Waste Please

Google is always right. It's a strange but true realization that I have come to in recent weeks. How often do we type something like "inspriation" into it's search engine, only to receive a subtle suggestion Did you mean: inspiration. It always knows what I meant! Sometimes I try to type some gibberish with no meaning and direction whatsoever, and somehow Google manages to find purpose where there was none, apply method to my madness, and leave me pondering the greatness of it all. As a matter of fact, Google knows me so well that I have completely given up trying to ever type things correctly because I know it has my back. It is kind of scary sometimes how much we can come to rely on technology, without a computer I dowt I cud even spel kat. Did you mean: I doubt I could even spell cat. Case in point.

So here is the question, are all of the technological "time-savers" that lighten our lives (other examples include calculators, phones and pda's that memorize everything including our own phone number for us, etc.) a good thing? Or do they reduce our abilities in important skills like memorization, multiplication, spelling, and even addition? Economists might say this is just a demonstration of the principle of specialization. In other words if it's less expensive (in time or money) to have technology take care of such tasks leaving us free to deal with the more important and supposedly applicable subjects, then it is a more efficient outcome.

I would agree with this last statement... if we can save time on less important matters by allowing technology to work for us, than we should be able to focus on the meaningful and find greater happiness. But I would suggest that this is only true if we actually have something better to so with our time. How do we use all this extra time? Is on enlightening, uplifting endeavors such as serving others or increasing faith, studies never to be replaced by machines? Or do we spend it checking facebook, watching celebrity gossip, or even writing blogs about google? I think Adam Smith would roll over in his grave if he knew we called that "specialization". Did you mean: waste of civilization? Yes I did.