Evaluating Technology - Essay Example

?The world technology typically evokes positive associations in anyone thinking about it. Facebook, iPods, satellite TV, methods of birth control, innovative devices in any sphere starting from office and ending with household, they all seem indispensable for a modern human. We do recognize that we live in a consumer society and still feel pleased at our options, at new offers of new technologies, at our psychology based on desire to satisfy basic physical needs. One will be surprised to find out that whatever we think is naturally a part of our consciousness and our lifestyle has been meticulously planned and put into action. Through the use of technology, people have become the objects of state control, which is well illustrated in the works of Skinner, Huxley, and Brzezinski who explore the problem from different perspectives. Skinner, a well-known American psychologist, published his seminal book “Beyond Freedom and Dignity” back in 1971. The basic idea was to promote cultural engineering, which is modeling the people’s behavior, population, even pollution rates with the help of philosophy of science and the domination of technology in shaping human behavior. To Skinner, a happier society may be built through behavior modification by scientific approaches. This view is rooted in his denial of the relevance of the free will concept and the concept of dignity as human autonomy. Skinner defies the classical theories of human freedom and dignity as the one that are outdated for the “modern scientific understanding of Man” (Skinner). Expressing thoughts against the concept of autonomous human, Skinner argues that the concepts of Freedom and Dignity need to be rethought. He adjusts his understanding of these concepts to the possibility of the extensive use of the technology of people’s behavior. In particular, Skinner writes: "[the research into freedom and dignity] has been successful in reducing the aversive stimuli used in intentional control, but it has made the mistake of defining freedom in terms of states of mind or feelings..." (Skinner 42). Here one needs to mention that Skinner offers to consider human as animals that may well be controlled through the use of his previously published findings on animals domination through increasing motivation. Specifically, the laws of stimulus and response play an important role here, which were discovered on experiments with rats. Skinner raises the question of humans belonging to the animal class to such extent that he argues that “human mind”, “inner personality” as well as any sorts of responsibility do not really exist but just “seem” to. In the issue of behavior control, Skinner deemed punishment to be ineffective, instead boosting motivation and using reinforcement are effective approaches. Having significantly reduced the problem interpretation to behaviorist agenda, Skinner sees culture as a collection of human behaviors plus practices. Hence, the evolution of culture is viewed as “a gigantic effort of self-control” (Skinner), which may be realized through mechanical models of behavior. Huxley’s “Brave New World”, which he published in 1932, also focuses on the role of science and technology in exerting control over human behavior. Similarly to Skinner’s work, the book focuses on how human society is modified through the extensive use of technology which is perfected through science. However, Huxley’s view in “Brave New World” is critical of technologies use. Specifically, his major implication seems to be the danger of empowering the state with new technologies since the state is likely to use them for modifying human lives so that humans are easy to control. This is done through leaving humans deprived of truth and supplied with a fake, technologically modified notion of happiness. To illustrate how state ruthlessly controls the society one may pick up an example from the book when rigid control via medical intervention and with the help of latest technology is done of the human reproductive function. Specifically, ovaries are removed in a surgical manner; also the Bokanovsky process need to be mentioned here (used for production of thousands lower caste children out of one ovary), as well as educating children and shaping their mentality through hypnopaedic conditioning. On the other hand, technology is employed to produce leisure that is harmless and easy controlled. Also, technology is used to ensure the domination of consumption culture which requires extensive production and sets the basis of the stable functioning of the World State. Another example which illustrates how critical Huxley is about the overuse if technology and science is Soma, a drug created with the help of advanced technologies in biology, medicine, and psychology. In the book, Huxley stresses the negative impacts of technology as the phenomenon which dominates and exploits science. Specifically, the World State employs science as a means of creating technology. In its turn, technology is used to build a happy, but superficial world by the use of “feelies”. At the same time, in the instances humans may use science to find out truth, it is limited and gets subject to censure by the state. This is explained that science itself provides the basis for finding truth, as Huxley understands it. Yet, the quest for truth is essentially dangerous for the state since it threatens its control. So the findings of scientific discoveries are employed only