#3 Man & Machine - Help or Hinderance?

(Image source: Susanne Posel, 2012)

"All of the biggest technological inventions created by man - the airplane, the automobile, the computer - says little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his laziness" - Mark Kennedy

The main purpose of technology was once to improve and facilitate our every-day lives, by simplifying our jobs, productivity, and assisting tasks such as communication, cleaning and transportation. Technology has also created a platform for ease of access to information; however with the rapid growth and increasing uses of technology in all aspects of our modern lives, it no longer is a necessarily a completely beneficial tool.

Some people have become overly dependent on technology as a result making them lazy and ignorant of other aspects of life. Technology has simplified our lives but we should use it wisely knowing what can occur in the future as a result of its use. Has technology simplified our lives or it has destroyed it?

“As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate.” As the quotation states, nowadays people rely more upon technology rather than their own brains to solve an issue. I strongly agree to this point.

In class we were asked to consider whether technology controls us; I personally believe I have an over dependance on technology and it has made me lazy in many aspects. Without my alarm clock I would be late everyday, without my toaster and oven I would be hungry, without my GPS map I would be lost, without my phone I would loose communication, and without computer systems I could not fulfil work tasks or submit university assignments. Not many aspects of my life function without the assistance of technology in one way or another.

There are both significant advantages and detriments with the continual expansion of modern technology, currently benefits outweighing the negatives in my opinion. But it is in the way that we control our use of them and how we as a collective society allow them to progress is how we can remain in control of our own futures.

For example, with the rapid speed of recent technological advances, the same technology systems that are improving jobs by making them safer, easier and more productive are at the same time also reducing the demand for many types of human workers, as automation and replacement of jobs by robots and software is destroying jobs faster than technology is creating them.

However, because of such developments, we've sent men to the moon, global travel is possible and modern medicine is curing diseases and saving the lives of millions. These revolutions have changed the world for better, but have also come at a high cost.

It is up to us to control our own destiny to use technology to bring the world closer together and to help solve some of our greatest challenges or if we loose control and allow it to slowly diminish our humanity.