In 1969, Zager and Evans released the song In the Year 2525, which warned of the potential dangers of technology. It describes a future where mankind is ultimately destroyed by it’s own innovations. The record sold over 4 million copies and stayed on the #1 position of the Billboard charts for six weeks. I was 14 years old at the time and bought this 45 record after hearing it on the radio for the first time. Between hearing it on the radio and playing my record constantly, I am sure I have heard this song thousands of times. I remember thinking, Is there any way this could actually happen?
Fun Fact: In the Year 2525 was the number one song on the charts at the same time of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
The second verse of this song always haunted me, making me wonder if such a future was really possible: “Ain’t gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lie. Everything you think, do and a say is in the pill you took today”. Whenever I hear this song that verse still feels disturbing. Does “the pill” represent technology? I believe it might. It seems to symbolize how technology will make it difficult for humans to discern truth from lies – possibly even decide this for us. The most troubling aspect is that today we are increasingly unable to distinquish what is real from what is fabricated.
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For nearly 20 years I have traveled many miles with the purpose of caputuring images of random scenes – old buildings, cars, signs, animals, landscapes, roadside attractions, historical sites, mountains, rivers, swamps, deserts, and whatever I happen see. I have thousands of photographs and countless hours of real experiences. But now someone can sit at a computer and have an AI generated image of the same things I have photographed. The key difference? I experienced each scene first hand in person; the AI generated image was created by a person sitting in a chair in front of a computer. So, which is real and which is synthetic?
I took this image during a trip to Yellowstone
This one I generated using AI
THE DIFFERNCE: one of these (first image) I was able to experience and capture the image in person. The other one (second image) I was sitting on my butt in front of computer and as the song says……….“some machine was doing that for you”
The same dilemma applies to other forms of art – painting, poetry, music, and even novels. Today people are using AI to express their affection for other people and to even break up with them. Students are using AI to write research papers and even college enterence essays. Video and voice is used showing people doing and saying things that in real life they would never do. I could go on forever! This raises some important questions: What is real? What is fake, What is genuine? What is synthetic?
Don’t listen to “the pill” because it will deceive you.
In the fourth verse of In the Year 2525, is the most disturbing of all: “Your arms hangin’ limp at your sides. Your legs go nothin’ to do. Some machine in doin’ that for you.”
Hopefully, this is prophecy we can prevent from becoming a reality. We must be cautions not to become so addicted to “the pill” that we stop thinking for ourselves, cease creating authentic art, and withdraw from actively participating in life, relying insead on our computers and technology.
Here is the last verse of this song:
Now it’s been ten thousand years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what, he never knew, now man’s reign is through
But through eternal night, the twinkling of starlight
So very far away, maybe it’s only yesterday
“If it keeps up, man will atrophy all his limbs but the push-button finger.” – Frank Lloyd Wright