“The great myth of our times is that technology is communication” said by a very old composer named Libby Larsen. People all over are discussing and trying to distinguish rather technology of our time is beneficial or harmful. In the text “ Our Future Selves” by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen they explain what they propose will happen to the world once it becomes more “connected”. As Schmidt and Cohen illustrate what life will be like in a “connected” world they begin to explain how this connectivity can make our world a better place. Yes, I do believe greater “connectivity” will make the world politically, culturally, socially, and economically a “better” place because the world will be able to share and communicate better increasing efficient …show more content…
According to the myth, technology has advanced and the wild west frontier days have becomes thing of the past Americas today will never have to experience. The myth is that technology is improving and advancing showing Americans how independent and superior they are. In the text Colombo revels and confirms what the myth is when saying “according to Frederick Jackson Turner the wild west frontier had transformed Americans into fiercely independent, freedom-loving individuals who had a “practical, inventive turn of mind” and who were “full of restless nervous energy” (215). As Colombo elucidates this it explained how Americans are greatly affected and influenced by the progress. Colombo states in his text an
author named Nicholas Carr describes the impact of the American cult of technology in the early twentieth century and how technology, not the wild west fueled the myth of progress which made the American dreams in the twentieth century. The myth is true Americans are greatly influenced by the idea of technology progressing. It influences society and the sense of self as people see exhibits, pictures, and museums of what was once the wild west and how far technology has advanced
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Technology as been around for a very long time and it is no surprise that the world is where they are today in technology progression. My expectations about technology and the future is that it will continue to progress and assist people across the world. Technology has become a thing that supports human life from helping with simple tasks to becoming a necessary device. As technology improves the dependence and need for it will increase but the inability to do so much more will decrease. I expect technology to help in ways unimaginable to humans but in reality technology in the future will attempt to assist humans leaving them to depend on it. Technology and the future will always go hand and hand because technology is something that the world is proud of and dependent on. So as time goes by people will always be working hard to improve and progress.
Technology will always continue to advance and doors will begin to open. In the text “Our Future Selves” by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen they discuss as technology advances the positive outcome of connectivity. Greater connectivity will make the wold a better place because it will help the world be more efficient in sharing and discussing ideas and discoveries. Economically the world can find ways to enlarge their businesses and become more efficient to maximize profits. Sharing data is another advantage businesses can
The West is a very big part of American culture, and while the myth of the West is much more enticing than the reality of the west, it is no doubt a very big part of America. We’re constantly growing up playing games surrounded by the West such as cowboys and Indians and we’re watching movies that depict the cowboy to be a romanticized hero who constantly saves dames in saloons and rides off into the sunset. However, the characters of the West weren’t the only things that helped the development of America; many inventions were a part of the development of the West and helped it flourish into a thriving community. Barbed wire, the McCormick reaper and railroads—for example—were a large part of the development in the West—from helping to define claimed land boundaries, agricultural development and competition, and even growth of the West.
The Frontier Thesis has been very influential in people’s understanding of American values, government and culture until fairly recently. Frederick Jackson Turner outlines the frontier thesis in his essay “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”. He argues that expansion of society at the frontier is what explains America’s individuality and ruggedness. Furthermore, he argues that the communitarian values experienced on the frontier carry over to America’s unique perspective on democracy. This idea has been pervasive in studies of American History until fairly recently when it has come under scrutiny for numerous reasons. In his essay “The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature”, William Cronon argues that many scholars, Turner included, fall victim to the false notion that a pristine, untouched wilderness existed before European intervention. Turner’s argument does indeed rely on the idea of pristine wilderness, especially because he fails to notice the serious impact that Native Americans had on the landscape of the Americas before Europeans set foot in America.
According to the thesis of Fredrick Jackson Turner, the frontier changed America. Americans, from the earliest settlement, were always on the frontier, for they were always expanding to the west. It was Manifest Destiny; spreading American culture westward was so apparent and so powerful that it couldn’t be stopped. Turner’s Frontier Theory says that this continuous exposure to the frontier has shaped the American character. The frontier made the American settlers revert back to the primitive, stripping them from their European culture. They then created something brand new; it’s what we know today as the American character. Turner argues that we, as a culture, are a product of the frontier. The uniquely American personality includes such traits as individualism, futuristic, democratic, aggressiveness, inquisitiveness, materialistic, expedite, pragmatic, and optimistic. And perhaps what exemplifies this American personality the most is the story of the Donner Party.
