A problem with Sci-fi seems to be that as soon as something is fictionalised - it seems to be brushed off as an 'immediate threat' by a large chunk of people who think "that will never happen - it's just a movie/book/story/game/." Conversely there will always also be a few that buy in to the ideas of the stories - however to such an extent that reinforce the non-believers because these believers seem so extreme (eg the 'end of the world' year 2012 believers who got rid of everything they possessed and prepared to die; or conspiracy theorists who concentrate on the conspiracy and not the truth behind the conspiracy).
People who tend to look at things with a more balanced and objective view seem to be few.
I tend to agree with the idea that whilst we don't seem to be 'overpowered' by our machines in an offensive manner - we are definitely 'under' their power in the context that without them we'd be up that creek without a paddle. The portion of society that can't seem to function without their interactive screens 24/7 could almost be compared to a zombie hoard. Socialising through these screens makes face-to-face socialisation much more difficult - many computer programmers are labelled as not being 'people persons' because of this. They don't have as much control in person - and in some cases it can make encounters dangerous. I'm not surprised that people seem to be losing their empathy or ability to relate when they find it so easy to 'switch off' behind a screen when they switch it on. So I also entertain the possibility that if we were to lose technology in some manner - we would have to worry about people too.
People who tend to look at things with a more balanced and objective view seem to be few.
I tend to agree with the idea that whilst we don't seem to be 'overpowered' by our machines in an offensive manner - we are definitely 'under' their power in the context that without them we'd be up that creek without a paddle. The portion of society that can't seem to function without their interactive screens 24/7 could almost be compared to a zombie hoard. Socialising through these screens makes face-to-face socialisation much more difficult - many computer programmers are labelled as not being 'people persons' because of this. They don't have as much control in person - and in some cases it can make encounters dangerous. I'm not surprised that people seem to be losing their empathy or ability to relate when they find it so easy to 'switch off' behind a screen when they switch it on. So I also entertain the possibility that if we were to lose technology in some manner - we would have to worry about people too.