Technology

Virtual reality is as real as it gets. Digital "virtual" reality is as real as the "objective" analog reality that we contrast it to. Digits reside in computer chips as electrical impulses marked by semiconductor crystals like silicon. Computers are machines processing digital input into digital output, which becomes part of the overall "objective" reality that we perceive with our senses. All is one. Digits and digital products are part of the everything that makes up the one. 

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To understand digital technology and why it is as real as anything else, we should begin with understanding the term technology in general. Technology can be defined as "tools and methods". Technologies are the tools and methods employed by humans to interact with the environment and the rest of nature. Humans are part of nature, not separate and apart from it. Humans used tools and methods (technologies) to interact with and within the surrounding environment. In short, technologies are the tools and methods used by humans to survive and thrive on planet Earth. 

Humans have used different technologies in different times or eras. With the passage of time, humans keep developing new technologies oftentimes if not always built on top of or based on previous ones. Human history can be told on the framework or background of the relevant technological timeframes. The stone age, the plant age, the metal age, and the machine age would be our preferred classifications. The digital era in which we are currently on is a phase or stage within the machine age. 

In the stone age, humans used stone-based tools and methods to survive. These were hunter gatherers using stones to craft tools to cut meats, craft furs, defend themselves, and so on. In the plant age (agricultural era) humans planted seeds, developed farms, and domesticated animals for work and nutrition. The agricultural era lifestyle domesticated or settled humans into confined areas of land. 

In the metal age, the agriculturally-settled humans learned to harness the power of fire to heat ores, extra liquid metal, and mold metal into different tools and crafts. Metallurgy allowed humans to build better  structures on the land, defend their territories with better armed armies, build navies, and so on and so forth. Metallurgy, just like agriculture before it, continued changing human life forever. Metal tools and structures allowed humans to further expand their dominion over the rest of the animal kingdom. Within human societies, those with the most advance metallurgic techniques and weapons got to conquer others.   

In the machine age, the agriculturally-settled and metallurgically-empowered humans learned to harness the power of steam for industrial production. Humans began to outsource production, moving from hand-made manufacturing to machine-based production. The industrial revolution or machine age began in England because the country had fully embraced the scientific revolution. To this date, the English and the anglo culture dominates most of the world thanks to the early lead in science and engineering. Whoever has the best machines, wins. 

Humanity is still in the machine age. We are now in the digital machine age. We are developing smart digital machines that can self-program themselves into what we call machine learning. These self-taught machinery, together with robots and cyborgs (robotic humans), promise to be the future of planet Earth. Whichever country develops the best digital machines, including robots and cyborgs, will dominate the world. 

More to follow on this. Stay tuned.

Slap is food for thought. Philanthropy in writing. Take more at TakeSlap.com