send me a dollar
We are so accustomed to high technologies that it seems to us that it has always been (although, of course, we know that it is not). But they appeared only in recent decades, and not gradually, but almost immediately, in a jerk, leap, like a gift from heaven. And maybe only dozens of people in a dozen laboratories really know how it all works and where it came from. Now, if some aliens (in the masks of the same scientists, for example) wanted to enslave humanity, they could not find a better way. In fact, why all kinds of laser and atomic wars and other expensive effects, which, moreover, can come out on their own side? Present humanity with high technologies with their stupefying effect and do with it what you want, threatening, for example, to take this candy away from big children …
And you don't need to threaten. The zombie effect of the mass media is well known. Back in the last century, before high technologies, one American conducted such an experiment with the help of an ordinary newspaper. He printed an ad: "Send me a dollar." Just. without explaining why. A week later, another: "Why haven't you sent me a dollar yet?" And a week later - the third: “Today you can still send me a dollar. Tomorrow will be late! " And what do you think? It was flooded with dollars, and after each announcement the amount grew exponentially!
We must pay tribute, this American turned out to be an honest man and donated money to charity. But his experiment clearly proves the power of influence on people even simple newspaper ads. And the Internet ?! Command, gentlemen aliens! Earth zombies are in your power. Brains are atrophied, you don't need to learn anything, there is laziness and lack of curiosity everywhere. This is how our world may end, to the delight of aliens or completely earthly technocratic manipulators. Not an explosion, but a sob.
Edison vs. Einstein
Einstein, however, would probably disagree with this point of view. Once Edison complained to him that he could not find new employees in any way - none of them fit.
“I've made a list of questions,” Edison said, “but no one can answer everything.
Then Einstein asked to show the list to him. "What's the distance from Chicago to New York?" Einstein noted that this can be found out in the railroad handbook. "What is stainless steel made of?" And this, Einstein said, is in the metallurgical reference book. After a quick glance at the rest of the questions, he handed the list back to Edison with a sigh:
- No, I am also not fit for your staff …
But here we are talking about Einstein, a great scientist who had every reason not to fill his head with unnecessary information, leaving room for the necessary. And modern zombies - slaves of computers and smartphones - why do they leave space? For electronic entertainment? Or is someone completely different "having fun"? The one who gave people “something for free”? Oh, it would not turn out to be not a privilege, but a form of credit …
Downshifters
In fairness, another thing should be noted. There are many people who are aware of the dangers of the high-tech world. For example, the so-called downshifters (from English downshifting - "shift down"). These are people who are successful, even successful, voluntarily giving up their careers and all the benefits of civilization, choosing life in the bosom of nature or some islands, where not only the Internet, but also simple TV is not available.
Western downshifters
For some reason, there is an active struggle with downshifters. The other members of society are forced to think that downshifters are trivial losers. They are charged with fleeing life, trying to absolve themselves of responsibility. They are amicably spread around in the media. On the other side of the barricade are militant upshifters - those who follow a path that is diametrically opposite to the principles followed by downshifters. They always strive for the best without stopping. Their slogans, like “Work. Earn. To improve”, do not suppose to live for today and rejoice in what you have. Perhaps they can be blamed for the global economic collapse.
Their ideology is to achieve benefits at any cost, to make money from everything. However, in spite of everything, nobody blames them for antisocial behavior. Perhaps this position of the upshifters is convenient for the government? After all, it is much easier to manage a group of people who are constantly experiencing fear, dissatisfaction with their lives, thoughtlessly striving forward? Is it not in daushifters - and those like them - that the timid hope of humanity lurks? Aliens will not command such people …
Andrey BYSTROV
"Secrets of the XX century" 2012