{"id":314,"date":"2013-12-16T19:00:33","date_gmt":"2013-12-17T00:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.larryallenonline.com\/?p=314"},"modified":"2013-12-28T21:16:43","modified_gmt":"2013-12-29T02:16:43","slug":"the-human-side","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.larryallenonline.com\/?p=314","title":{"rendered":"The Human Side"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The idea that technology dehumanizes is a theme that seems to rear its ugly head from time to time. So it\u2019s refreshing to see a case where the reverse is so obviously true. The video below has been making the rounds for the last several months, and with good reason \u2013 it\u2019s a real tear-jerker. Yeah, it\u2019s just an advertisement. And I\u2019m sure that some people who look at it will see it as yet of another case of Microsoft (Skype\u2019s parent company) exploiting two young people for their own gain. But judging by the two million plus views on YouTube, that\u2019s not the majority opinion.<\/p>\n<p>Judge for yourself:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5nRKyQ11494?rel=0\" height=\"273\" width=\"484\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>One of the many things we take for granted today is ubiquitous, essentially free, communication. Fifty years ago, Paige and Sarah most likely would have never known about each other. Twenty years ago, they surely would never have cultivated the friendship they now share. Perhaps they would have become pen pals. Or maybe not. But even a techno-cynic like me can\u2019t deny the intimacy that even a short video chat brings. And when I reflect on that, I\u2019m pleased that beyond the semiconductors, protocol stacks, IP packets, and megahertz, something is created that\u2019s greater than the sum of its parts.<\/p>\n<p>And if I\u2019m so moved by all this, I can\u2019t even begin to imagine how the techies at Skype must feel.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The idea that technology dehumanizes is a theme that seems to rear its ugly head from time to time. So it\u2019s refreshing to see a case where the reverse is so obviously true. The video below has been making the rounds for the last several months, and with good reason \u2013 it\u2019s a real tear-jerker. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8,6,16],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryallenonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryallenonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryallenonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryallenonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryallenonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=314"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryallenonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryallenonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314\/revisions\/329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.larryallenonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryallenonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.larryallenonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}