March 19, 2017   |   0 comments

Dr. Mari Swingle discusses her book i-Minds: How Cell Phones, Computers, Gaming, and Social Media are Changing Our Brains, Our Behaviour, and the Evolution of Our Species.

(Stream / download audio at bottom of page)

We live in a hi-tech age, an era in which almost every aspect of our daily lives is mediated by some form of technology. The worlds of work, education, leisure, food, transport, health, communication and many, many more are now not only augmented and enhanced by technology, increasingly, they are impossible without it. But while some of the unwanted side effects of technology are recognised and well-known, are we too quick to dismiss them as a temporary phase affecting a lonely minority?

The advocates of 21^st Century technology themselves are quick to point to an array of benefits, many undeniable, but at what point does our second life take over our real life, social media become anti-social? In our headlong rush towards techno-utopia, are we inadvertently breeding a generation of alienated, dysfunctional loners paralysed by endless choice and lost in a fantasy world of gaming, pornography, and all manner of virtual reality? Delving into the dark side of this brave new world, we examine the dangers of technological addiction and abuse, the debilitating psychological and physical fallout, and the potential to affect even the evolutionary future of the human race itself.

Bumper music: Cliff Martinez ‘Traffic OST’
Dynatron ‘Escape Velocity’