Effects of Technology on Consciousness - Essay Example

EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY ON CONSCIOUSNESS Institution: Name: Date : EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY ON CONSCIOUSNESS Consciousness: This is the state of being aware of an external thing or something within oneself. It is also the ability to think or experience and the administrative control system of the mind. This part of the brain is important in that it comprises of a mental construction of the world which underlies attitudes and one’s public understanding of the world. It is everything we experience, and without it there would neither be an external world or our own selves. TECHNOLOGY Technology deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society and environmental It machine techniques, or perform a specific function. It is viewed as an activity that forms or changes culture. EFFECTS OF TECHNOLOGY ON CONSCIOUSNESS Mc Luhan’s philosophy says that when things come at you very fast naturally lose touch with yourself. Anybody moving into a new world looses identity so It is called the masked man. “Through the Rearview mirror”. IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON CONCIOUSNESS Other than political manipulation which is blatant, television affects us in very many vulgar and destructive ways. It is being manipulated by television, advertising and many others. Another technology that impacts human evolution is the cell phone, e-mail affects the how we talk relate to each other and how we treat one another. Cell phones contain a material that can only be found through mining which involves some earth destructive practices. Foreign mining industries make the situation worse through environmental destruction and labor exploitation. The next time you think cell phones are the best you should put that into consideration. in a greater risk and vulnerable to be or thoughtfulness about the unpredictable ramifications? We are going to be in major problems. Internet has also its benefits too which is also good. When you push very far away –you someone in another place gets bombed. The point is while we indeed do benefit from technology some people benefit much more from it and at great cost to the rest of the environment. In the world today, technology had accelerated discussion around the world and has externalized the natural process of the human mind since long before digital technologies, the process of writing came into use and thoughts, culture and a sense of identity was communicated across vast distances and places in time. The philosopher Plato was recorded as the first learned scholar who believed that writing would change the intended role of people with a certain respect to their memory. In this day and time, the thing that separates the digital era from the past is the tremendous speed coupled with involving technological adoption across the globe. Writing was one of the first steps in redefining consciousness and self about the individual. Writing does not only create possibility of bridging the elements of consciousness across groups and communities. population on earth is connected to the internet, and this trend is expected to increase over the years. The internet has become part of the social nervous system whereby people use technology to deliver thoughts between individuals which in turn have formed the source of rapid development of a shared consciousness. Modern technology has been blamed for growing trends showing changes in people’s perception. For example, the TV is responsible for the increased risk factors that result in Attention Deficit disorders within children, thus leading to poor concentration and a variety of behavioral problems later in life. Technology is being used in education in both training and learning. The World Wide Web, interactive videos, games, e-learning, mobile and distant learning and podcasts are being used in learning. Technology enhanced learning improves the development of the cognitive system and therefore the learners obtain more information efficiently hence they will remember easily and make use of it. Technology is playing an increasing role in our society since as it advances; it is rapidly changing domains. As technology advances and infiltrates human cognitive abilities that were once solely the realm of professionals, we have to consider both advantages and disadvantages of using technology to deliver human cognition. Every new technology has changed our understanding of our physical form. Although globalization is being propelled by rapid technological innovations, ICT is not the only technological impact that drives globalization. Perception is the first nation or tenderness of the human mind. Through this, we attain the knowledge of the qualities and powers of the material objects about us. The instruments of consciousness are the five ordinary senses, seeing, feeling, hearing, tasting, and smelling. Consciousness, or reflection, is that perception that Technology affects the mind in that too much dependence on modern communication tools can result in poor memory. While the use of memory allows human beings to engage in complex activities, and scholarly endeavors, the limitations to physical memory capacity design challenges that have been addressed in different methods with time. Whether through methods to improve memory recollection or technology to increase physical memory function, humans have innovated new methods to retrieve data from previous occurrences or observations. Technology could yield beneficial effects but could also have disastrous consequences if not used properly. Google and other search engines have altered