Can You Feel it Now?

     In the beginning of Nicholas Carr's book, The Shallows, it talks about a supercomputer named HAL. In the scene I'm referring to, HAL is being shut off by its operator, Dave. While this is happening, HAL exclaims, "Dave, my mind is going, I can feel it. I can feel it." I had to read this part of the book a few times because I was quite confused to read that a computer had feelings. Right after, the author explains that he can relate to HAL, claiming that he felt someone was "reprogramming the memory" to his brain.
     This also confused me to a degree because I didn't understand how a human could relate to a machine. But as I thought more and more about it, I came up with an idea. Maybe Carr was using this to comment on the relationship between technology and humans. As technology has advanced, human dependency on it has increased. I believe the point Carr is trying to make is that humans are getting to the point where they depend so much on technology that it is actually altering the way they think. From my observations in our world, it seems that wherever a human is, some form of technology is attached to them. Have you ever felt too dependent on technology?

-- Ayah League--