What keeps us human in a world of machines?

We live in a hands- off world.

As technology advances, so does efficiency and production output; our society has become productive in ways never before thought possible. From self-driving cars and talking smart phones to robotic machines that can perform successful surgeries, we have found a way to increase output while decreasing effort.

We are an efficiency obsessed generation. And while this has proven successful in the consumer world; it has had a negative effect on the human condition.

Every day we are constantly and simultaneously moving in multiple directions. Technology has allowed us to complete tasks so rapidly that we rarely have the patients to connect with our inner human nature.

Pleasures like a hike along Lake Carl Blackwell or a picnic on Library Lawn has become less of a possibility and more of a romantic idea with each passing day.

The 2016 culture in much of the world is that of non-stop acceleration and continual frenzied competition. In this culture there is little room for relaxation, peace, calm and reflection. By losing regular contact with these elements of our soul, we have subconsciously lost a vital part of the human experience.

Technology increases efficiency by taking the work that we would have once done by hand and doing it for us, faster. From the medical field to photography and something as simple as driving a car, machines have slowly but surely replaced their creators.

Ironically, we are becoming increasingly like the devices that we create. And as productivity increases, quality has in-turn decreased. The more involved we become with our technological device, the further we grow from humanity.

This efficiency obsession has even become a measure of societal status.

The lower class do their taxes, bike to work, build furniture for their homes, mow their lawns and cook for themselves; while the upper class take pride in the ability to buy a machine that can do all of that for them. In this day and age hands-off is sexy.

Oddly enough one facet of pure human enjoyment has managed to remain. Regardless of technological advancement, the desire to travel and explore has remained an activity of wonder to many, especially millennials.

How, in a culture where people barely have the patients for fast-food lines and elevators are taken from the first floor to the second, did something as time consuming as exploring another city, country or continent remain popular?

This lasting glimmer of the human experience is a reminder that the desire to explore the unknown will always have a timeless pull. In an era of inventions that can do it all for us, we still have an undeniable desire to personally taste the foods of foreign places, walk the streets of a new city and make new friends out of strangers.

Travel taps into our childlike desires. It allows us to touch, feel, taste and see in a world where machines are expected to do all of that for us.

 

The American Dream is more alive than ever

The American Dream is dead.

Every student has heard it before, if not multiple times over their college career. And this statement is not new.

Whether it be the gloomy warnings of a pessimistic professor or the daunting precautions of our parents, this notion that the American Dream is on its deathbed has been lingering since the days of Mayflower and Madison.

Being young and optimistic, we try to ignore the claims. However, regardless of our best efforts, stepping into a job market after college with the notion that financial freedom is out of reach is a scary thought.

A recent CNN poll that found 59 percent of Americans think the American Dream is unachievable. They also found that 63 percent of American kids don’t see themselves ending up better off than their parents.

Contrary to public opinion, I believe that there has never been a better time to pursue your American dream.

We live in an age of innovation. From ground breaking apps like Uber to food trucks and boutiques – small business and inventions rules this nations economy, and there has never been a better time to create your own way.

Between 2011 and 2015, solo entrepreneurs increased by 12.5 percent in the U.S., and researchers estimate that number increase from 30 to almost 40 million by 2019.

Comfort, stability, happiness, health and financial freedom – these are some of the many things that people attribute to the attaining the American Dream. To be ones own boss, forge a path and live comfortably. Fortunately and Unfortunately- a country in which people are free means they’re free to succeed and fail. The American dream isn’t a promise, rather an opportunity.

You wouldn’t expect to achieve your dream body by simply entering the gym. Rather you go to the gym in the hope that it will give you the tools that allow you to achieve your goals.

Similarly, the American dream is not a guarantee. It is an opportunity.

Luckily, the time is ideal for those of us taking a shot at that opportunity. Unemployment is at pre-2008 levels, inflation is low, stocks have hit record highs and the U.S. economy is growing. Teens are making huge profits on inventions from their garage, stay at home moms are starting online businesses from their home computers and amateur chefs are able to live out their culinary dreams in mobile restaurants.

These types of opportunities aren’t happening as frequently on a global level – but they’re happening rapidly, right here. 

Immigrants from all over the world want to live and work in the United States, and the desire among many to take a shot at this “American dream” is a welcoming sign of the lasting integrity of the term “land of opportunity.”

Times change, and today’s American Dream is inevitably different from the American dream that our grandparents knew. Decades of affluence have altered the level of wealth that many feel entitled to, and when you believe that you deserve more, the “success” of yesterday looks more like failure.

This mindset is especially prevalent among my generation.

News flash millennials: The American Dream doesn’t represents easy living or a pre-set pathway to success. If this is your idea of the American Dream than, yes. It is dead.

However for those who are willing to push forward and put in the effort,

the American Dream has never been more alive.