Gurdjieff and Steve Jobs

[ScioAgapeOmnis]

An iphone is a tool, like any other smartphone, or any other computer or gadget. In and of itself, much like a hammer, it does nothing, but it can be used to build a shed or bash someone (or yourself) on the head. Computers + internet allowed for this forum to exist, but also the rest of the internet and all that that entails. For most people, an iphone is an angry birds/facebook/twitter machine that also takes cat pictures, which, as Mr Scott said, is a way to tune the world out as you stare at your shiny device and try to remember not to drool or walk into a stop sign.

So if anything, for most people it does the exact opposite of what Gurdjieff taught:

It enhances mechanical and neurotic behavior by captivating you with useless mind-numbing activities.
It fuels unhealthy and irrational obsession with "new" shiny devices just for their own sake.
It strokes the ego and self-importance and alienates us from others thereby inhibiting us from learning lessons found only in real social interactions and experiences.

The most important thing gurdjieff taught is that "consciousness does not evolve unconsciously". Most people do not have the intent to do any "work on themselves", and any tool that they get will be used to only enhance their sleep, enhance "what is in them to do", their present direction and nature. A monkey with a hammer does not start evolving towards a carpenter, he's just a menace to himself and other monkeys. A carpenter without a hammer is still a carpenter, and he will use a rock if he needs to.

 

[luc]

An iphone is a tool, like any other smartphone, or any other computer or gadget. In and of itself, much like a hammer, it does nothing, but it can be used to build a shed or bash someone (or yourself) on the head. Computers + internet allowed for this forum to exist, but also the rest of the internet and all that that entails.

One aspect I would like to add is that the question is not only for what purposes technology is used, but also: Who controls technology? How does it work, how does it affect the environment etc.?

I think there is a pattern in the history of technology that some creative people came up with ideas, which were then "stolen" (legally or not) by big corporations and turned into something "convenient" yet very dis-empowering. Maybe even the good aspects of "mainstream technology", like the high-speed internet that makes possible this forum, are just "side effects" of a malicious intent (creating smartphone-addicted zombies that can be easily controlled)?

Or, to put it another way: What would have been possible with technology if it had been developed throughout history only by amateurs fascinated with new possibilities and curious about simple, but effective means to develop useful stuff? I think you can see examples for what I mean in areas such as amateur radio, diy-hobbyists, old-timer enthusiasts etc. or maybe the early internet and computer freaks.

What we have instead are huge corporations, destroying the earth with every single electronic device they produce, fighting proxy wars to get the resources, turning technology from empowering tools into consumerism-promoting nonsense that keeps people lazy and makes them totally dependent. I mean, we have given away so much power that we could be probably killed just by shutting down the mobile phone network! It really reminds one of the Hyperion/Endymion saga by Dan Simmons (great books!).

A monkey with a hammer does not start evolving towards a carpenter, he's just a menace to himself and other monkeys. A carpenter without a hammer is still a carpenter, and he will use a rock if he needs to.

Exactly. What we desperately need, I think, is to learn and re-learn the skills, to understand the basics of technology and get creative. That way, maybe we can get some of the power back that the big corporations took from us (with our consent). And of course, whenever we can use the existing (mainstream) technology for something positive, we should do it and not use "evil corporations" as an excuse to remain silent. Just some thoughts.