The Danger of Individualism and the Human Relationship to Technology - Essay Example

Dangers of technology Dangers of technology Historically, fictional stories have been used to caution people about what will happen if a certain crime is committed. They have also been used to describe the prevailing situation in the society, for example to describe a behavior that is becoming dominant in the community. The stories are mainly written or told about the bad things that the storyteller things should be stopped and, therefore, serve to warn people to reduce the indulgence in that specific aspect. In some rare cases, though, they are used to encourage people and especially the young people to emulate some fictional great person that arose through some hard time to become a hero. Following the technological era, the same stories have been used to warn on the dangers of the technology. Technology has been glorified by many since it has been a means of solving some of the problems that could be difficult or even impossible to be done by mankind. Indeed, looking at the history of mankind from the industrial revolution and the Renaissance period, there is no doubt that technology has been very handy in the driving for the changes and success that is evident today. In this essay, however, I will argue that even though technology is a good thing, it has to be approached with caution, as it can break down our ways of life in a manner that may be irredeemable. Some of the literatures that will be used in the essay include; Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Philip Dick, this literature will be used as a main material. It shows how androids interact with human and through their analysis of the dangers of technology is done. Another important literature to the discussion is Neuromancer by William Gibson and finally The Crying of Lot49 by Penchon Thomas. This three literature will form the basis of the discussion while some other texts may also be used to justify the discussion. Technology is the use of the available materials and knowledge to adapt to the environment. This is done by using the materials and knowledge as instruments and processes that provide the humans with a superiority over the environment he lives in. Therefore, Technology can refer to nonfigurative structures present, which include language among others which is an effort to organize and put in systematics in the human reality and therefore become an instrument used to explore the environment through communication and therefore compete effectively. The aspect of completion indicates the presence of evolutionary framework, where all forms of life are in competition for survival. This, therefore, suggests that technology can be deliberated as an adaptation which is acquired by humans and utilized to dominate the other living things in the ecosystem, and the other aspects of nature such as the rivers, weather and the raw materials (Sims). This is evident in the novel Neuromancer where through the use of technology and computers man is able to create anything in the universe, including the world that is inhabited by the artificial intelligence, Wintermute and Neuromancer. In this case technology is seen as a driver for all the other forms of adaptation that improves and makes life worth living and, therefore, technology cannot be separated with human life. Other species also use the existing materials to their advantage, for example, bees use the flowers and water among other materials to make honey, which is their food which is technology, at its basic (Sims). The difference with the human technology is that these species do not improve their technology, they depend on the inherited memories on how to do things that they do. Human technology in the hand is an ongoing thing which always changes from its definition to the utilization. This suggests that humans can modify the existing technology so as to develop a more sophisticated form in their lifetime, which is rare and unusual for other species. The relation of man to technology is unique and wonderful since he can analyze the existing form of technology and determine flaws in it and can, therefore, modify it to improve its effectiveness (Sims). Despite, the fact that it is the human themselves that give rise to technology, technology has moved at a speed that seems to be uncontrollable by the same humans that created them. And that is the reason why Sims (71-2) observes that androids are so human like in their behavior that they cannot be distinguished by a naked eye. The problem is that we may have androids that mimic human behavior and may be used for destructive purposes. This will be the point that the technology will have gone past the human race. The androids mentioned seem to think for themselves through the control of a computer. The androids are reported to have outdone its use in the end and that is the reason they are being retired, the process is complicated since the androids and the people are similar in all aspects and therefore hard to distinguish. The complication in the retiring and the evidence that they can kill humans through their own thinking depicts a great danger of technology, an android is reported to be trying to murder Rick, the gentleman tasked with the work of retiring them (Dick). The androids as presented in the Dick’s novel goes against the norm of being able to control the technology exclusively as the androids presented can work indepentedly and can sometimes be instructed, they therefore go against the common knowledge that all products of technology should be objects and subjects to humans since here they can think for themselves without being instructed by any human. Here I would differ with Sims (Sims, 71) where he argues that the machines