Brooke Gladstone And Josh Neufeld's The Influencing Machines

Brooke Gladstone and Josh Neufeld are the authors of the article “The Influencing Machines”. This article is about technology and is written through a comic-style form. Gladstone’s main idea on this article is that we should not fear technology. Gladstone’s and Neufeld’s comic-style article about technology is the best way to convey her argument because it gives visuals to express her argument, has a different form of arrangement of her details and thesis, and she gives examples of modern technology that should not scare us.

Since the onset of consumerism, the major growth of consumption has caused society to improve their daily life. With new innovations such as washing machines, dishwashers, automobiles, and cell phones society is able to eliminate hard work and progress forward. The inventions and innovations created have enhanced the quality of many lives. The everyday labor around the house is reduced, we can talk to anyone from around the world at any time, and look up any kind of information without having to read a book. However many of these time saving and efficient innovations are purchased by people who have no need for these devices and purchased them un- necessarily as luxury items. There have been many essays written about the positive and negative

According to research done by Gretchen B. LeFever and Andrea P. Arcona, there was a “700% increase in psychostimulant use,” during the 1990’s. (LeFever) Their research specifically shows the overabundance ADD and ADHD medication that has been prescribed, Ritalin and Adderall for example. It is no coincidence that the 1990’s also showed an incredibly steep incline in United States’ citizens who had personal use computers. In 1989 only fifteen percent of Americans had computers in their homes, which increased to fifty-one percent by the year 2000. (Newburger) Lefever and Arcona propose that the increase is due to a false diagnosis. This could show that doctor’s and pediatricians are mistaking the side effects of the technological advancement on our culture as an actual disease. Many, like Berkerts and Carr would stand up and say that it is, in fact, a disease.

Technology has always been a controversial subject between conservative people and innovators. Some people believe that it is a great tool to connect cultures and improve education and innovation in our society today, but others view it as a menace in our lives. “Growing Up Tethered” by Sherry Turkle and “George Orwell...Meet Mark Zuckerberg” by Lori Andrews both view technology as a dangerous tool. They believe in the many drawbacks of technology and the harm it can do to our lives with no explanation of the positive effects it has had on our society. “Our Future Selves” by Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen plays the role of a positive look at technology and its role in our lives today. It gives examples of how advancing technology helps us and improves so many peoples’s lives. We can use Schmidt and Cohen’s essay as a lens to view the other two texts and gain a different understanding of what they are writing about.

In the novel ‘Feed’, M.T Anderson proposed a human can have a small chip placed in the head, that feeds them the best deals, and latest trends, as well as providing all the functions laptops and cell phones used today could provide, and in having this chip implanted in their heads, it encourages buying the best bargains and purchasing the latest products, and keeping up with the trends that are changing daily. Throughout the Novel, Anderson plays with the idea technology as negative effects on society. He shows a society where people’s ability to think is decreasing, as is their emotional capacity, where corporations run the system and have let the environment suffer because of it. He shows a society where advertising and consumerism are driving the human race, and reducing people’s humanity.

“The natural world is so adaptable...So adaptable you wonder what’s natural,” states M.T. Anderson, the author of Feed. Today, society is changing everything one step at a time as more important points continue improving. This will leave the present to change and so will the future, but unfortunately we cannot do anything about it, because the past is already gone. For example, if marketing tactics, technology addiction, and consumerism continue, it will change how we work today. These three problems can affect us negatively, that if we continue, our future would not look as bright as a dream full of rainbows and sunshine.

“In the last 50 years, up to 100,000 Americans lost their lives due to inactivity leading to some sort of conditional disease such as heart disease [including the laziness within people of society]” (Wise 12). So many people have died from becoming lazy, doing nothing but go on their phones, devices, rather than doing everyday things. Technology has changed the way society approaches life, always depending on it rather than themselves and others. The society today consists of nothing but TV screens, telephone, smartphones, iPads, and items the 19th century would consider a dream to lay hands on. A book written by Bradbury presents lack of effort people put into their lives and society; Bradbury predicts how the future will become later on in the society. Becoming more similar to the laziness and ignorance in the novel, Fahrenheit 451, the society today struggles the society today struggles with dependency on technology which results to lack of social interactions with one another and failure in becoming literate with books.

