Technological Advancement In Henry David Thoreau's Life

For Thoreau, additional technological advancement distracted man from connecting with nature. Although his examples of the newspaper and railroads seem almost laughable now, these were serious concerns for his time. The newspaper was a source of mental clutter, argued Thoreau who claimed, “I never read any memorable accidents in the newspaper” (Walden, 2002). To Thoreau, once one had read about one particular circumstance of accident, whether it is a house fire or murder, that was enough. The newspapers were nothing more than a distracting source of millions of applications of these same principles. The “petty fears and petty pleasures” which are portrayed in the news “are but the shadow of reality” (Walden 2004).

More dangerously in Thoreau’s eyes, was that the gossip of the newspaper spread the ideas of the importance of advancement. The idea of the importance of commerce and the railroad is spread throughout society. He criticizes this by saying that “we are determined to be starved before we are hungry” (Walden, 2002). What he means is that over time, men have developed the idea that commerce and faster travel have become necessary to sustain ourselves. What is being

overlooked, Thoreau argues, is that we are now living too fast. We are focusing on efficiency and our self-image. This advancement is dangerous because it adds clutter to our lives and distracts from the “simplicity, simplicity, simplicity” we get from isolating ourselves in nature (Walden, 2002). Therefore, Thoreau would conclude that we owe it not only to nature, but to ourselves to inhibit technological advancement.
Although he did not lobby for limiting technological advancement, Merton certainly argued for exercising caution.

However, Merton was facing much more serious issues such as the introduction of pesticides (in particular dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, also known as DDT), the space race, and nuclear power. It was Merton’s opinion that humans should exercise what he coined as ecological consciousness (Hubbard, 74). That is that we should examine humanity’s direct relationship with nature, as well as other species’ existence, the extent of natural resources, and the impacts that our current actions will have on future generations. Merton does not want to limit progress, but instead wants to insure the safety of “the rest of the living” as we step forward into a new era (Hubbard,

74).
To Merton, if we are to choose progress, we must do so not because of “careless and stupid exploitation for short-term commercial, military, or technological ends” (Hubbard, 74). This parallels Thoreau’s thinking in that that Thoreau also believed that advancement should not be dictated by perceived societal needs. However, Merton knows that the world will progress, so therefore advocates that we examine our actions to see if they are truly worth taking.
For instance, the usage of DDT is unnecessary and morally wrong. By spreading the insecticide, it had a much broader impact of killing bird, therefore disrupting entire ecosystems. There had been strong advocates of DDT because the drug had served the purpose of eliminating insects that had spread typhus and malaria during World War II. It was a short term, military purpose. The damage that was rendered to the environment when it became widely used in the agricultural industry could have been avoided had humans paused to consider its broader effects on nature and us. At the time that Merton wrote to Barbara Hubbard in 1967, the space race was in effect and posed more moral questions. Merton wished to avoid another DDT-esque disaster by approaching these questions now rather than after humans had discovered that they had made a mistake.
In conclusion, although Merton and Thoreau shared common themes about the importance of solitude and the dangers of human technology to nature, the details of their opinions are differ. Thoreau’s idea of solitude was for independence and self-fulfillment, whereas Merton recognized the need for self-fulfillment, but argued that once fulfilled one should serve their community. When it came to technology, the clutter of advancement would threaten Thoreau’s self-focused sense of solitude that nature provided. Merton would argue that advancement was necessary but dangerous, as it could actually do long lasting harm to the environment as well as humanity. Merton’s advocacy of stewardship differed from Thoreau’s approach, but this was due to the differing circumstances of their lifetime. Nonetheless, their ideas are thought provoking and clearly advance an important conversation about the importance of nature and humanity’s relationship with it.