...to Americans: if their prospects in the East were poor, then they could perhaps start over in the West as a farmer, rancher, or even miner. The frontier was also romanticized not only for its various opportunities but also for its greatly diverse landscape, seen in the work of different art schools, like the “Rocky Mountain School” and Hudson River School, and the literature of the Transcendentalists or those celebrating the cowboy. However, for all of this economic possibility and artistic growth, there was political turmoil that arose with the question of slavery in the West as seen with the Compromise of 1850 and Kansas-Nebraska Act. As Frederick Jackson Turner wrote in his paper “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” to the American Historical Association, “the frontier has gone, and with its going has closed the first period of American history.”
“The wilderness masters the colonist. It finds him a European in dress, industries, tools, modes of travel, and thought. It takes him from the railroad car and puts him in the birch canoe. It strips off the garments of civilization and arrays him in the hunting shirt and the moccasin. It puts him in the log cabin.... Before long he has gone to planting Indian corn and plowing with a sharp stick.... In short, at the frontier the environment is at first too strong for the man. He must accept the conditions which it furnishes, or perish, and so . . . little by little he transforms the wilderness, but the outcome is not the old Europe.... The fact is, that here is a new product that is American....”
In cyberspace, Americans are changing their skills and personality traits in order to capitalize on and utilize available resources for personal benefit. This process not only defined how the Frontier became civilized, but it also explained the development of the characteristics of the ideal American. In response to their savage environment, settlers developed certain characteristics that are distinctly American. Because of this, the process of the West can be seen as a social evolution which helped to advance traits that are uniquely American – even in contemporary America.
Over the years, the idea of the western frontier of American history has been unjustly and falsely romanticized by the movie, novel, and television industries. People now believe the west to have been populated by gun-slinging cowboys wearing ten gallon hats who rode off on capricious, idealistic adventures. Not only is this perception of the west far from the truth, but no mention of the atrocities of Indian massacre, avarice, and ill-advised, often deceptive, government programs is even present in the average citizen’s understanding of the frontier. This misunderstanding of the west is epitomized by the statement, “Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis was as real as the myth of the west. The development of the west was, in fact, A Century of Dishonor.” The frontier thesis, which Turner proposed in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition, viewed the frontier as the sole preserver of the American psyche of democracy and republicanism by compelling Americans to conquer and to settle new areas. This thesis gives a somewhat quixotic explanation of expansion, as opposed to Helen Hunt Jackson’s book, A Century of Dishonor, which truly portrays the settlement of the west as a pattern of cruelty and conceit. Thus, the frontier thesis, offered first in The Significance of the Frontier in American History, is, in fact, false, like the myth of the west. Many historians, however, have attempted to debunk the mythology of the west. Specifically, these historians have refuted the common beliefs that cattle ranging was accepted as legal by the government, that the said business was profitable, that cattle herders were completely independent from any outside influence, and that anyone could become a cattle herder.
In Frederick Jackson Turner’s essay “The Significance of the Frontier in American History”, he argues that the existence of the Western frontier of the U.S. played a major role in shaping American culture. Turner reasons that the frontier, the border between civilized society and the wilderness, was a tempting place for pioneers to settle since its unexplored land held opportunities for self-determination. The pioneers tamed the frontier in their efforts to make the land more amenable to them and their farming, leading it to become hospitable enough for more groups of people to settle in the same area. This process eventually transformed previously untamed land into towns and cities, from which more pioneers set out for the new frontier to restart the cycle of settlement.
Based on two stories which we learnt these days: “Harrison Bergeron” and “There will come soft rains”, we can see that in the future, technology affects us a lot. Our life will mainly depend on technology, let us see how this changed us from the stories.
