No matter how many times I see this on AFV, it still makes me howl every time.

That's one good dog!

Mr Silverberg makes his key point here:

"In this way it’s hard not to read Block’s argument as an attempt to build some kind of border fence around human experience as a means of fending off the dangerous technologies which threaten to destroy our supposedly idyllic lives"

The point isn't that problems don't exist; the point is that calling technology (a ubiquitous part of modern life) the *cause* of the problem is at best inaccurate, and at worst, an act of complete denial. Block describes a symptom and wants to treat it as a disease.

By focusing on the symptom, we ignore underlying motivations. We point a finger to the glowing screen and say, there, that made my friend into a miserable, lonely person. This is *exactly* like saying alcohol is the cause of alcoholism. Alcohol abuse is a *symptom*, not a cause. Alcoholism is a deadly addiction, but the alcohol itself isn't a disease, it's simple a chemical to which our bodies are very sensitive.

The difference is that alcohol, or heroin, or cigarettes, have a physical dependancy factor, where the other things we're transplanted the word 'addiction' onto do not. Can people have a problem with, say gambling? Sure. Is it addiction? Absolutely not.

This topic is much the same as the now-popular "sex addiction" notion; again, taking a normal, healthy, almost universal part of the human experience and intentionally distancing it; making too much of it a bad, dangerous thing. Again, the problem had nothing to do with sex itself; it's a symptom of under-lying personality or psychological issues. Are there people who manifest personality disorders sexually? Absolutely; but sex isn't the problem, any more than food is the problem with a morbidly obese person.

We're too quick to label the symptom as the disease; it's easy to isolate cause to an external factor, so we like to point that finger outside. But said pointing finger puts the focus in the wrong place and avoids dialog about the real causes and real issues.

THAT is why I'm a big fan of the utilikilts company. I mean, sure, they make a brilliant product (one I own many of and wear proudly), but that's the product; I love *the company* because they do what they do with that sort sense of humor.

Actually it looks more like the excreta of a sea cucumber!