It's Been Good... And Not Good!

---

The world has come far with regard to civilization, and as things unfold, we’ll only keep going further. Right from the time of the cavemen, humanity has witnessed stages of evolution, and even today, we’re still evolving.

So many of the things we used to do before are no longer, and for the thing we still do, we developed a better way of doing it. Not too long ago, I learned that the chainsaw wasn’t invented for cutting trees, but for medical surgeries to aid childbirth. Most especially for CS deliveries. It’s a gory tale, so I’m not going into all that. I’m just trying to point out how far chainsaws and surgeries have come. That’s evolution for you!

The change or growth is all around us, our mindset, our beliefs, our cultures, everything evolved. As we keep meeting new people and learning their cultures, it influences ours and that’s how the change comes. Over time, we just realize that we no longer do the things we used to do, or we’re suddenly doing it way better than we used to.

And for me, one of the highlights of civilization is our access to information. Thanks to the digital age, the world seemed to shrink in size and we have information at our fingertips. Without leaving your country, you can learn everything there is to know about an entirely different country. You can know their way of life, the kind of food they eat and any other thing you want. If you’re so inclined, you might even learn their language. Without having to step foot in their country! That’s how crazy it is.

In the past, if you wanted to learn about somewhere, you had to go there. And most of the time, there weren’t a lot of written texts and you had to rely on word of mouth, which changed a bit with every telling. Things have changed so much now.

There’s just so much you can learn. With a few clicks, you can go online to learn how to drive a car, you can learn how to troubleshoot your device, and you can know what happened in some other state. In this day and age, our access to information and data has helped us to keep up with the rest of the world. We learn about more and more people and once in a while, we could take a leaf or two from their books and apply it in our lives. That’s how cultures evolve and all.

And sadly though, this easy access to information also seems to be the problem we face. It just seems that the more we learn, the more terrible we get. Technology doesn’t care about intentions or the greater good, it only does what it’s used for. Deep down, we’re still the same humans that used to suffer before technology became mainstream, only that now we’re handling it better.

People have always killed each other, now we do it better. You can wipe out an entire country with the push of a button, from the safety of your own country so far away that you won’t even feel the force of the blast. People have always healed the sick, we do it better now, thereby raising our life expectancy.

The access to information is not selective of the information, it displays all kinds of information. Both the ones that’ll get us in trouble and the kind that’ll most likely damn our souls to hell. Everyone uses the internet to pass on their message, and in their own minds, they’re correct and the voice of reason. So, they put out their content and hope it can win converts.

This doesn’t really work well because just about anyone can come up and put up something. I can come here and claim that I’m a surgeon, and that’s all you’ll have to go with. Nothing else to prove I am, except my word. I could provide a certificate but that can easily be faked. I could go to Chat GPT to draft a pretty sophisticated essay on some pretty sophisticated topic that’ll be sure to blow your mind. Once I get you to believe that I’m indeed a doctor, my job is done. You’ll start coming to me for whatever ails you, and I’ll make you pay dearly for it.

You see, we’ve always had quacks, but even in the past, the quacks knew a thing or two about whatever they were pretending to be. Now, you don’t have to know jack! Someone can work as a sales rep at a pharmacy down the street for six months, then because he has ten followers on Instagram, he suddenly decides that he knows all about the human anatomy. Or a lady who learned how to make soap decided that she would do better making a skin care product.

When you come to the online space, everyone is a professional but no evidence! As you’re working with them, you’ll follow it up with a sprinkling of Hope and a Hail Mary. You can never really know if you’re working with the real deal and the only way to know for sure is after the fact, when what you ordered for turns out not to be what you got. By then, it just might be too late.

It’s a scary world we live in, and as the world goes digital, we just have to be careful. Everyone is out to get you, never forget that! That little amount of money you’ve got, everyone wants to take it from you! By hook or by crook, so no matter what you do, be vigilant! It’s so easy to get scammed, and being careful will not always save you. But still, be vigilant. Take proactive steps to make sure that you’re not a regular customer of these bloodsuckers.

Information is key. But that key is useless until you have the right lock.

---

_{Thank you for reading. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below, I would love to know what you’re thinking. Till we meet in the next post.}

---

_{This post is inspired by the second topic of the week which is Pros And Cons Of Civilization. Feel free to try it out.}

---

_{N.B: All images are mine.}

---