The flaw in Modern Man.

There is truly something wrong with Mankind, when a seven year old child expresses disappointment at humans.

Today, my two elder sons, Ainan and Fintan (seven), loaded up Gran Turismo 5, on the PS3 – a present, from my mother to my eldest son.
Together, they watched the opening video, which was an extended tale of how cars were built – from the melting of metal, through to the polished artifact, at the end. The actual process of manufacture came as a surprise to Fintan. He really perked up when he saw the intricate dance of robots, in the automated factory.

“Cars are built by robots?”, he asked, in absolute incredulity. He seemed utterly stupefied at the idea.

He stared at the screen in disbelief that such a thing could ever be.

“Humans are SO lazy!”, he judged, appalled.

I saw, then, his disappointment. I rather felt that he had had this idea that cars were built by people who really knew and cared about the machines and who did so with the greatest of skill. He had imagined cars as being a handmade, human manufactured product, built by skilled artisans. To see them built by unthinking robots, was shattering for him. In an instant, all the romanticism that he had built up inside him, about the origins of cars, evaporated. So, too, did much of his faith in the abilities of individual people.

There seemed to be a view, implicit in him, that skilled, difficult tasks should be done by people. To learn that some are done by machines, did not fit his view of how people should be. He thought, I believe, that everything important should be done by humans – and, to him, building a car was an important, difficult matter. Fintan does not understand the economic advantages of robotic “staff” over human staff. All he sees, is that people are seemingly so lazy, that they would go to all the trouble of having machines do the work for them.

Fintan is right, of course. There has long been a tendency to automate whatever can be automated. Were computers as smart and flexible as humans EVERY task in society would be automated. Humans would then have nothing to do. Indeed, that is the logical end of all our technological development. Eventually, not only would humans be “lazy” but we might just be pointless too. What point is there in a human, when the machines do a better job, in all instances, more cheaply and inexhaustibly?

Fintan, of course, would be aghast at such a future. Yet, I fear he will see much more automation in his life, than I have in mine. He will also, I fear, see an increasing laziness of the human populace as more and more tasks are taken over by machines to leave less and less for us to do. In the end, perhaps, there will be nothing left for humans to do. What then, would life be, for such people, in such a world? I fear they would do what Fintan would most disapprove of: laze around all day, to no purpose and no end “enjoying themselves”, without, perhaps, truly knowing how to do so, with no real purpose to fulfill. It could, in fact, be an end to the world, in a very real way. People without any purpose, are not really people at all.

Fintan has seen the beginning of the end. It starts with factories that make cars, on their own, without much input from people at all. It ends, with a world where no-one quite knows what to do with themselves, anymore.
I hope, Fintan, that you cling onto your own purposes in such a world – and ignore the culture of “laziness” you see all around you.

Perhaps I should find, for him, a workshop, where cars are handmade, just to restore his faith in people. Does anyone know of one? Please post below.

(If you would like to learn more of Ainan Celeste Cawley, 10, or his gifted brothers, Fintan, 7 and Tiarnan, 4, this month, please go to: http://scientific-child-prodigy.blogspot.com/2006/10/scientific-child-prodigy-guide.html

I also write of gifted education, child prodigy, child genius, adult genius, savant, megasavant, HELP University College, the Irish, the Malays, Singapore, Malaysia, IQ, intelligence and creativity.

There is a review of my blog, on the respected The Kindle Report here: http://thekindlereport.blogspot.com/2010/09/boy-who-knew-too-much-child-prodigy.html

Please have a read, if you would like a critic's view of this blog. Thanks.

You can get my blog on your Kindle, for easy reading, wherever you are, by going to: http://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Knew-Too-Much/dp/B0042P5LEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1284603792&sr=8-1

Please let all your fellow Kindlers know about my blog availability - and if you know my blog well enough, please be so kind as to write a thoughtful review of what you like about it. Thanks.

My Internet Movie Database listing is at: http://imdb.com/name/nm3438598/

Ainan's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3305973/

Syahidah's IMDB listing is at http://imdb.com/name/nm3463926/

Our editing, proofreading and copywriting company, Genghis Can, is at http://www.genghiscan.com/

This blog is copyright Valentine Cawley. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited. Use only with permission. Thank you.)