The Terminator comes to Wal-Mart

I was watching a documentary recently where this guy made the statement that “Future technology is upon us; it is warm, fuzzy and has razor sharp teeth. If we don’t start fighting back now, soon it will be too late.” I thought to myself: “Geez this guy is really paranoid.” But something happened to me the other day that has forever changed my perspective of the world and technology. This is a true story…partially.

I was sitting in front of my television a few nights ago just flipping through the channels, when I happened upon one of my all time favorite Arnold Schwarzenegger movies: “The Terminator”. In case you’re one of the eight people in the United States that hasn’t seen this movie, I will give you a brief rundown of the plot: Man creates technology, technology advances and tries to take over the world. As I watched the movie, it occurred to me that in the 25 years since “The Terminator” hit the big screen, this story has become more true to life than I had ever realized.
Most people would agree that technology is making life more convenient. Machines help me in almost every area of my life. I have one machine that tells me when it’s time to wake up, another that can prepare my meals faster than the ‘Jetsons’ and I even have a machine that gives me driving directions; which is really good, since I never pull over and ask for help. I carry a machine in my pocket that keeps me in touch with people even when I’m on a camping trip miles away from civilization. I have machines that do my dishes and my laundry, and I have one that sprays a pleasant fragrance into the air at my home every fifteen minutes. So technology is a great thing and its making our world a better place right?
I used to believe that until the day that I had to call the phone company to ask a question about my computer generated bill. I had to ‘talk’ to one machine for 5 minutes then wait while another machine played elevator music to me for 5 more minutes before I finally spoke to an actual human being. That’s when I started noticing that technology had begun crossing that invisible line. Now machines will give you a back rubs and massage your feet and some machines can pleasure you in ways that your lover couldn’t possibly. Machines can also replace your old pets. I have seen mechanical fish and dogs in stores. I appreciate technology as much as the next guy but I’m not ok with watching an episode of Lassie’s where Timmy has to give his dog a tune up or taking my kids to see a movie called “Finding Nemo’s Battery-Pack”.
There’s no arguing the fact that machines bring efficiency to the equation. One machine can now produce products at a rate that it used to take 30 people to do, but at what price to humanity? Companies increase profits and jobs are eliminated, but we are also losing that personal touch; the warm smile, the clerk that remembers your name and the small talk that makes the difference between a city and a hometown.
Call me old-fashioned but I believe that there is something magical in the human touch and something spiritually fulfilling about making contact with other human beings; whether it’s the half asleep cashier at the gas station in the middle of the night or just saying hi to the mailman when he drops off your bills. I have been seeing these little movie rental machines everywhere and for the sake of convenience I figured I’d give it a try. Even though it was inexpensive and efficient there was no warmth there. The machine flashed a ‘thank you’ message on its little screen and yet somehow I did not feel appreciated.

This cold, efficient trend has been slowly creeping up on us with its promises of ‘better, faster and more convenient’. I went to my local library a few months back and I saw something that made me go hmmm? The librarians were teaching people how to operate these new machines at the checkout counter, machines that can check your books out for you. Then yesterday I went back to the library and almost everybody was checking out their books using those machines. Nobody even looked at the clerks. Will I come back one day and the librarians will be gone? What really convinced me that we were in trouble was the day I went into Wal-Mart and saw employees showing customers how to use the new cashier machine. This machine rang up the purchase, took the customers money & give back correct change and afterward the machine said “Thank You’ to the customer in a pleasant artificial voice. That was the last straw that broke the camels back! This was exactly the way it was in the movie: ‘the humans were helping the machines in their quest to ultimately replace the humans altogether.’ Just as soon as they come up with a machine that can write a newspaper column, I’m moving to Mars.