Before the Hollywood western, the myth of the Frontier found its best expression in Frederick Jackson turner’s 1893 lecture, “the significance of the frontier in American History.” Turner argued that the West was responsible for key characteristics of American culture: beliefs in individualism, political democracy, and economic mobility. For 18th and 19th century Americans, the western frontier represented the opportunity to start over, and possibly to strike it rich by dint of one’s own individual effort. In this mythology, the west was a magnet for restless young men who lit out for the uncorrupted, unoccupied, untamed territories to seek their fortune. But in reality, most western settlers went not as individuals but as members of a family
Did you know that many of us think of our future selves as strangers? The reason for this is that many people only focus on the present. Focusing on the present is just as equally important as it is to focus on the future. I personally know a lot of people that fail to realize the importance of preparing for the future. When I came across "Leaders,Meet Your Selves" I felt an immediate connection to the article. Hal Hershfield explains that when a person envisions themselves in the future , it changes their mindset. Hershfield conducted an experiment with undergraduates to determine if they are looking ahead of time. When the undergraduates were shown a digitally aged photo of themselves ,they began to prepare for the future. I did not find
When the world was created, there was no technology but yet man survived (Opara). As time moved on technology began to revolutionize the world. Man kept creating ways to make every life easier for themselves. I don’t see a problem with what man has created but what a man has become of it. I agree with Peace Chinwe Opara when he states in his article, “Technology has been implanted into people's blood. Man cannot do without technology. If technology is taken away, man will die. Imagine this world now without electricity. Do you think man will survive it?” People without technology will go crazy just like a chicken with its head cut off. Once upon a time man relied on their own strength, hard work and ideas to carry on business and complete everyday tasks. I’m not against technology but I can assure you that the direction of modern technology will only bring negative effects to society and the world.
Technology has changed modern society drastically, both positively and negatively. Technology has influenced every aspect of our life, making it simpler but not necessarily better. Albert Einstein was concerned about the advancement of technology. "I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction."1 Undoubtedly, what has changed the most are communication, the spread of information, and how business is practiced. Consequently, practically everyone knows how to use a computer, connect to the Internet, or use a smartphone. This is demonstrated by the way the Internet is used daily by millions of people to communicate, to sell, advertise, retrieve, and share information. Thanks to the Internet, information from anywhere in the world is at our fingertips. As a result, the advancement of technology has changed our life in many ways including; sharing of information, communication, business, education, social interaction, simplifying everyday tasks, replacing basic skills and jobs.
The presence of computers, phones, internet and wireless devices have broadened the web of connectivity by changing long distances to short ones where everyone is equal distance from the other through the present connections. Leaving without technology will be totally impossible as this has become every day’s application as more and more people are gaining knowledge on how to make use of the communication tools to improve their ways of living and staying informed on the current technology to avoid being left behind. New technologies are being developed daily which shows that the industry will continue to grow and expand. People will continue using these technologies to improve their standards and to stay informed
If we compare the present with the past, if we trace events at all epochs to their causes, if we examine the elements of human growth, we find that Nature has raised us to what we are, not by fixed laws, but by provisional expedients, and that the principle which in one age effected the advancement of a nation, in the next age retarded the mental movement, or even destroyed it altogether. War, despotism, slavery, and superstition are now injurious to the progress of Europe, but they were once the agents by which progress was produced. By means of war the animated life was slowly raised upward in the scale, and quadrupeds passed into man. By means of war the human intelligence was brightened, and the affections were made intense; weapons and tools were invented; foreign wives were captured, and the marriages of blood relations were forbidden; prisoners were tamed, and the women set free; prisoners were exchanged, accompanied with presents; thus commerce was established, and thus, by means of war, men were first brought into amicable relations with one another. By war the tribes were dispersed all over the world, and adopted various pursuits according to the conditions by which they were surrounded. By war the tribes were compressed into the nation. It was war which founded the Chinese Empire. It was war which had locked Babylonia, and Egypt, and India. It was war which developed the genius of Greece. It was war which planted the Greek language in Asia, and so rendered possible the spread of Christianity. It was war which united the world in peace from the Cheviot Hills to the Danube and the Euphrates. It was war which saved Europe from the quietude of China. It was war which made Mecca the centre of the East. It was war which united the barons in the Crusades, and which destroyed the feudal system.