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| Yes | 77% | 532 votes | Total: 695 votes | |
| No | 23% | 163 votes |
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Add to FavoritesTechnology has transformed everything we do today and I think it is safe to say that many science fiction authors who predicted the state we find ourselves in were correct. We are completely controlled by technology. Is this a good thing? In my opinion, no.
This is worrisome for a few reasons. While technology makes things a lot easier and faster it also makes people lazy and helpless. We lose knowledge of certain arts, crafts and skills as technology progresses and takes over. Long ago it used to be that the blacksmiths of Asia could create sword blades of unparalleled beauty and strength. That knowledge over time was lost to the world and other skills are slowly dying off because of the unchecked progression of technology. It also makes old skill sets obsolete. But when this same technology that controls everything in society breaks down people are left helpless and wondering what to do. They can no longer rely on people who know the older crafts because they've disappeared and they can't do anything themselves without technology so what are we left with? A society of helpless people.
It used to be that the tellers at the bank could still make transactions with you regardless of whether or not some machine in the bank broke down but now that the systems banks use today are completely computerized, if the computers aren't working properly you can't deposit, withdraw or do anything until the system is fixed. So everyone is forced to stand around and wait. Granted, this doesn't happen very often but it very frustrating not being able to do your banking when you need to.
Another development of this technology takeover is computerized cars. All cars made today are computerized. The regular mechanic up the street can't fix the modern car today unless he has special training. If you drive an older car you can still find a mechanic to fix it but what happens when mechanics without experience on older cars no longer exist? What if you prefer to drive older cars? Are you out of luck? Probably.
When you go to the store to buy groceries many stores offer you a rewards or savings card which helps you save money but the downside is that every thing you purchase is being tracked and recorded. Your name, address and other information is being sold to other companies who can see what you've purchased and they use this information to market other products to you through mail and online and this information can be used for other purposes as well. They can look at what products you purchase and report to employers, insurance companies, etc. and these other companies can make decisions about whether to raise your insurance rates or whether to hire or fire you because of this information. Sinister indeed. Lest you think that this will never happen, there have been many things that people thought would never happen years ago that are mundane realities today.
It robs us of our ability to be self sufficient and independent. It robs us of the ability of working with our hands and it robs us of our privacy. I'm not against technology. It does a lot of good things but it would be nice to see some balance. I don't see any good coming out of the situation we are in right now with everything being controlled by a computerized machine or computer. It may seem odd now to even think it but perhaps the world of The Matrix isn't so far fetched - a world when machines become independent and can think for themselves. If such a thing happened we would truly be at the mercy of our own creation.
After all, the world we live in now seemed like only a dream to those who lived in the early 20th century or the late 19th century. Using electricity, computers that connected everyone through the internet, using powerful telescopes to peer into the universe, going to the moon, sending probes to Mars and the outer planets, living in space stations, using nuclear weapons, replacing organs and limbs, gene therapy, flying in airplanes, traveling in bullet trains. All of that seemed like wild speculation and science fiction at one time, but it's what we do today. Unfortunately, instead of the progressive, rosy and optimistic technology future we had before World War I, our technology controlled future is looking more Orwellian and bleak with each passing decade.
Learn more about this author, Victoria Jeffrey.
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No
No, often when people think about technology they are thinking about computers, and how society has changed under the influence of computer technology. In that sense computers have enhanced preexisting technology, but haven't replaced technology at all. Automobiles are enhanced through computers, and are more responsive and safer because of them, but still use mechanical parts. PCs still need fans to cool them down, though the thermostat that determines when that fan turns on and is used still has to use analogy technology at some point. Washing machines are more sophisticated, and have touch buttons and no analog knobs or switches, but the process of agitating the clothing is still using technology from about a hundred years ago.
Technology is an outgrowth of the needs of modern society, at any point throughout the course of history. Civilizations in Europe, Asia and Africa found innovative ways to automate and enhance autonomy in ways that we still do not fully understand or can comprehend. If we were to annihilate ourselves through nuclear war, chemical weapons or any other means, we would still find ways to rebuild all over again, and worse yet, find even more innovative ways to kill and destroy in the future.
We are not anymore a slave technology now than we may have been thousands of years ago. Societies are connected, and more information is being shared and you can formulate such an argument around that; as data warehouses in various companies around the world still contain valuable information that can be used for the prosperity and wealth of society, to enrich it and make our lives easier, or through Darwinian, dystopian means in which the only power that exists is through access to knowledge. We have an overload of information, and it is increasingly harder to focus on any one thing because of the many diversions we have; mp3, mp4, avi, jpg and other file storage formats are used merely to store music, video, sound, all of which is broken down to data through digital means but none of which in and of itself is actually information.
Society has had to learn how to retrain itself to think about multimedia and information that was once difficult to access, as the flood gates have been released and anyone with an Internet connection and a Wi-Fi hotspot can get whatever they want for free, it seems. The Internet has went from a novelty hobbyists might pay $5 a minute to access to something that is free on notebooks, and now routes telephone calls and cable television. Text messages can be sent to anyone for pennies, and there is no rational reason why anyone would be left out of the new Golden Age of information.
Society is not controlled by technology; man attempts to use technology as a shortcut to controlling the masses, it would seem. Yet how significant of an argument is this, how much can this argument really be proven to be correct if not for the differing opinions on how technology is to be used. Innovations in information technology were always used for certain purposes long before computing technology was even thought of, since the beginning of time. Every modern society is built upon a government that in entrusted to do just that, in order to free the people from having to deal with certain responsibilities of governing themselves, the only conflict being when the interests of the two are at odds. Technology will always be with us, no matter what happens, but we still have an ethical responsibility to use it properly, regardless of what happens ...
Learn more about this author, Christopher Kendalls.
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