In the Year 2525

A subject a friend and I seem to debate about on a regular basis is whether advancement of technology is a good thing. They think a return to simpler times may be one way people can attain some kind of contentment or happiness, whereas I see continued jumps forward as having the potential for great things.

The best example of my argument is the internet, which I see as a very good thing. Yes, there's negative aspects of it, and very serious ones at that. However, I believe as a form of mass communication it goes down as one of the most important inventions of history.

On a simple level, it's made it easy for people to stay in touch. When my great-aunt left England in the 1950s to live in Australia, it was letters (and late expensive phone calls) that were the only way of knowing what was happening in each others lives when such a distance existed. Nowadays, I can talk to a friend in Australia for as much as we like online, the eight-hour time gap permitting.

There's also what the internet has done for journalism. 'Professional' journalism is on it's arse: reading a newspaper now is generally as informative as a copy of 'Whizzer and Chips' and hacks like Richard Littlejohn get paid obscene amounts of money to sit in a Florida mansion bashing out tired cliches about the death of their "once Great" Britain.

However, the rise of blogs has seen many very talented writers get their chance to get their words out into the world. You can read a couple of them via the sidebar on the top right of this page. As a one time journo who escaped, I can only tip my hat to such people for the effort they put into their articles.

Perhaps my stance on technology is too influenced by watching episodes of 'Star Trek' and playing futuristic games like "Elite 2" as a kid. The latter allowed you access to a whole universe and the freedom to do as you pleased: be a trader, a miner, a pirate, a soldier, a bounty hunter. It made me want to live in the year 3200. Even films like Blade Runner seemed to have a certain cool, despite the bleak setting.

So yes, bring on your jet packs and robot butlers. OK, we might end up being wiped out when the machines rise against us, but you've got the take the rough with the smooth and there will always be one man who'll teach us to break out and smash the robots back to junk. Or not. Still, exciting to wait and see, right?