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overview of history of science and technology
the role of technology in society
the role of technology in society
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Technology is a tool created by the human race to enhance its ability to learn and grow as a collective group. Humans taper these tools, created through technological process, to their uniquely specific needs. Technology, when used in a morally sound way, can have immense benefits that help a culture grow and develop effectively as demonstrated by the society in Aldous Huxley’s novel Brave New World; however technology can be a double edged sword in the sense that it has the power to destroy as demonstrated in Arthur C. Clarke’s novel 2001 A Space Odyssey. When this is coupled with its own unreliability, technology can be a challenge for those who seek to control and master its enigmas. Technology does not have the ability to choose right from wrong; it is up to the beholder of this technology to make a proper moral decision.
Technology is used by its creator, the human race, to help it achieve a desired outcome of events or circumstances. Technology cannot pick and choose what it will and will not do; its actions are dictated by the controller of this technology, a puppet- master of sorts. In the novel 2001 A Space Odyssey, the people of the ancient world use technology to help them survive on the Open Savannah where there is little to eat if you cannot hunt the numerous beasts that roam the region, “With these weapons, the limitless food that roamed the savannahs was theirs to take,” (Arthur C. Clark p 23). When the ancestors of civilization discovered that simple sticks and stones could be used as weapons to hunt the many animals that walked among them every day, they took a step forward into a new age of discovery and learning. Now that their food supply was secure they were able to think about other mysteries that still ...
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... has the potential to destroy a civilization at the peak of its success or create a new one from the ground up. Without proper direction given by the controllers of technology, things can quickly spiral down in a direction that does not benefit anyone. In Brave New World, technology was used to create a utopia where people prospered but in 2001 A Space Odyssey, technology nearly brought on a nuclear holocaust. Technology does not take sides in a fight, it is merely a tool used by man to better himself and those around him. Technology is not corrupt or immaculate; its role is determined by its user, the human race.
Works Cited
Clarke C. Arthur, 2001 A Space Odyssey, New York, Roc, 1968.
Huxley Aldous, Brave New World, Great Britton, Chatto & Windus 1932.
In today's world, technology is constantly changing from a new paperclip to an improvement in hospital machinery. Technology lets people improve the way they live so that they can preserve their own personal energy and focus on the really important factors in life. Some people focus their energy on making new innovations to improve transportation and the health of people that may save lives and some people focus on making new designs of packaging CDS. Technology is significant in everyone's life because it rapidly changes what is in the market. But, some new innovations of technology are ridiculous because they serve no purpose in helping mankind.
As stated in the beginning of this essay, the downfall of humanity is held within its ingenuity, its creativity, and its innovability, to bring to light the threat that technology can impose if use for the worst reasons, and if humanity keeps using it to destroy other humans, its salvation will be sealed away from reach along with any hope of mankind surviving for the years to
Aldous Huxley once said, “Technological Progress has merely provided us with more efficient means for going backwards.” Huxley, a philosopher and novelist, wrote this quote over forty years ago and yet it still resonates with the role technology plays today. The growth of technology has contributed to mankind's social demise making it ultimately harmful to all humankind. Begone are the days one would perform simple tasks without the aid of technology, our reliance on technology has grown so much that it is taking away jobs from real humans and ruining the way of life with simulations and indoor activities. The constant advancements in technology have weakened our society tremendously by making people co-dependent on technology through social
Technology can be a good thing when used responsibly but as too often experienced, most of the time, technology will result in consequences that outweigh the benefits. Technology all over the world can be linked to advancement in society and even more so in developing nations. Yet society on a microscopic scale can lead to the thought that technology is taking over people’s lives and that without it, people revert back to simplistic and helpless ways of life, not knowing what to do. This provides a belief that may lead one to believe that technology is not an entirely beneficial tool and must be reduced, so that society can learn to function without it. Aldous Huxley writes “Brave New World”, dystopian novel in 1932. This novel that is known to show the downfall of society correlates with both the World Wars, the emergence of Nazi Germany and even the early onset of socialism and chinese communism. All of which include control of society and creating that “perfect” society. Yet as history has shown countless times, these attempts of creating that utopian world never ceases to fail. Human nature is too greedy in its essence and
Societal changes stem from many forces including economic and cultural. From some theorists perspective that technology is neutral, technology would not become an important force-- it would act as a tool to advance already existing attitudes. On the contrary, technology is not neutral, the mere existence influences the everyday life of people in society. Technology cannot be described as an empty item controlled with specific intentions of the user; rather, technology can persuade and manipulate the actions of people both positively and negativity. Some perceive technology as the force behind a narrow focus of enhancement that disregards anything it has undone-- old world morals and meaning. Others convey the importance of technology through
Technology itself is a rapid growing entity in our society. This direct relationship between modern civilization and the uninterrupted goal for advancement has become prevalent in our fast paced lives. As an outcome, this dependability for progression has begun to form a foreboding idea of a futuristic doom’s day. There are multiple individuals that view this devastating future may perhaps be brought on by our own machines. Specifically, these thoughts of an approaching techno future based disaster have led to multiple articles evaluating these notions. In particular the articles titled, “Why the Future Doesn’t Need us” by Bill Joy, “A Response to Bill Joy and the Doom-and-Gloom Technofuturists” by John Seely Brown and Paul Diguid, and “Promise and Peril” by Ray Kurzweil; all four authors take a stand on what their views are on how technology will affect the future. In the article Bill Joy’s, he takes a view that technology itself will be the cause of the future down fall of the entire human race. On the contrary, the article by John Seely Brown’s and Paul Duguid’s, the two authors take an utterly conflicting position against Bill Joy’s thoughts. They view Joy’s outlook as being an exaggerated view of only the negative side of technology that shadows the benefits that are currently present. Finally, the third article by Ray Kurzweil, takes more of a neutral stance between the first two articles, showing how there are both an optimistic and a deleterious side that is associated with technology. Each of these articles positions make an important contribution to our understanding of technology but after contemplation of the three mentioned articles, I have come to a decision that technology with its positive and negative sides will c...
