Discussion of the Day
Does our technology connect us more, or isolate us more?
Alisa T12-Nov-22
I do believe the technology era is making us part of it too.
How will people feel in the future when machines replace essential jobs? And then not essentials, but as many as machines would cover.
Can you imagine coming to school without a teacher? Can you imagine coming to a supermarket without the usual counter stuff or people who sort out all food on shelves?
Can you imagine buses and trains without drivers?
No doctors or nurses, no postman, no barrister or barmen, no pharmacist.
Comments
  • Marian J 834320
    If we don't stop trying to take over like nurses postman ETC. we will not have anyone left to fix anything and no one to fix us if we get sick,
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    • boy blunder
      not a fan of technology overall they put us out of work, they more or less dehumanize us
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      • Dena G 246689
        I like how technology connects us in some ways with online social media etc but I don't want it to fully take over such as teachers etc. Need to keep people employed.
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        • Jania S
          we if you give up and continue to feed the demon, you wont have a live, dont get tangled up with the idiot box and the stupida fona is a good start, you wont get affected by the fake pandemic.... you will continue to be a human, and wont be imitating a robot. --- to each their own end
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          • Missy Wyld
            connect but in different ways than we are used to. CO VID started the balling rolling with that
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            • Denise C (Qld)
              Connect or isolate? A bit of both.
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              • Sandra H 325339
                That sounds awful to me.
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                • Hilary P 701184
                  Everyone thinks it is going to be wonderful having all this AI technology so we have more leisure time BUT why dont they realise that humans will be come redundant with robots and machines taking over. Companies wont need people to run them as the robots dont need to be paid and they can repair and make new ones without the need of humans. For every robot put into a shop hospital school or car one less human is needed. We are destroying ourselves by wanting all this technology that is not needed to make a better world. We need to stop snowballing to our demise. We need to slow down and enjoy what little time we have. We dont need robots telling us what to do. Watch the film I Robot to see what can happen when technology and maniacs take over our lives.
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                  • writerrochelle
                    Actually, it does both. I appreciated having a little laptop during all of COVID-19 so I could join my congregation meetings on zoom, but being back to in person meetings unmasked is wonderful! I get to see smiles instead of just 'smiling' eyes! I think it depends on how you use technology whether it connects us, or isolates us. I have a hard time believing people would rather text than hear a voice on the phone. Maybe they don't want to connect with reality, hear the 'happy' or the 'sad' or even the 'angry' or 'excitement' in a human voice? I don't even own a cell phone, just me and my home landline! ;-D
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                    • Shanondoah D
                      N/A
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                      • SUSIE W
                        I prefer the human touch. Thus refuse self serve checkouts !
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                        • Paula J 395266
                          I don't want to live in a world like that. If there are no doctors, nurses, teachers, policeman, checkout chicks etc. what is the point of us? Aren't we some of them?
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                          • Aiysha g
                            Totally isolate us more. It's nothing to see individual family members at dinner all on their phones .
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                            • Dimitri T 100433
                              Technology makes us impersonal
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                              • Paula J 395266
                                Technology is making us ignorant.
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                            • Maureen G-Melb.Vic.
                              It frightens the hell out of me to be honest.
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                              • Colin L 88398
                                Yes that is what business wants tech for to drive down costs of wages and increase profits. I remember george jetson bitterly complaining how Spacely was a slave driver he had to push the big red button 3 times that day and they was his only job.
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                                • Tiffany L 690503
                                  I agree with both
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                                  • Katzeye
                                    I agree a bit of both
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                                    • Pauline J
                                      both
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                                      • Greg B 520364
                                        Technology has the ability to isolate and give us the time for others
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                                        • Carolyn H 319412
                                          It can go either way.
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                                          • Luke W 72035
                                            I don't mind machines replacing many jobs as long as we can figure out a system that doesn't leave everyone to slavery or starving to death. Something decent. I think we're at a point where companies, government etc should start thinking about things like this instead of just exploiting us all. The way tech is going makes me feel very uneasy about the future. Not so much because of the tech itself, but because of certain people who tend to use it to dominate society. And yeah, I think it connects us but at the same time we see certain groups/people using it to manipulate and divide others which in the long run is pretty problematic.
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                                            • Pat C 618241
                                              I hate to think of it but when all these marvelous machines replace us, just what will all of we humans be doing? '1984' and 'Animal Farm', books from the 1940's proposed some of these ideas and were labelled science fiction rubbish - now they are growing perilously close to reality.
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                                              • LORI G 1104330
                                                A little bit of both
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                                                • Carolina Z
                                                  wait and see
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                                                  • Sonya F 68771
                                                    Yes i do agree with some but I think there will always be humans doing something and we are all drifting apart
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                                                    • nancy b 1002224
                                                      I personally find it enriching and making it much easier to keep in touch and involved with others.
