Moving Backwards: The Future of Technology
in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451
Technological progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.
Aldous Huxley
It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.
Albert Einstein.
In our world today, people have put reading, and books, behind them. They have lost focus on an extremely important learning method. Reading not only helps us to learn vital information, but it also allows us to use our imagination. We have begun to call books words like: outdated, useless, and old school. Most of us look at computers and new technology as the latest way to spend our down time and relax. We are becoming lazy. Our whole lives have become encompassed by the world of quicker, more advanced technology. In Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, he gives the reader a real sense of what our world may be coming to. I believe that if Ray Bradbury saw how my friends and I live our lives and 'how they are revolved around technology' he would not be surprised at all about his findings. He would be very much relieved that his statements and beliefs were solidified in the way that we go about our everyday lives.
Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 is a prime example of what we are headed to. Bradbury’s insane depiction shows a world where firefighters are sent out to start fires instead of putting them out. Books have become outlawed in the whole world. Firefighters go out and burn everyone’s books–even the Bible–and sometimes even arrest them. Our lives relate to this plot way more than we think. It is almost like we are (in a sense) burning our own books. We do this by turning our heads away from the knowledge and fun that reading and books ...
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...od sense for technology over the course of my life, and I believe that it has actually hindered me from doing things that I should. It has kept me from reading and using my creativity as much as I should. All of this new technology keeps us from being an individual. As I look around myself, I almost think that we resemble robots in the way that we are all doing the same things. We are all texting and listening to our iPods, and not paying attention to any of our surroundings. We all go by our day-to-day lives doing the same actions at the same time each day. I believe that if Ray Bradbury looked at the research that I have conducted on myself as well as my peers, he would have that “I told you so” attitude about our world. I am afraid that if we do not change our day-to-day activities, we are going to end up in a world very similar to the one in Fahrenheit 451.
Imagine a society where owning books is illegal, and the penalty for their possession—to watch them combust into ashes. Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, illustrates just such a society. Bradbury wrote his science fiction in 1951 depicting a society of modern age with technology abundant in this day and age—even though such technology was unheard of in his day. Electronics such as headphones, wall-sized television sets, and automatic doors were all a significant part of Bradbury’s description of humanity. Human life styles were also predicted; the book described incredibly fast transportation, people spending countless hours watching television and listening to music, and the minimal interaction people had with one another. Comparing those traits with today’s world, many similarities emerge. Due to handheld devices, communication has transitioned to texting instead of face-to-face conversations. As customary of countless dystopian novels, Fahrenheit 451 conveys numerous correlations between society today and the fictional society within the book.
Have you ever sat at a table surrounded by friends whose eyes were glued to their phones? According to ABC News, kids spend an average of seven and a half hours on technology and only 38 minutes of reading in a day. In Ray Bradbury’s novel, Fahrenheit 451, the society is very similar to ours. Technology has taken over and has made society very closed minded. People are unwilling to remove their eyes from large TV screens to see why things happen, and to notice all the little things in life that make it worth living. Without open-mindedness and curiosity, society would corrupt like in Fahrenheit 451, all because of an overuse of technology. Technology causes society to become a dystopia and once the society is one, there comes a point where you cannot reverse it. Bradbury emphasizes the importance of paying attention to the world and what happens when you become addicted to technology.
Imagine living in a world where you are not in control of your own thoughts. Imagine living in a world in which all the great thinkers of the past have been blurred from existence. Imagine living in a world where life no longer involves beauty, but instead a controlled system that the government is capable of manipulating. In Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, such a world is brought to the awareness of the reader through a description of the impacts of censorship and forced conformity on people living in a futuristic society. In this society, all works of literature have become a symbol of unnecessary controversy and are outlawed. Individuality and thought is outlawed. The human mind is outlawed. All that is left is a senseless society, unaware of their path to self-destruction, knowing only what the government wants them to know. By telling a tale of a world parallel to our own, Bradbury warns us of a future we are on a path to -- a future of mind manipulation, misused technology, ignorance, and hatred. He challenges the reader to remain open-minded by promoting individualism, the appreciation of literature, the defiance of censorship and conformity, and most importantly, change.
The start of the technological revolution was 1975. The first personal computer had just been made available to the public and about ten years later, cellular telephones started to become popular (?). A few people using a cell phone turned into a few dozen people who turned into a few hundred and by 2013, nearly seven billion cellular phones were in use around the world (?). Fahrenheit 451, a dystopian novel written by Ray Bradbury in the 1950s, depicted a future America where the world revolved around technology. Bradbury wrote of a society where intelligence was feared and hated, books were banned, and television controlled most everyone and anything. He was concerned that in the decades to come, the world would be changed by technology
...ety of Fahrenheit 451 have become a reality. As shown by real world examples, Bradbury’s dystopian vision is being revealed in many aspects of our society such as freedom, privacy, and members of authority. If nothing is done to restore our impolitic society, we will lose control of everything valuable to us and ultimately become a Bradburian based society.
(AGG) In Fahrenheit 451, technology controls every single person’s life, the message that Ray Bradbury is trying to convey is that there are many dangers with technology. (BS-1) People who are constantly glued to their devices in a society become zombies over time. (BS-2) People who are separated from technology are more human, they are able to demonstrate the traits of humanity a large difference from the society they live in.(BS-3) People who want to get away from technology can heal over time and develop these traits. (TS) Ray Bradbury’s message in Fahrenheit 451 is that technology is controlling everyone’s lives, it’s turning them into zombies, and only by separating yourself from it can you heal from the damage dealt to your humanity.
