Metaphor for Caution
Perhaps the least subtle and most overt metaphor is the book itself. Although there have been other voices and personalities that call for caution and a careful evaluation of new forms of media and the technology used to propagate information, the one that speaks with the loudest voice and the most sense of urgency is the author himself through the book he has written. Having said that, one may treat the very book itself as a meta-referential metaphor for caution.
Metaphor for Ambition
Humanity's desire to free itself from the more mundane and/or more complex, more tedious tasks has led to the development of Artificial Intelligence: machines designed to replicate certain functions of the human mind. A.I.’s are the digital age’s slave race, intended to free humanity so that they can pursue self-realization. Over time these machines have become more and more complex and have been able to do so much more that previously thought possible and still humanity continues to push the boundary of that can be accomplished through these constructs. As such A.I.’s, more than any other piece of technology developed by man, have become a metaphor for humanity’s ambition.
Metaphor for Greed
Taylor’s systems of efficiency have allowed many companies to effectively double their production and meet the immense market demand for a number of products. All this efficiency and speed though have come at a steep price, namely human dignity and human happiness. These systems were not created to maximize speed and volume of production resulting in workers attending to tedious, boring tasks to churn out work at ridiculous rates using quality measures that all but removed the dignity of labor. On the surface, the desired outcome was to respond to a growing market demand, but if one carefully peels away at the clever arguments the core desire is really increased profitability for the business owners and a coldhearted disregard for the souls laboring away to make the profits happen. The systems of efficiency can be seen as a metaphor for greed.
Metaphor for Change
The development of a system of writing was in the very truest sense of the word, a game changer. Whereas traditions and histories were preserved and passed on through songs and stories with the development of written language one could now store hundreds of stories, more than any human memory could hold. All that and all without the danger of alteration or omission of any critical iota of data. Because of the widespread changes it has made upon human history the development of writing can be regarded as a metaphor for change.
Metaphor for Human Development
Development of Computational Devices can be seen as a metaphor for human development. Over the years human society has changed in ways both profound and mundane and the devices that people have created have kept up with these developments. These technological developments have kept in pace with humanity, ensuring that for every developmental milestone that is achieved there is a computational device that rises to address the challenges that are arise. Having that in mind, one may regard the development of computational devices as a metaphor for human development.
