The Impact of Technology on Society - Research Paper Example

June 27, Modern technology is an essential of part virtually every aspect of human life and it is more glaring when juxtaposed with what was in retrospect. Humans have, created, developed and invented new knowledge over the years; much of this has been used to make phenomenal changes in various aspects of life. Technology is a dominant part of how humanity works, fights its wars, both local and international, in medicine, education transport and communication and virtually every activity humans engage in involves technology of some kind. It is essential to note that there had never been a time when humans were utterly without technology, if deconstructed, the definition of technology can be narrowed down to the use of tools and information to make life easier. Thus, even the microlithic flint tools used by the early man was just as much technological advanced as robots may be in a few centuries to modern man, that is, allowing for the chronological differentiation. This paper will seek to establish impacts of technology on humanity through discussing some of the effects, and some negative effects. If technology needed a face, communication would be the most suitable since it is one thing all human beings have in common. In addition, it has been the main beneficiary of the technological development, which has taken place over time. The most significant aspect of this is evident in the new means by which communication occurs, in the past communicating with someone in a different town would take weeks as one waited for the postman. This has been drastically changed with mobile telephony, internet and other wireless means of communication, since through video conferencing one can easily hold a face-to-face meeting with someone in different continents. Through social networking, people can keep constantly in touch with events all over the world with, and news can be accessed through PDAs at the touch of a button. In the past, many of these gadgets were seen as status symbols, however, presently they are seen as status symbols, but considered necessities (Arthur & Fox 1) People are able to download music, and watch movies and TV shows online. This improves the use of leisure time and youths thus engaged are unlikely to engage in vices such as crime and drug use. This way, technology is its own vehicle since, through it; information can be communicated and shared rapidly. Humans today are privy to more information that any time in the past when governments and the church would control what one could know or not. The internet does not recognize e political boundaries and this way there is a free flow of information. Evidences of this can be found in the recent uprisings in Egypt and Libya. In Egypt, the internet was used to rally the citizens to rise against tyrannical leadership by using Facebook pages for strategizing since mainstream media were controlled by the state (Crovtiz 1). This gives new meaning to the adage information is power, because, in those cases, it was literal power. That the world is becoming a global village, is no longer just cliche used by pro technologists but a reality that requires little imagination to appreciate. As a result of development in mechanical and aeronautical engineering, humans can now travel from any place to the other at speeds that would have seemed supernatural in the not so distant past. Consequently, jets and other airplanes enable the distance between continents to be covered in a matter of hours. Many of these are automated and are travelling in them is significantly safe this also applies to cars, and trains. In fact, many of these automated planes are self-flown and even when they have pilots, they do not have to man them all the time (Peter 1). This has exponentially reduced the importance and role of distance. Today, the distance between say Europe and America can be covered in about 3 hours. This way people in far off countries can meet often, and at short notice, this is the essence of a global village. This has made security operations in demilitarized zones since they can the planes can be deployed there (Peter 1). The world of business has also changed significantly with the inculcation of information technology, as buying and selling of bonds can be done from the comfort of one’s house with access to the internet and a laptop. Banking is much easier with internet banking enabling business people to send vast amounts of money. They can make payments without actual handling of the physical money. One of the latest trends in business is the use of mobile money transfer where money can be sent through the sender’s mobile phone to the recipient. That is not to mention credit card and visa that allows people not only transact without having to carry cash. The connections created by companies like visa allow one to purchase ant thing in any country without having to endure the sometimes-tedious process of changing money. The developments in transport have reduced the significance of distance and firms have taken advantage of this. This and other forms of E commerce have made the process of transacting business one that transcends political boundaries and time zones as most operates 24 hours. A firm producing mobile phones in America for instance may outsource its plants to India where the operating costs are much lower, this way, they will have access to raw materials and cheap labor increasing productivity. In medicine, technology has completely revolutionized the practice of medicine from the superstitious and primitive to the present day’s competent effectiveness. When the plague and smallpox killed millions, the use of technology was used to develop cures and vaccines for these diseases and virtually eliminated them. Retrospective