Although Fahrenheit 451 held some significance during the time period in which it was written, it warrants much more significance when applied to today’s contemporary society. Indeed, the “present” in which we are living may in fact be the “future” in which Bradbury envisioned in the novel. As the world becomes evermore connected in the “digital age” by mediums such as social media, and as society continues to be increasing its dependency on simply “what’s online,” perhaps our tendency now of quick, short, habitual intakes of information has destroyed our ability to reflect in our truest expression of actual thought. Our obsession of “quick consumerism” to have more physical stuff has, in turn, incapacitated our mental mouth—depriving it of the intellectual stuff that is just as needed. This is what Ray Bradbury argues. This is why he wrote Fahrenheit 451, and this is why the novel still holds incredible significance today.
“Their optimism, their willingness to have trust in a future where civilizations self-destruction comes to a full stop, has to do with their belief in the changed relationship between humans and their world” says Lee (Lee 1). In “As the Constitution Says” by Joseph F. Brown, Brown talks about a NEA experiment that found American’s have been reading less and less and our comprehension skills are dramatically dropping because of this (Brown 4). Bradbury saw little use in the technology being created in his time, he avoided airplanes, driving automobiles, and eBooks. Bradbury did not even allow his book to be sold and read on eBooks until 2011. If one takes away books, then one takes away imagination. If one takes away imagination, then one takes away creativity. If one takes away creativity, then one takes away new ideas for technology and the advancement of the world. People nowadays have lost interest in books because they see it as a waste of time and useless effort, and they are losing their critical thinking, understanding of things around them, and knowledge. Brown says that Bradbury suggests that a world without books is a world without imagination and its ability to find happiness. The people in Fahrenheit 451 are afraid to read books because of the emotions that they
Many of Ray Bradbury’s works are satires on modern society from a traditional, humanistic viewpoint (Bernardo). Technology, as represented in his works, often displays human pride and foolishness (Wolfe). “In all of these stories, technology, backed up by philosophy and commercialism, tries to remove the inconveniences, difficulties, and challenges of being human and, in its effort to improve the human condition, impoverishes its spiritual condition” (Bernardo). Ray Bradbury’s use of technology is common in Fahrenheit 451, “The Veldt,” and The Martian Chronicles.
Technology; the use of science in industry, engineering, etc., to invent useful things or to solve problems. It is amazing how technologies significantly affect human as well as other animal species' ability to control and adapt to their natural environments. It affected us so much we use technology for alternatives uses; Entertainment. However, can it improve the human conditions or worsen it? In the book, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury describes the negative ways of how technology could ruin our lives in alternative ways. Technology could create a lifestyle with too much stimulation that no one would has time to think or concentrate. It can rule us and control our mind, but worse, it can replace humanity. Ray Bradbury overall message/opinion of Fahrenheit 451 is how technology is bad for alternatives ways for people.
People nowadays live on their phone screens with headphones in their ears.People pay more attention to their phones than people themselves.Technology has taken over our lives and has removed the importance of spending time with family and friends.Instead of living with family, we live with technology.Ray Bradbury who wrote Fahrenheit 451 describes it without directly referring to it, he introduces the ideas that people always have headphones in their ears, tv walls, and burning books.which doesn't directly refer to technology being bad, but says it in a symbolic way.Bradbury's depiction and perspective on technology is an accurate depiction of technology and how it influences people’s lives.
Ultimately, in his novel Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury is saying that technology, although wonderful, can be very dangerous. Technology can enhance the productivity of our lives, while reducing the quality.Human interaction is the glue that holds society together, and technology simply cannot be a substitute.
Throughout the book, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, dependency on technology becomes a relevant topic. In the novel, Bradbury depicts that people are obsessed with their technology and have become almost completely dependent on it. Characters such as Mildred exist in today’s modern world and show a perfect example of how society behaves. In today’s society, people use their technology for just about everything: from auto correct to automatic parallel parking; as time goes by people do less manually and let their appliances do the work.
With all this technology they are just letting their life get controlled and brainwashed.Over all, Bradbury did a nice explaining how technology affects relationships in the society of Fahrenheit 451. Technology at the same time could be good in the novel but Bradbury makes it look like it’s more serious and dangerous. Most of the people in this society are getting distracted by all this technology which most of the time this technology doesn’t bring anything good. People in this society should start getting away from technology because it’s not doing them any good, and if they don’t do anything for themselves the problem of being addicted/controlled by technology well get worse. They should do something about this technology that’s taking over their lives before it’s too late! Bradbury uses a lot of technology that’s used in Fahrenheit 451 with the technology that we use today.For example, seashells are earbuds, and the tv parlours today are just “ 50” flat screens and theater
I don't know what the future holds but I know who holds the future. Days go by and how time flies, seasons always changing. When we contemplate the future we envision mind-warping technology and global warming destroying the Earth. Change is inevitable but it's up to our supremacy what we and our planet Earth change into. Will we help or hinder our future survival? One sentence from America's Declaration of Independence has some relevance to this matter. 'But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security'. In other words if something is wrong, those that have the ability to take action, have the responsibility to take action.