Technology- For better or for worse?

You know, recently I've been thinking a lot about technology and how it can be good, but mostly how it can be bad. I recently read the book Brain Jack, by Brian Falkner. This book takes place in what seems to be  the near future, and is fairly accurate as to my expectations. Its about a high schooler named Sam, who is a hacker. When I say Hacker, I mean like extreme hacker. Anything hooked up to the internet, he can access. Even the White house. In the book, he goes to a Hacking convention, and gets an invite to the "real" one, which was supposedly going to be held on the servers inside of the white house. A totally cut off network from everything, or so it seems. He finds a way in and exploits it, then finds the chat room. Its a virtual world. Oh, and by the way, did I mention he's doing this all with something called a neuro-headset? Yep, thats right. He's doing thats all, straight from his brain. No mouse, keyboard, or even screen! As soon as he logs into this chat room, he hears a doorbell. He thinks its in the chat room, but it isn't. In the real world, the feds have found him and take him to a kinda of Juvi. Soon, he makes up a plan to escape, along with his new friend, Kiwi. He figures a way into all of the secure files in the prison, and finds out how to get out. Next, he makes it so the computers thing there is a fire going on, and they unlock all of the cell doors in the Juvi. He then makes a narrow escape, and is picked up by a cabbie who he recognizes as the person who told him to go into the white house network. The man, Dodge, tells him that he was the only person at the convention to make it in, and asks if he wants a job for the government, protecting its computers from hackers, terrorists, and whatnot. The pay is amazingly high, so Sam joins up. After a while, there is an attack on the network. Terrorists make it into it. They almost crashed a plane into the building Sam and his teammates were working in. After a while, there are attacks on the Neuro-headsets. In a long time, Sam figures out that computers have gotten smart, and taken over the whole network of human brains and everything on the internet. It is now eliminating whats in its way, with the easiest way possible, by just "debugging" the code. Thats all people are if they aren't helping the net, they're errors that need to be "debugged" or  killed. This book accurately represents my fears of what may happen in the future. I think that soon, humans will be connected to everything Via the brain, and with all of the knowledge at its power, a super computer could realize it doesn't need us to run, and it will start "debugging the code" when it figures that out. I think that, sure computers and internet are great, but we're becoming too closely connected too them. We need to space ourselves away from the Technology for a while and just go out and enjoy the forest or mountains, or even the park if you live in a city. The farther you are from a computer when people invent a neuro connection to it, the better. As soon as somebody is on the network, your brain is just like a computer. Any skilled hacker could get through a  firewall on the device between your brain and the net, and everything you know, remember, or feel, can be put out there for the world to see. Somebody could look into your memories and find your bank account pin and start stealing money from you. Worse, somebody could write a virus in the code to kill you. Or control you, and make you do whatever they want. All it takes is a few lines of code. My challenge to you this week is to get outside, stay away from your computer and your cell phone for a while. Enjoy the peace of nature, the Harmony of all of the different noises into one, constant song. Ignore your friends texting you, ignore your computer. Just go outside and do something. Thats my challenge for you.

Why is there war?

Why cannot we create a new nation? Not in the world, but as the world. There would be no war. Why do we fight for power and control when we can all unite under one common government and call each other friends, family, and allies, no matter what race we may be? Why not combine our knowledge and resources and advance together in the fields of science and mathematics. Through greed, one learns power, through power, victory is seized, through victory we are corrupted. One nation to rule them all, one man to find them. One nation to call them forth, and forever bind them.

I know not of enemies or friends, for we are one being, one man, as a whole. We are one atom in the universe, indestructible, unite, whole. We, together, can achieve greatly. We can create, what was once impossible will be easy if we unite. war is a waste. A waste of time, yes, a waste of resources, yes, but above all things, it is a waste of Lives and intelligent young people. Millions of people worldwide have either died or been disabled by war. We must stand up. Though our country calls us to arms, we will not respond. we will retain our right to live, to happiness. god wouldn't have given us our position on this planet had he known we would corrupt ourselves and all around us with greed. We are turning against our brothers when we go to war. Shooting ones brother is an astonishing, infamous, and appalling act i could not commit. PLEASE NOTE: I DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING AGAINST OUR SOLDIERS, IT IS JUST THEIR JOB, I ONLY HAVE IT AGAINS WAR ITSELF.