the way we use the internet by putting a tremendous source of information a few clicks away. These change our recognition’s role since people due to the ease of accessing this information. The internet has become part of a transactive memory reference. For example, cell phones have become the central location for phone numbers, GPS eliminates the need to learn directions and also when given a task or in need of a solution to a problem one just types the matter into Google. Even though, we may not be taxing our memories to recall obvious facts, we are still using them to remember where the facts are located and how to access them. British researchers show that association with technology has different effects on working memory, the memory that allows one to remember and use information. For example, spending time on Facebook appears to have about the same meaning as working on Sudoku puzzles, whereas spending time on Flicker and Twitter is expected to diminish memory. Also, video games that require strategy and planning also improve the working memory. This is because the activities that require one to keep track of information and actions and then planning your next actions prepare the working memory. On the contrary, instant information sources like Twitter or YouTube are just about absorbing continuous streams of insufficient information so negatively affecting the memory. Numerous studies have shown that a successful investment in technology can reap tremendous benefits for the adopting individuals and organizations. Various governments are taking steps to encourage entrepreneurs to make use of the benefits brought forth by technological advances. New product development represents the focal point of competition for many firms. This can be proven in that the rate of invention is accelerating, and also the usage of these new technologies is on the rise thus we focus on the perceived technological uncertainty. A number of studies highlights the differences in participation decisions and the way people interact among groups that meet face to face and in other computer linked dialogues and also through communication by electronic mail. These results are attached to the difficulties of coordination that comes from the lack of informational feedback, lack of social influence cues for controlling discussion and depersonalization from lack of nonverbal relations and absence of norms. In a situation, that would have seemed unusual just a decade ago many of us have regular access to information. For example if we need to find out the outcome of a ballgame or to remember the name of an actress in a movie we are viewing, we only need to go to laptops or tablets or Smartphone, and we can find the answers immediately. It has become so familiar to look up the answer to any case the moment it occurs, such cannot find out something quickly. It is difficult to remember how we found information before the internet became ubiquitous presence in our lives. The internet has become an external memory source that we can access at any time. In any team work environment or any other group, people develop transactive memory, which is, a mechanism that collectively encodes, stores and retrieves knowledge. It is also evident where people are able to remember in which folder or location an item has been stored in rather than identifying the item itself. The processes of physical memory are adapting to the emergence of modern computing and communication technology. We are becoming symbiotic with computer tools in that, we are growing into interconnected systems that remember less by knowing information rather than by knowing where the data can be found. This gives us the benefit of access to a vast array of information although the advantages of being constantly connected are still being debated. The greatest responsibility of the brain is its ability to reflect on knowledge and filter that information through the complex set of experience that shapes consciousness. Memory is essential in the process of integrating new information with already known facts. In order to be more informed, one must reflect on the existing knowledge and combine it with what one knows. Despite this fact, the ability to remember absolutely everything one has ever learned is not necessary for the overall increase in knowledge. By continually incorporating new information to the existing knowledge, it builds on the rich history of our lives. The quantity of information that is available to a person, technological devices will help one access and maintain a record of significant information for ones needs. Whether in form of a written record, a digital call list or electronic databases, the task will still reside in one's memory to determine when and which information was needed and for what purpose. The relationship between tools used in technology and the human mind will help to determine the nature of the people we are trying to create. Technology will always continue to shape and be shaped by how we manage all our information needs and will continue to change along with civilization REFERENCES: Churchland P. M. 1995. The engine of reason And the seat of the soul Cambridge Donald A. Mackenzie and Judy Wajcman, “Introductory Essay” in the social shaping of technology’ 2 nd ed .(Buckingham , England: Open university press, 1999) ISBN 0 335-19913-5 Franklin, Ursula “Real world of Technology “House of Anansi press Retrieved 2006-02-13 Genarro, R, ed. 2004. Higher – Order Theories of consciousness. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins Julius Adams Stratton and Lorett Mannix, Mind and heart: The Birth of (Cambridge : MIT press, 2005), ISBN O262195240 Read More