Nicola Staff asked 11 months ago
This is another good example of technological dependency lulling people into a false sense of security through making things easier. The less work people have to do, the less they have to think, the less effort they have to expend. Just like muscles waste away when they are not used, the brain can waste away through becoming increasingly passive when devices are doing even the thinking for you. Prior to the advent of the Global Positioning System Grid covering most of the planet, people had to read the stars, use compasses, and other devices. Maps were of critical importance and a necessity to plan and execute a journey of any kind. The inconvenience in getting out a map, and then having to fold it up again and store it away, was an incentive for people to build a cognitive map so they would remember a route once taken, and that would serve to build brainpower and an inner convenience just as reliable or more so than the GPS systems of today which are not perfect. So again, there is a vulnerability not appreciated, that if suddenly the GPS system was shut down, drivers would become largely helpless to journey anywhere unfamiliar without something to guide them. In an emergency, maps might be hard to find and that could lead to many tragic circumstances or, at a minimum, much lost productivity while scrambling to find the information needed to get to a destination. So here again, there is a combination of an almost reckless reliance on technology for necessary function that determines human safety and security, and a complacency to live with uncertainty and not recognize the dangers it brings enough to take precautions, at least for many who just assume that electronic system will be available always.
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