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                                                      • Jenny L 591463
                                                        Well yes it is coming to a degree. I don't think I will be around for when they have taken over completely. They do how ever isolate us more than we know, this is yet to be experienced by most. Living in the country side I do have some idea and I can go weeks without seeing too many people. I talk to my parents on the phone once a week and I have a husband I can talk to and I play games and do surveys to pass the time. Plus we have our animals so I am not lonely but I don't get so much interaction with other people unless we go shopping or we go over to see my parents. Plus talking to people on here helps as that is an out let for human companionship. We are all friendly on here and I enjoy it and appreciate the forming friendships.
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                                                        • peg h
                                                          To me our brains have gone to sleep an ever day we use it less and less.Technology will be thew death of us
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                                                          • Vicki S 484904
                                                            There are quite a few services where people could be replaced with artificial inteligence, however I don't see a time where these services won't need a human to oversee and make sure things are running properly.
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                                                            • roger l 315504
                                                              technology actually isolates us from fellow humans, staring at a screen and running fingertips accross a keyboard just isn't anything like the companionship and contact of an old-fashioned face-to=face chin wag, where all your senses are involved
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                                                              • Jan H 753322
                                                                having robots in nursing homes would not work because the elderly need human contact for their wellbeing
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                                                                • Jan H 753322
                                                                  I think it is more isolating. people find it hard to even have a conversation unless it is sitting around the table texting(not a word is spoken) When technology goes down we are completely helpless. Sport and other social activities are vital for our emotional and physical wellbeing
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                                                                  • Christina C 466456
                                                                    It does both and depends more on individual personality. A lot of people still enjoy going out to pubs, meeting friends or clubs etc and use their phones to connect to people. Some people are less outgoing and prefer online friends for a chat. The people who end up lonely or depressed are struggling with other areas of their life such as bullying or trying to fit in or some kind of insecurity. If individuals are strong in themselves then it doesn't matter whether they prefer to connect to the internet or connect at a pub or something. As for losing jobs, job opportunities will open up in other areas so people will just have to upskill. Example: robots will need upgrades so mechatronics or programming will probably be safe for a while. I wouldn't mind if supermarkets become staff free as long as our safety is well considered and troubleshooting is easy. There were so many staff shortages during the pandemic that they had to be innovative and that's what inspired the new robot shelf stockers/inventory system for supermarkets which are going to be flooding the world soon.
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                                                                    • MARGARET p 388156
                                                                      I think it would be great having robots in Nursing Homes and not spreading covid.
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                                                                      • Bugalugs
                                                                        Both but, as we have seen during the Covid19 Pandemic it has been - reportedly - more isolating. At least, if you believe what the media, social workers, psychologists and other, mostly self-appointed, experts tell us is true that Children - despite spending most of their free time - PRIOR to Covid - on their i-pads, phones chatting to their seemingly millions of so-called friends - because of the isolation are suffering mentally! I think it is probably mostly people trying to attract attention and portraying themselves and their children as VICTIMS - victims of what they never tell us. So far as supermarket staff, bus drivers et al. there are already supermarkets overseas, and at least one Australian one is planning this abomination, which have no Staff during opening hours! Two of our major supermarkets have already introduced the ability to scan your own purchases on your phone and at the click on a button pay for them with no need for a Check-out operator. Total De-Humanisation. State and Territory Governments, led strangely by those Champions of the Working Masses: The Australian Labor Party are now championing another cause: Driverless Buses, Trains, Trams, Taxis and any other mode of transport you can think of! We already have so-called Telemedicine where you don't actually see a Doctor or Nurse you just speak to someone and this will, inevitably, lead to you talking to a robot Soon isolation will be the norm. The result? We will see massive increases in the use of Drugs and Alcohol, Suicide will become the World's Biggest Killer, Mental Illness will explode. Once again, we can thank our Politicians for their stupidity.
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                                                                        • Jane M 438289
                                                                          For those who would of been alone or out of touch it is great but for young people who should be socializing in person and doing things together it harmful because their social skills are so bad they just don't know how to act in person. Young people need to learn how to talk to others without using a keyboard. Real life should not be mostly about posting on social networks and counting friends and how many likes you can get on a particularly witty post.
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                                                                          • Lyn A.
                                                                            There is a place for technology. Personally it has spread my "social life", Can chat with people I have met from other countries. Some people deserve to lose their job to machines, at least machine might be polite and actually try and help.Maybe a machine will not indoctrinate child to their own views as many teachers do.There are pros and cons. Guess maybe if/when a machine could show artificial emotion [as many people do] they may work in better
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                                                                            • Joe B 288252
                                                                              Tech both connects and isolates people. How many people have friends online but never get close enough to have a hug.
