Winter's Reminder

I go outside to listen
To the morning birds sing

But they can't be heard above
the din and whine of power motors
improving the suburban landscape around me.

Pale land owners blink
inside glowing cubes
Tapping away the days

While brown men
Carve, and clip, and blow about
the leaves with cacophonous inefficiency

Hiding the rot from dewy eyes - unprepared for winter's reminder.

Where have all the rakes gone?

Combing the yards of yesteryear
into fluffy piles of detritus
For children to jump in
and play, and toss about.

Somewhere out East
I imagine

Where time moves like treacle
And there's nothing better to do
than lean against the barn
and listen to the birds sing

As you watch the leaves fall
and feel the air around your neck
nipping colder..

Thoughts on Technology

I've been hearing a lot out there about technology and it's influence on our ability to connect with each other and the physical world around us. I say that it's not a binary choice, but rather like any tool, in how you use it.

The question is, are we prepared as a species for the pace of change that modern technological advances bring? How does it effect our humanity?

UCLA research has shown that people under a certain age are losing the ability to recognize emotions in facial expressions, and with it the ability to empathize. Have we substituted emojis for deep interaction, or really caring?

Like the discovery of fire, we are living in an age where technology will radically change the course of our evolution. Whether we learn to contain this tool, and use it appropriately, or whether our adoration of the flames will blind us to the fact that our home is burning down - remains to be seen.

Here are four great american thinkers with competing essays on the subject. "Technology - Freedom, or a Trap?" I found this to be an excellent debate, and I hope that it rages on. Our survival may depend upon it.

http://www.think-off.org/

#worldsurvival #empathyproject