Are Machines Bad for Society - Assignment Example

I disagree with the notion that machines are bad for society. According to the Oxford English dictionary, a machine is “An apparatus using mechanical power and having several parts, each with a definite function and together performing a particular task”. In layman's terms, this is to say that machines make work easier.

Machines don’t do work for us, they only assist us to perform these tasks a lot faster and more efficiently. What we do with a knife today is essentially the same thing man in the Stone Age used sharp rocks for. And an electric water pump performs the same task an Archimedean screw was used for in ancient Egypt. It is also worth mentioning that both the knife and electric water pump require to be operated manually and the operator has to do some ‘work’. Thus, in this case, the issue of laziness doesn’t arise at all.

According to the BLS American Time Use Survey, A.C. Nielsen Co. conducted in the first quarter of 2012, the average American spends slightly over 5 hours a day watching television. While on the surface the figure looks staggering, it is important to note that the figure takes into account people beyond retirement age who while away entire days in care centers glued to the screen of the television. The bulk of the productive population would typically watch television only when having dinner and during weekends.

To them, this is more like a hobby than a lifestyle. As with regards to the use of technology and it makes us lazier, nothing can be farther from the truth. It is a matter of perception, which has evolved over time. Fifty years ago the word “hardworking” was directly proportional to the muscle one possessed and the amount of sweat shed and effort spent in the process. Today, one could achieve much more using far less energy. A housewife could use tools like a washing machine, dishwasher, and vacuum cleaner and make her house sparkling clean within a short period of time. Without these, the same housewife would take a whole day performing the same tasks, and probably wouldn’t do it as well as the machines would.