surgical operations were gruesome, painful affairs, which were just as likely to kill as cure. They were invasive and limited to hacking of limbs today one can even have been implanted with a new heart in a safely and by highly trained surgeons. Thanks to microsurgery, it is possible to operate without cutting open the patient’s organs. With the development of cloning and genetic engineering, it is likely that people will be able to regrow lost limbs or have organs like livers or hearts, generated in the lab; in fact, scientists have so far managed to grow an artificial liver in the lab (Macrae 1). Statistics reveals that life expectancy in America has dropped from 48 years in 1957 to 78 in the year 2005 this attributed to increase in medical technology. Technology has, nevertheless not always had an easy time manifesting itself among the different civilizations. In the past, it has faced stiff resistance from certain quarters because of their conservative stand, ignorance or ideology. These days, most people keep open minds on the issue; however, there is still opposition to many aspects of technology especially genetic engineering. Religious groups are up in arms against this saying that the scientist want to play God, those holding such a view conveniently disregard the fact that scientist apply this technology to save lives and give ailing patients a better chance irrespective of their religious beliefs, besides there is no theological evidence that god has forbidden anyone from imitating him. There is also opposition regarding the impact technology has had on the social skills especially to the youths, it is argued that they spend too much time on their mobiles, laptops and iPads and as such lose their capacity to interact with others. However, it is argued that the reason most of these youths are always online is that they are socializing with their friends; only that they are doing it differently. Considering the fact that youths may prefer to interact digitally is not necessarily detrimental, besides technology through software such as Skype allows for face-to-face communication. In essence, the argument against this is analogous to what would have been the case if someone suggested that the invention of the telephone would prevent people from travelling and visiting each other. The other argument presented to demonstrate the ill effect of technology is the ease with which unregulated information can be transferred. In all fairness, that the internet has no way of regulating what goes through allows a myriad of crimes ranging from industrial espionage, and sabotage to take place. Criminals and drug dealers use the internet to transact their business and money is often wired off to foreign banks for laundering of tax evasion. The pornography and pirating industry are also thriving online since the criminals can ply their trade and stand a low chance of being apprehended. Child pornography, and counterfeiting of products especially music and software among other crimes thrive in the online platform. However, these are not justification enough to pass a negative judgment on technology. It is essential that one considers technology a tool in more or less the same way as an ordinary spanner or meat cleaver is. It can be used for the right reason or someone can use it to commit a murder. In this case, it would make no sense banning the use of cleavers; thus, online crimes are not as much a technology problem but a social one. Pirating is simply adapting to changes in technology and even if we scale down the technology, they will reduce or increase with it. Change is always inevitable; thus, technological changes over history have come with a price. Hence, the decisive thing is to determine if the advantages accrued from using technology are greater than the disadvantages, and so far, nothing could be further from the truth. Ultimately, technology is part of human life; indeed, the future of the human race cannot be charted without the considering the role technology will play. Indeed one could say the technology hold the future. Developments in technology will likely, enable scientists to find cures for incurable diseases, like cancer and HIV, and AIDs. Timothy brown also known as the Berlin man was cured of HIV through stem cell technology (Howard 1). Travel and explore distant planets where people may migrate to in posterity, resettle. New machines may be invented to make life easier and sources of energy that may solve the global warming crises. While conceding technology has indeed come with its setbacks, it is necessary to realize that today is not the pinnacle of technological l advancement, and we are just a step on the road to an ideal world, and still in experimental stages. Indeed, had Edward Jenner not take a risk with one boy, he may never have discovered the cure that saved millions. Consequently, the negative impacts are just stages of a process that keeps growing and developing with time. Works Cited Crovitz, Gordon. “Egypt's Revolution by Social Media”. Wall street Journal. February 14, 2011. Web. June 27 2012. Howard Brian Clark. “How the man cured of AIDS has inspired doctors to discover revolutionary new treatment”. Mail Online 8 June 2012. Web. June 27 2012 Peter Finn. “A future for drones: Automated killing”. The Washington post September 20, 2011. Web. June 27 2012 Arthur Charles and Fox Killian. “How the iPad revolution has transformed working lives”. The guardian Sunday 27 March 2011. Web. June 27 2012 Macrae Fiona. “Grow-your-own' organs hope after scientists produce liver in lab from stem cells”. Mail Online15 June 2010. Web. June 27 2012 < http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1286266/Scientists-grow-laboratory-liver-giving-hope-millions-diseased-organs.html#ixzz1yzgf7lPS> Read More