Tuesday, January 16, 2007
"The fully enlightened Earth radiates disaster triumphant."
Is technology a good thing? We have progressed in the past two hundred years beyond the wildest dreams of most people living in the early 19th century. And there have been many wonderful advances in several fields, including science and medicine, but is it a good thing? We have developed medicine to cure almost anything, but have we become so dependant on medicine that we have made our bodies loose their natural ability to fight off disease? If we get the slightest headache, do we immediately pop 4 advil? We have caused the "death of distance," as Francis Cairncross has said, with the advent of the internet and the move towards globalization. But is that a good thing? Is globalization a good thing; with a centralization of government (and I admit that a world government is far down the line of globalization) comes some negative things like the end of competition (and maybe the end of progress?) And there was a reason why God destroyed the Tower of Babel. And the point that I have saved for last, technology has made the most efficient ways of killing people. German machine gunners from WWI went into shock because of they were killing people so many people so fast. There were 62 million casualties in the 6 years of WWII. Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno said that "The Enlightenment has always aimed at liberating men from fear and establishing their sovereignty. Yet the fully enlightened earth radiates disaster triumphant." So, is technology itself a good thing? Are we truly better now than we were 500 years ago?
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2 comments:
I think technology is definitely a good thing! I don't know what I'd do without my cell phone or the internet (Thanks Al!). And don't get me started on mapquest... I'd be lost without it!!
=)
It is important to note that technology has also created the greatest deterrent to war. Nuclear weapons have made all out war to expensive to fight. The death totals from many ancient wars far outweigh anything than has occurred in the last five decades. Technology was not to blame for Babylon it was the unification of humanity under an evil dictator. However, the technological revolution is very young and unprecedented. I am uncertain that we can be certian about and aspects of this part of our lives.
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