Will humans always remain technology centred now that we have tasted its fruits? Innovation is not an arbitrary element of the human being, for centuries we have been able to do without, and sometimes things even changed for the worse. It is only since the gradual emergence of the experimental-method, and the great concepts this yielded during the renaissance in Central-Europe, that the idea of constant progress got embedded in the western mind (John Gray, 2008). It seems that we all have eaten from the forbidden apple tree and are now expelled from our former ‘paradise’ where things could at least remain the same for an entire year.

The view that the ongoing improvement of our lifes using technology will probably never stop is commonplace for most of us, and counter arguments are rare. Neither will this blog not attempt to provide a plausible counter argument; but instead will actually seek for an argument in support of this particular view. I deem this is necessary as people tend to leap ahead of any real argumentation ,but rather take progress for granted and innovation as something self-evident.

An argument in favour of the proposition that innovation and humans are inseparable since that first delicious taste during the renaissance can be found in the explanation of professor Victor Lamme about consciousness. According to the professor consciousness is a condition, a sensation, and a device, that can only come into existence because of recurrent interactions, i.e. neural feedback, within the nervous system. This reverse communication between different brain parts, the prerequisite for consciousness, does require some extra time to take place. As an illustration we can take a look at a match of two professional tennis players. It could be argued that they are in a unconscious condition while playing; as any sensation of awareness would require time and would make them lose the game. The game they play is purely based on reflexes made possible by endless repetitions.

Perhaps the same state of unawareness we can see observing professional athletes may also apply to progress of technological innovation. The part of our generation growing up in developed countries belongs to the very first generation for whom technological gadgets are a normality and we cannot imagine a world without. In contrast to our parents we do not even think about the usage of modern technology, whereas our oldies may consciously decide not to need any of it. Is it possible that actually our parents are a lot better off in this respect, as they can still make the conscious decision; to use or not to use. Apart from anomalies like the ‘pessimists’ John Gray the people who consciously think about the certainty of progress have almost died out. Those who still consciously make the decision against using state of the art technology are perhaps doomed in a similar way.

As time passes technology will be less and less questionable as it increasingly becomes a mere automated human reflex. If that truly happens we give technology itself free rein. Depending on the future progress on artificial consciousness we may never control innovation ourselves again. It is important to become conscious of such possible dystopias, so we may innovate for the better.