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                                                                              • Jane M 438289
                                                                                Younger people don't even know what real affection between close friends and family members is. If its not to hook up they don't know how to be in the physical presence of people they feel close to.
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                                                                              • Greg B 520364Jane M 438289
                                                                                Don't tell this to my Granddaughters they love their hugs and kisses
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                                                                            • The dog house
                                                                              So much money is leaving this country due to hackers. Remove technology and go back to writing everything down. We are sitting more instead of going outdoors. Stop giving millions to executives no one needs that much money. Money can be used towards employing more people. Technology is causing more ailments eg. sore backs, eye issues, headaches, weight issues etc.
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                                                                              • Lorraine F
                                                                                I think it isolates us more because people are constantly looking at their phones or a screen and are not engaging in conversation anymore. Especially the young. I pass many children waiting for the school bus in the morning and very few of them are talking to each other, they are glued to their phones.
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                                                                                • Mariaj
                                                                                  Sounds like a horrible world if that happened
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                                                                                  • TERRIE K
                                                                                    Technology is helpful in some facets of our lives but it mostly isolates us. I'm just grateful that I have my dog who doesn't like it when I'm on the computer, the attention should be all about her no matter what I want.
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                                                                                    • Nadine G 1012733
                                                                                      I think technology certainly has its valuable place in the world today, however I don't like that technology is taking away so many people's jobs. Any technology is only as good as the people that made it. When power cuts happen, the majority of businesses are left completely lost and have absolutely no way of reaching information that may be urgently required. In many ways, these situations only prove how much the majority of humans totally rely on technology- for most places there is no paper documents etc anymore. The other significant negative (IMO) is that most kids today no longer know how to entertain themselves without technology. I OFTEN see groups of kids walking together, glued to their phones - no conversation! Some street crossingsnow have 'look up' painted on the side to try & ensure people actually look where they're going. It's ridiculous. I remember when that Pokemon game was really popular (why, I don't know...) - the number of people that walked straight into posts or private property, because they weren't looking where they were going was astounding. The ONE thing I loved about the lockdowns was that when you got out of the house for a walk, you would see families walking & talking to each other. No phones. People would make eye contact with others walking by & actually say hello. Now that's gone again. It's sad. So yes, technology certainly has its place in our world, but I think we've forgotten how to be decent, independent human beings, and have certainly forgotten the art of making eye contact with others & simply saying hello. School homework is now completely different - kids very rarely get their information from books, instead they use Google, copy and paste. Spelling, handwriting skills & rules of the written word have rapidly declined.
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                                                                                      • Cherie
                                                                                        Depends on the user - a bit of both IMHO.
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                                                                                        • Helen L 750218
                                                                                          No
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                                                                                          • Pauline T 68358
                                                                                            I think the world, and the people were better off without all this Hi tech stuff. Even poor people in poor countries can afford a smart phone - I do not have one!
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                                                                                            • Dada WA
                                                                                              Japan has supermarkets where there are no goods on the shelf, just pictures. You select goods by adding from the picture to an app on your phone. At check out collect the goods using your phone. Cost is debited from your account automatically. Small start here almost no manned check-outs. It is coming!
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                                                                                              • Colleen M 510798
                                                                                                I think it is all in the way we look at it as far as whether it connects us or not. And it is scary thinking that people will not be as "important" as a machine. The companies can pay far less if they don't have to hire anyone. Very sad.
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                                                                                                • Glenys H 310155
                                                                                                  definitely a bit of both, during lockdowns it was great to be able to message and zoom with relatives and friends, but it was no match for actual face to face time over a cuppa. With messages we are losing our spelling and reverting to hyroglifics. Also with messaging you lose some of the context of the message - body language, tone used etc. so it is very easy to take messages the wrong way. Machines are taking over so many of the jobs in so many area of commerce all of which contribute to unemployment so what you gain on the one hand you lose on the other.
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                                                                                                  • bobbie k
                                                                                                    Well its a bit of both.
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                                                                                                    • Sheree T
                                                                                                      Technology is great to a point. The thought of jobs being lost in the future to all this technology is terrible. Can you imagine what will become of our world, so much hacking is going on currently I hate to think what it will be like in the future.
