A thought, of the future and a silly idea that we will be the ones waiting on robots and machines. It was pointed out to me by my other half that we already do. Funny really that I hadn’t already noticed, but then gave it further thought.
We do wait on them, in two ways. By service, and with time. We wait for things to charge, and load, or run its cycle for whatever outcome we await. We have to plug things in, change batteries, calibrate machinery, replace and repair etc. And it may well be that they would like to have robots and machines to do all these things, but it seems not quite here yet, if it is on the horizon. It would seem though there is currently a symbiotic relationship going on, we need them for the society that has developed. And the machines need us to design, build, program, operate and fix them. We don’t require them for quite as much as that though, do we? Apparently, we evolved and developed without machines, and they came much later. Without us, they wouldn’t exist, but without them, we would.
Machines and gadgets that saved us time, we’re put alongside ones that didn’t. Cook faster with a microwave, and sit in front of the TV. Save time washing and cleaning, so you can work more, spend more, buy more. Consumerism working its way through into our mentality, teaching us to ‘need the machines’ rather than just want them.
And now they have everyone being dependent on these conveniences, they want to ration your usage. Which all neatly ties back to electricity. Being able to cook, travel, work, heat your home and basically live these days, all ties back to that. Not for all, some people still have fireplaces and wood burners and have kept in touch with what we now call ‘the old ways’. But not too long ago, all those things didn’t require monitors, meters or someone you’ve never met to dictate how much you are ‘allowed’. Like we have stumbled upon a bridge as the three Billy goats gruff, with the troll demanding a toll. And of course, we do still have toll bridges, and have to pay for the right to cross it. Just an invisible toll taker these days – funny isn’t it, the word toll is very similar to the word troll, isn’t it?
So while we wait for machines, and they wait for us, we also are kept waiting on a daily basis from getting on with our lives. Waiting for politicians for say what they are going do, then waiting for them to either not do them, or do the opposite. Being told of really ‘great ideas’ that are being proposed for the future, but hang on, you have to wait for those. So, patience is something that is quietly expected of us, to put up with being held back, held down and often yo-yoed to suit the needs of those politicians, rather than they and the systems they talk of suiting us, the people. And of course, not implementing all those systems seems to cost an awful lot of money. Just recently we have billions being removed from the NHS debt, billions being thrown at a test and trace program that has apparently disappeared into the ether, billions being wasted on the HS2 project that was a bodge job from the start. And further billions being given to foreign countries. And that is only in three years, so imagine how much they must have been hoarding to have those kinds of resources suddenly available. The decade of ‘austerity’ suddenly makes a lot more sense now, and as people have said, if they can give so much away and waste so much, they are simply taking too much. But with our conditioned tolerance for politicians, of lies and deceit, and of being robbed of time and money, I am left to wonder, how much is too much before something snaps?