The term technology has more than one meaning. If you look at the world twenty years ago, technological advances were meager concepts. Today, all of these concepts are become reality. When a country depends on technology to survive, there may be a problem that could be devastating if it is not dealt with.
IP “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity” (Albert Einstein Quote). Technology has driven us apart sense it has become a part of human lifestyle. When early humans created spears, they no longer needed crowds of people to hunt. When newspapers entered the world, people read the newspapers instead of interacting with people around them. Even today the screens we look at draw us apart from one another. Technology is fantastic, every passing day things become easier, faster, and smarter than it was the day before allowing immense amounts of problem solving. However, technology is creating a better world at humans’ expense.
W. Brian Arthur’s, The Nature of Technology, explains how technology is transformative and answers the unanswered questions about technology’s evolution. Arthur’s discusses about technology transforming the world throughout the years. He takes the readers through a journey on how technology is evolving. He makes a comparison on technology, questioning if technology evolves just like biological life. He brings up the subject of technology and science joining these two topics to come up with the answers. In the Nature of Technology, Arthur discusses the theories of technology and development that helps to construct society.
Technology in all of its forms, and in recent times with its rapid improvement and advancement, seems to push itself upon us and our culture, and the same can be said for the rest of the world. Cultures that have never been exposed to technology are now using it in small forms, or have adapted to it quite fondly. These cultures realize the supposed importance of technology in their lives, or may enjoy the simplicity of a new tool that frees up spare time and can get objectives accomplished faster and possibly in a better way than previous endeavors.
There is no escape from technology. In most cases this is not a problem though. Many people respect and admire technology because it is there to benefit them. Without the technological advances we have had over the years, the world would not be what it is today. What people don’t understand is that technology can actually be a bad thing. In society today, people are looking for more and more ways to be entertained, and all it is doing is causing problems. People are doing less and less thinking and more and more watching, listening, and playing, all because of technology.
The standard 21 year old adults have exchanged 250 thousand emails, spent 5 thousand hours video gaming and 10 thousand hours using their mobile devices (Lei, 2009). When people hear the word technology, they think of microwaves, televisions, cars, NASA, different types and transportation and more. For all that, technology has occurred long ahead these discoveries. Technology is an arguable matter amongst people. .In the old days, people lived an extremely simple life without technology. They used candles to light their houses and lanterns at the dark to travel, they used fire to cook and used newspapers and mail to share news. On the other hand, technology has seized an important place in our society. People are living in a stage of progressive technology. They are using all natural reserves applicable for making their lives better and easier. The society cannot picture life without electricity since it allows them to live through their everyday life. This paper argues that technology positively impacts people’s lives.
Technology is supposed to be seen as such an advancement and great accomplishment. What others may not always know is sometimes it isn’t all fun and games, it could be dangerous. As seen when we created the atomic bomb and guns, their only purpose is to destroy and cause pain to others. Although they are not always in use they are a constant threat to our well being. We need to take into consideration the positives and the negatives of the technology we create now in present day. Many people change their position on this overarching question: What responsibility do people have when developing new technology? In the texts “Frankenstein” by Mary Shelley, “the Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, and “De-Extinction” answers the questions that it may impose. Each of these texts share one same belief: Society holds
Technology – as defined by the US National Academy of Science (cited in Jones 1996, p.17) –
Technology is one of life’s most impressive and incredible phenomena’s. The main reason being the shockingly high degree to which our society uses technology in our everyday lives. It occupies every single realm, affecting people both positively and negatively. There are so many different forms of technology but the two most often used are cell phones, and the internet/computers in general. Today’s younger generation was raised alongside technological development. Kids now a days learn how to operate computers and cell phones at a very early age, whether it be through their own technological possessions, a friend’s, or their parents. They grow up knowing how easily accessible technology is, and the endless amount of ways in which it can be used. This paper will be largely focused on the effects of technology on the younger generation because your childhood is when these effects have the largest impact. I am very aware of the subject because I am the younger generation. Aside from major effects on study and communication skills, there also exist the media’s effects on teen’s self-esteem and mental health. Maybe more importantly, there is our world’s growing problem of over priced and unnecessary consumerism. Over time, our society has created a very unhealthy form of reliance and dependency on technology as a whole. People essentially live through their devices. Cell phones are always with people making it nearly impossible to not be able to reach someone at anytime, day or night. In 2011, there were 2.4 trillion text messages sent, and 28,641 cell phone towers were added across the US. 1 We use our phones and Internet for directions, communication, information, self-diagnosis, games, movies, music, schoolwork, work, photos, shoppi...