Is Apple a Social Reflection of the Final Days of Rome?

One of the themes I’ve been writing in this blog is the purpose of innovation/technology. Moreover, I’ve posited that innovation endeavor is intertwined with economic and social development, making the balanced policy undertaking more crucial.

The following article rhymes the themes of my blog to a certain degree.

From Sovereign Man:

It didn’t seem to matter much. Romans were convinced that the gods favored them, and that it was their natural place in the global pecking order to be the world’s dominant superpower.

The games continued, and Romans were too preoccupied watching gladiators and chariot races to notice that, like boiling frogs, they were being slowly heated by their imperial leadership.

I was thinking about this history recently while browsing some financial headlines like “Apple stock heading to $500″ and “This will be Apple’s Decade” and “Steve Jobs- Messiah.”

Apple is certainly an innovative company, and Steve Jobs is a media and technology visionary… but since dropping the “Computer” from its name in 2007, Apple Inc.’s primary focus is designing devices that facilitate the consumption of mindless and distracting media drivel.

Sure, iPhones and iPads are nice things, but with so many analysts expecting the stock to keep soaring, what does it say about our society that this may soon become the most valuable company in the world?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not opposed to the company or any of the consumer devices that it develops… it just seems to me that, given all the problems in the world, there are more pressing matters than camping out for 3-days to get the latest iPad release.

Like the Romans, our currencies are being debased and our governments are bankrupt. Economies are stalling, North Korea is saber-rattling again, worldwide governments are stamping out privacy and transparency, and a global food and water crisis is looming.

And, like the Romans, most people seem too preoccupied to either care much or make the necessary preparations to ride out the storm.

Technology is really a wonderful thing; I think that it will be newly developed technologies that ultimately pull humanity out of the mess that we’ve created for ourselves.

We live in rather interesting times, though; the technology sector’s engineering brilliance goes where demand and financial incentives are the greatest… and for now, that seems to be designing devices that can mimic flatulence or geolocate the nearest pizzeria.

This will change eventually as the problems worsen and society’s priorities shift… but for now, I think that Apple’s soaring profits and society’s evangelical devotion to its products may be a social reflection of the final days of Rome.

http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/a-clear-indication-of-the-decline/