are not de-humanizing. De-humanizing can be defined as depriving the human qualities. When the machines or androids in this case can do the same work as human and even do it perfectly comparable to the human then the machines are depriving the humans the humanity. The machines think like humans do and that is de-humanizing. Humanity is characterized by the ability to think rationally and act on the decisions. Another aspect of humanity is the ability to exhibit emotions. The androids think like humans and act rationally and therefore equal to humans. The novel even presents that there is a possibility to make the androids have human emotions. This is realized when the writer narrates a story of how Roy an android who had been a pharmacist tried to find a way to make robots have human emotions. Another example of this phenomena is seen in the novel Neuromancer, the two artificial intelligence exhibit human intelligence and emotions, this is seen when neuromencer may be due to being lonely in its world wants to have Case and his girlfriend to stay together in that world (Gibson). The development of the androids was with the intention that they could fight side by side with the human soldiers in the World War Terminus. This suggests that the weapon which is the android is not being used by man by are working together. Again, this informs that Dick is foreseeing a situation where technology will not be subject to the humans but rather they would be equals. And maybe the novel is a prediction of the future where the tables will be turned and the humans will be subject to the objects (Dick). Some of the androids in Dick’s novel are also presented to be masters of humans; a woman android is the master to a human called John who had physical disabilities due to the World War Terminus. The woman here is an android named Peris, who had an apartment and she is presented in the novel as a rich woman with very few friends. John in his need for human interaction offers to help the android women in the house chores. At first though, when John volunteered to work for the android he did not know that she was not human, but eventually realized that it was a robot due to her revelation of the times at Mars and also observed through her lack of empathy. Here, a human is working for an android or a machine, showing that the machine or technology in general has become the master and humans are subjects which are really dehumanizing. Even though disabled, John is still human and therefore working for the robots is dehumanizing (Dick). In the novel Neuromancer by William Gibson, machines named Wintermute and Neuromance are presented as clever machines that even have an ambition of controlling humans. This is depicted by the offer that Neuromancer gives to Case when he finds himself in his world. The machine wants to control him and even have him stay in his world. Wintermute is also controlling the emotions and all operations of Armitage, even though he had had an emotional disorder, being controlled by a machine is not the solution. There should be another humane way of controlling the emotions because allowing the machine to control his emotions means he has no control of his own personality and therefore not actually human but a subject of the machine (Gibson) The machine in the novel The crying of lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon is shown to be selectively being operated by people with special skills as the writer says. Meaning that the machines are selecting the people that can operate it which show how technology may bring different forms of segregation of the human population which is unethical. Human beings are not supposed to be divided according to whether they have certain abilities or not. This, therefore, provides a danger of technology which may eventually break the societies that we have based on the people who have abilities or do not (Penchon). Just as asserted by the Dick’s novel, technology is mostly invoked in times of war. Dick describes that the androids were developed during the World War Terminus. Therefore, this means most of the times, human rely on technology to destroy other human beings. This seems to agree with the definition that technology is “a ‘means to an end’ and human activity” (Sims 73) (Heidegger 4). This traditional definition of technology is still valid in this context the ‘end’ is an adaptation that its access and usage is the ‘human activity’ since the intelligence provides a means of developing the weapons and any other instruments. Therefore, Heidegger in his definition seems to be warning against utilization of the advantage as a means to an end due to the dangers associated. The more sophisticated technology become, the more the hazards associated with it if misused. Technology is an aspect of the modern world through which everything else can be controlled; this includes the control of other humans and other nations. The nation and societies with a more sophisticated technology such the society presented by Gibson in his novel Neuromancer will therefore control the other nations and societies by use of their sophisticated technology (Gibson). The question that lingers in my mind is suppose the control of the technology and therefore weapons fall on the hands of the nations or individuals who have bad intentions or in the hands of sociopaths like those described in the novel Neuromancer, the guy named Riviera who is presented as a guy who can kill without a blink of an eye (Gibson). In Dick’s novel the androids themselves are presented as a challenge to Rick, the bounty hunter, they give him hard time and even at some point a certain android is targeting to kill Rick though it does not succeed in doing so. The evidences of the above activities