when they are helpful for enhancement the controlling technologies. Raising the problem of consumer society which is being supported by deceivable technology, Huxley focuses on the problem of truth and happiness. Within the society made up of consumers, happiness is perceived as people’s ability to satisfy their numerous needs. At the same time, the all-powerful state has modified human consciousness in such a way that success is associated with economic achievements and prosperity. Interestingly, while happiness is widely propagated by the World State, truth is actively concealed. Indeed, many heroes of the novel find themselves avoiding facing the truth. However, the notion of truth seems not as clear in the novel as the one of happiness. While happiness is associated with immediate fulfillment of people’s consumer desires and physical needs (e.g. sex), truth is something mysterious which is hard to grasp. It comes in two meanings as empirical truth gained through scientific exploration and as the basis of human relationship, for example, love, friendship, etc. In this context, if one wishes to find the truth one needs to exert lots of effort, strive and fight against the things that are imposed from the outside. Unlike Skinner, Huxley elevates the concept of personal freedom and praises it, since his heroes are deprived of personal freedom to choose even the mode of life. They are technologically predetermined before they are born till the point they pass away at the end of life. Thus personal freedom is viewed as a true happiness unlike the fake happiness created by the state and using Soma to control people. Last but not least, one of the important messages conveyed by Huxley is that state’s control leads to the loss of human values, degradation of morals, emotions, and dignity. It seems whatever Huxley is warning against in his “Brave New World” is constructed and propagated in “Between Two Ages: America's Role in the Technetronic Era” by Brzezinski. Well-known statesman and President’s Advisor, Brzezinski focuses on the power of the state that is being shaped by the advanced technology. Specifically, in the books section “The Global Impact of Technetronic evolution”, Brzezinski stresses the aspect of the global society, which has been so vividly described by Huxley. To illustrate, Brzezinski emphasizes that “the world ceased to be an arena in which relatively self-contained, “sovereign”, and homogenous nations interact, collaborate, clash, or make war” (Brzezinski 8). Through the use of technology, the author argues, the United States is bound to become the world’s greatest super power. The technologies he mentions are the Internet and mass communication technologies, which influence the human psyche in a revolutionary way. Specifically, global consciousness is created through the technologies use and the leading role is given to the States. What is more, the U.S. is seen as the backbone of the new world order. In addition, it is worth mentioning that Brzezinski, as ironically described by Huxley in his “Brave New World” sees the science and technology as tools of establishing the state’s power. The role of the state is to correctly organize the flow of scientific search and help people identify truly worthy things (Brzezinski 15). In conclusion, all three works explore the use of technology to modify human behavior. However they do this under different angles although their goal is seemingly the same – to explore the ways of building a happier and better arranged society. While Skinner reduces the understanding of man to that of an animal and the notions of free will and personal freedom to mere products of imagination, which are unreal, Huxley praises the human dignity and focuses on quest for freedom as the main focus of human existence in the state-controlled society. In the modern world, where the fiction reality drawn by Huxley appears to be strikingly real, his warnings are easy to agree with and hence worth consideration. Despite the fact, he certainly hyperbolizes many things, they are typical in today’s world. At the same time, I cannot agree with reducing humans to mere physical objects whose behavior should be modified from the outside, as suggested by Skinner. My view can be explained by understanding that humans have a free will and no one, even God Himself, forces humans to act in some certain way. Even God leaves an option for a person whether to do harm or good, and humans are so imperfect that they must not be given power to modify other people’s behavior. As for the work by Brzezinski, written back in 1970s, it contains projections of the preconceived world order and does not seem surprising if one looks at the world today. In tune with Skinner, it emphasizes the role of science in controlling humans and embodies that concept of the World State that Huxley warned about. However, the history goes its own way, and as one may see Brzezinski’s concept of the super powerful role of America is under question now when other countries, in particular in the Asian world, are advancing at a higher pace that the U.S. Works Cited Skinner, Burrhus Frederick. Beyond Freedom and Dignity. New York: Bantam Vintage, 1972. Print. Brzezinski, Zbigniew. Between Two Ages: America’s Role in the Technetronic Era. The Viking Press, 1970. Print. Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World (First Perennial Classics ed.). New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1998. Read More