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                                                                                                      • Elizabeth A 807208
                                                                                                        Definitely isolates us as far as face to face conversations are concerned. I keep in touch with friends but it's definitely not the same as sitting down to a cup of coffee with them. I do have a very close friend who comes and spends the day with me so that sort of makes up for the lack of that close communication with the others
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                                                                                                        • clifford s
                                                                                                          i get my daughters handmedowns in tech. and i love it ,i talk to my son in the usa every day no charge amazing
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                                                                                                          • Kamila P
                                                                                                            I hope this is not gonna happend at my or my child's lifetime
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                                                                                                            • Tupulua S
                                                                                                              I believe that this world would never be taken over by machines. not in my life time anyway. We are seeing the revelations of technology and machines. man have contributed to it. it takes a man to destroy it. How many man {s} it takes to change the light bulp
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                                                                                                              • Empress
                                                                                                                A robot cannot give the same comfort a human can. You only have to look around in a bus or train, everyone is neck down looking at their phones. No one speaks or chats. No one looks out the window at the world outside. We are emotionally poorer with technology.
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                                                                                                                • Grommie
                                                                                                                  both
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                                                                                                                  • Daniel T 626103
                                                                                                                    I think technology is a great thing but not at the expense of human connection.
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                                                                                                                    • 77ccusmc
                                                                                                                      I think technology has made life more difficult for many but those who are not good with people would like it more. I feel people don’t try to make face to face friends, but online bullying is increasing. I remember back in the day, in the printing industry, we would snail mail proofs to customers and they were happy, now they want it sent over the computer now, and still not fast enough. I don’t want to be waited on by a robot. Conversations with humans is better.
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                                                                                                                      • Igor A
                                                                                                                        Technology makes stuff of people redundant.
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                                                                                                                        • kristian s 513441
                                                                                                                          I think technology isolate us more is because we don't have to go outside and communicate with others that much like we used to do in which we do all that on the internet.
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                                                                                                                          • Richard T 463692
                                                                                                                            modern technology is great
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                                                                                                                            • Sweetums
                                                                                                                              Oh no! No baristas or barmen, we will be in real trouble..............we got bigger issues than nobody but a robot to get us our coffee and Rum!!!
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                                                                                                                              • SueM2
                                                                                                                                I was asked recently by little miss 4, what sort of mobile phone I had when I was her age. On being told we didn't have such technology back then, (1950's) she asked "how did you talk to each other then?"
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                                                                                                                                • Abby H 656112
                                                                                                                                  I do agree that it isolates us and gives us . maybe too much boldness?
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                                                                                                                                  • Paul B 522937
                                                                                                                                    I agree with black lives matter
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                                                                                                                                    • Reverend Rick
                                                                                                                                      I think it is isolating us much more,
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                                                                                                                                      • BLACK LIVES MATTER
                                                                                                                                        Homo sapiens socializing with each other has led to diseases, famine, racism, sexism, war, etc., on a capitalistic planet. Other words, human interaction and capitalism (profits over people under any circumstances) are vastly over-rated! Maybe technology (machines aka robots) will be able to do everything (in the future) - including essential jobs - cannot have a worst-case scenario then homo sapiens - presently have!
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                                                                                                                                        • ROBERT K 1065766
                                                                                                                                          Technology has mae us all lazy
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                                                                                                                                          • Cher
                                                                                                                                            We as a species need connection to each other, daily contact, eye to eye, showing in our faces love, compassion, understanding, trust and caring. Machines and technology are controlling how we spend our time.
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                                                                                                                                            • Helen E 469767
                                                                                                                                              So true Cheryl. Need to see reactions facial expresions ,gestures, etc. I hear good things when family can keep in contact when they are overseas. Grandchildren can be watched as they grow.
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                                                                                                                                          • Gaza
                                                                                                                                            I think it's unfortunate that people are getting lazier and lazier, they want everything NOW and pay for it later (maybe) and don't want to have to work and save for anything. Just bring back the old days. A boss said to me one day "that they had men of steel and wooden ships, now-days it's wooden men and steel ships". Technology is spoiling us, people don't know how to communicate anymore, hackers are ruining trust in personal data etc'.
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                                                                                                                                            • Imperia S
                                                                                                                                              isolation for sure
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                                                                                                                                              • APB
                                                                                                                                                I won't miss the pharmacist
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                                                                                                                                                • Sweetums
                                                                                                                                                  Machines already do their dispensing, labeling, and searching for any drug and food allergy interactions to warn patients of.
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                                                                                                                                              • Linda C
                                                                                                                                                We are already in that era. It has been slowly creeping up on us all and now it seems to be full steam ahead. Technology has taken over every aspect of our lives. You talk to a machine and tell it to turn on lights, open garage doors, up or down the blinds, turn on coffee, oven, etc. Robots make things for us, serve us in restaurants, answer questions, operate on us. I fear, one day they will take over.
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                                                                                                                                                • Rhonda D 522615
                                                                                                                                                  Technology will take over some of our lives. But probably for the better. We will still need people in certain areas. Machines cannot do everything.
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