demonstrate how dangerous technology can be when it gets out of hand or is handled by individuals that have bad intentions for the rest of the society. As the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? start, there are radiations realized due to the use of radio- active weapons during the world war terminus. The radiations lead to a number of effects on the humans that some decide to find refuge in Mars. Apart from killing humans, the radiations also destroyed all the other forms of life and that is why the writer, Dick shows that most of the real animals are extinct and replaced by mechanical animals. He talks about Rick owning an electric sheep since he could not afford a real or natural sheep since they are scarce and therefore expensive. As the novel progresses, he describes how Rick is delighted to find a toad that was once thought to be extinct. He also shows how Rick dreams of the fame and money that will accompany the findings only to find out that the frog is mechanical. All these description are used by the author to show the effects of technology on real living things including humans. Different forms of technology are associated with side effects most of which are chronic diseases (Dick). In the novel The crying of lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon, the main character, Oedipa is described as getting lost and being driven to panic in what has been termed as the Galactronics Division of Yoyodyne. As she visits the company of her late ex- boyfriend, she finds that the company is located the city of San Narciso where actually the main part of the plot is taking place. The city is shown in the novel as a kind of transistor radio circuit. The details in the description of the highly mechanized city of Yoyodyne and the artificial planning of the city where the story unfolds itself work to dramatize the dangers of technology. This is done by its description of how it dominates how the people live in the modern world of the fiction novel. It describes how people rely on the machines and technology for everything but again does not fail to mention their limitation in the case where the technology which people seem to depend on so much fail to help Oedipa uncover the mysteries of the Trystero that she desperately try to uncover (Penchon). The novel neuromancer narrates a more sophisticated story of how technology is used by hackers and computer to acquire all the information that they need as well execute different computer commands. Through hacking Case is able to find all information about Armitage and his work as well as personality disorder. He also uses his computer skills to merge Wintermute and Neuromancer. He also uses it to get into the police servers and steal information about a certain operation. This shows how technology can be used to get information which can be used for the purposes which could be good or bad. This means that in the hands of bad people technology is very risky and dangerous to the whole universe (Gibson). But technology is not all that bad. Science as a form of technology represents man’s curiosity about his destiny, something he wishes it to occur, and indeed, through technology that brings out the creativity in man, his dreams about his destiny become achievable (Barlow 108). Technology is a means of acquiring or doing that which is not in our human weakness. The weakness here come in terms of physical ability mainly. Machines are therefore created to help the human do the same thing that he could not do perfectly. In the Dick’s novel, the presenter in the television is discovered to be an android and works for the whole day and night without sleeping, suggesting that the androids can bring out a better work output per unit time compared to the humans and that actually the reason why technology is there to help man or humakind to adapt to the environment. The problem sets in only when the technology is misused or the gets out of hand. Some of the technological advances that are being made can have serious consequences if they get out of hand. Therefore, when developing any form of technology, it is important to know all the loopholes in the form of technology and first work to find the curbing measures in case it gets out of hand, if there no way to control then we are better of without it. An example in this case is that if a nuclear plant is to be build in a certain place then it is wise to first build a radioactive filter around the plant or have the walls of the plant to be radiaton proof before beginning to use the facility. This ensures that the entire world and more specifically the surrounding community is safe in case there is a malfunction such as a leakage in the plant. Work Cited Barlow, Aaron. "Loss in the Language of Tomorrow: Journeying Through Tuscon on the way to Usher II." Gloria, McMillan, Donald Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan. Orbiting Rays Bradburys Mars: Biographical. Jefferson: McFarland & Company, Inc, 2013. 105-116. Dick, Philip K. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1968. New York: Del Rey, 1996. Gibson, William. Neuromancer. ACE, 1984. Heidegger, Martin. The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays. 1954. Trans. William Lovitt. New York: Harper Colophon, 1977 Mendelson, Edward. "The Sacred, the Profane, and The Crying of Lot 49." Thomas Pynchon: Modem Critical Views. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1986. 11-42. Pynchon, Thomas. The Crying of Lot49. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1966. Sims, Christopher A. "The Danger of Individualism and the Human Relationship to Technology in Philip K. Dicks Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep." Science Fiction Studies (2009): vol. 36 no.1 pgs. 67-86. Read More