what the wondrous technologies do

They are, indeed, wondrous. Powerful. Action-at-a-distance. More, Bigger, Farther, Faster.

Here is the hitch: They enable aspirations for More, Bigger, Farther, Faster. They induce us to try for More, Bigger, Farther, Faster. They induce us into the technosphere … a far-flung world of boundlessness.

Good luck with that.

From Sherry Turkle’s book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other (Basic Books, 2011): “Overwhelmed by the pace that technology makes possible, we think about how new, more efficient technologies might help dig us out. But new devices encourage ever-greater volume and velocity.”