What time is it? Let me check my watch/phone/computer/personal trainer… And so it seems the world is whipped into another apple product frenzy with all the evangelical hoopla it can muster over something adorned on the wrist.

I don’t have an allegiance or loyalty to a brand, but it is a little cult like at times. People camping out for days to get their hands on the upgraded version of their already perfectly brand new (if they were a pair of jeans) gadget. It reminds me of mass hypnosis watching swaths of people surge like corybantic groupies high on the rush of consumption. It’s not that I don’t appreciate progress, or want to return to some version of the dark ages, although if you look at the world they still exist in some places.

Perhaps this is the chimera of technology, it divides the world as much as oceans of water do. What do we mean when we say ‘technology’ well it can be helpful to start with a definition.

technologytɛkˈnɒlədʒi/
noun
1. the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry.
o machinery and devices developed from scientific knowledge.
o the branch of knowledge dealing with engineering or applied sciences.

My question would be about what is practical and the meaning of ‘applied’. We live in a world where the last 2000 years exist all at once. Where once culture, religion or geography were the main ways we were isolated or divided, technology and its applications rule with the iron fist of profit exerting its grip on resources and dislocating populations in the name of mineral wealth to feed the insatiable production machine beast of the monetary system in all its configurations.

The only possible way for technology to actually improve the conditions for ALL life is to extract science in all its forms from serving the interests of corporations. Apple is but an example of the erroneous and iatrogenic trend in technology. I’m clearly sceptical when it comes to businesses having a sense of ethics or philanthropists being altruistic for that matter. If money is involved at any level of organisation the outcomes will serve particular interests always – even if the ‘eco/ego’ marketing says otherwise.

So here is my challenge, especially to those talented scientific/techno entrepreneurs out there. If you like it then you shouldn’t put a ‘patent pend(r)ing’ on it. And for the rest of us with slightly less talent but no less important – resist the Magpie within to go for the new shiny thing. Watch this space.