Isn't That The Way They Say It Goes?

"Operator, can you help me with this call?"  There's a phrase right out of a lexicon of the past!  Not only are there no operator assisted calls, but there aren't many operators.  Today communication is all a "twitter" with instant messaging, emails, texting.  The human voice is bound to become a victim of natural selection, the "use it or lose it" evolution. 

No longer will we be wooed by a sweet voice at our ear, but rather the rapid clicking of a keypad.  Humans will become creatures with extended thumbs and index fingers.  Actually, we've seen this before.  Oh, yes, the hands and feet of the great apes!  Are we then "devolving?" 

The apes seen on National Geographic verbalize with one another.  They observe one another so carefully that they pick nits, and smoothe the appearance of one another.  If humans were to do that, they would have to set down their iPhones, Blackberries, or cellphones.  Furthermore, the stars of National Geographic, are always on the lookout for a mate, tracking their children, searching for and sharing food, watching for danger. I recently learned that Oranutangs are models of sharing.  They give away half of anything they find to eat.   By comparison, humans have developed to the point that they can text while driving or walking down a sidewalk, somehow with the full understanding that it is everyone else's responsibility to clear their way.  When it comes to health care or food, well, "survival of the richest" overrides any natural instinct to preserve the species.

Technology offers instantaneous communication as abbreviations, a sort of techie shorthand, all on a hand sized, hand-held keypad.  Every advance we make, takes something away in the name of progress.  Soon we will be incredulous when the "old folk" talk about the days when a man appreciated a great pair of women's legs, or breasts.  Men were worshiped for their broad shoulders and chisled chests.  The youngsters will giggle and ask, "But how could they text with those?" Those extended thumbs will be the new "turn-ons." We are approaching the point where to remember what it was like to be human in the "old days" we will have to watch National Geographic.  By observing the behavior of the great apes, perhaps we will see what used to be so great about being human.