Technology tantrums

Here is an interesting piece of debate, or rather, exchange of thoughts, that took place between me and my friend over mail today. Although there was no formal topic of discussion, it all started over a chain mail on the 11th birthday of Java, leading to the following conversation:

Him:

How long do you think one can keep performing acrobatic stunts with technology to feed one's ego and still remain happy about it?
Yesterday it was C, C++, Linux. Now it is Java, embedded Linux. Tomorrow it could be AI and then something else.
When do you think you can be content?
When will this stop?

Don't you think business, society is where the technology should reside?
Don't you thing technology should grow with the world's needs?
Don't you think it shouldn't happen the other way round?
Don't you think it happens both ways?
Ain't it a vicious circle?

Will this stop?
Can you answer me?

Me:

I don't know exactly what you are trying to say...
Are you pointing out that technology is so overwhelming that we cannot digest everything?
Are you trying to say that technology is controlling us rather than we controlling it?
Are you saying that you are not able to keep pace with technology?

I feel one's obsession with technology has got to do with having fun rather than satisfying one's ego. It is up to each individual to decide whether he or she wants to embrace a technology or trash it for good... Dissent in the society is good; it leads to evolution, in Darwin's sense, survival of the fittest... The same holds good in the case of technology. This should never stop, if society is to progress...

It is society that evolves technology, not the other way round... Society evolves due to differences... If you are not content with something and don't like how it works, you change it. For the better...

I feel tempted to mention what Linus writes in his autobiography "Just for Fun": everything goes through a cycle of being purely for survival, then it becomes something of a social thing, and then it becomes just entertainment. I like his way of thinking. If you get your hands on his book, just read the preface "The Meaning of Life" and the end note "The Meaning of Life II".

Believe me, it's worth it...