In, “The Influencing Machine,” author Brooke Gladstone explains that the changing media does not change our brains if we do not let it. This goes against all the fears of technology thus far, essentially making us humans the artificial intelligence.

Thoughts can be fleeting, however some of the feelings resulting from thought and can have a long lasting impact on the mental state of a person. In my metacognitive exploration I found an interesting comparison between the way in which I think and approach my past feelings and the methods which Tim O’Brien, from The Things They Carried, and Paul D from Beloved express their thinking about the past. I have discovered that the expression of thoughts, including memories and feelings, is the key to a healthy mental state of a person.

Nowadays, consumerism is not only a social and economic order in our society, now it has become a religion. Consumers are indoctrinated into believing that they need these technological gadgets to have a better life or to be happy. The translation of the binary code says “My computer is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it, as I must master my life. Without me, my computer is useless. Without my computer, I am useless.” This fragment exemplifies perfectly the dependence of the consumers towards their products. These gadgets or computers become such an important part in their lives that they are tricked into believing that without them they can’t live anymore. However, needing the product is not enough. These corporations deliberately make their products faulty with the purpose of releasing a better one next, forcing the consumer to buy the one that follows. This is why consumers follow the new releases of technological gadgets almost religiously. Iphones for example, are released almost every year, and consumers wait patiently to buy the new model as soon as possible. If you are not up to the new technological gadgets then you are not modern, and you won’t be able to do what others do. And so the consumer keeps buying more and more products without realizing

Jeffrey Sachs is a renowned economic advisor and served in leading positions on many different organizations which focused on promoting a healthier world for all of those who inhabit the earth. Along with his notable achievements as a public figure, he has also authored books and scholarly articles that include A Nation of Vidiots. In this particular writing, Mr. Sachs argues that the citizens of the United States have a serious problem with their use of electronics and that it is a cause for health concerns with the amount of usage the American population has for these devices. Primarily focused on television sets, Mr. Sachs also points out the over usage of other devices and states a quote from Harlan Ellison when saying

As our innovative world is rapidly moving into the future, technology is being invented and innovated at every turn. This technology ranges from top-notch video game systems to microscopic robots made to perform internal surgery. Although these impressive technological improvements were recently made, they are not entirely beneficial because this technology damages our social and learning skills, while also damaging us as humans.

Many inventions have been claimed to be advantageous in today’s society. Every so often, there’s someone who tries to defend the good over the bad. In this essay we will consider the positive and negative effects of technical advances and how they have affected today’s society.

Change in technology happens rapidly on a daily basis. As Schlesinger expresses, “The last two lifetimes have seen more scientific and technological achievement that the first 798 put together”(Schlesinger 41). Whether it deals with cars, travel, medicine, media, or a host of other topics, advancements in technology are occurring all around us. It is up to us whether to accept these changes or not. Many believe that change in technology is a hindrance, causing more problems than solutions. I believe technology has created a safer environment, revolutionized the way we look at different ideas, and resolved many economic problems in industries! In other words, change is inevitable and people

Personal Response

I think that most of us are mindful that the age of machines have probably been the most problematic among families, friends and society. Gadgets have been something almost everyone owns and rely on for the past decade or so, usually a bit too much. People can spend hours on them that they forget all about their loved ones and work, as if none of that exists. At least in the olden generations they had the willpower to keep themselves humble and caring, but now those ways have all gone down the hill, abandoned and forgotten. The only thing that humans of the modern world tend to care about are their phones, tablets, game consoles, etc, and of course, money to purchase newer and enhanced machines. The fact that majority of the rich population bother so much about machinery that they forget what really matters indeed saddens me, as if they’re all blinded by greed and irresponsibleness. They block others out for their own wants of entertainment that it creates disagreements with friends and family. They lose sight of what’s important and slack in their studies and jobs. It has become such a complication among families that those who felt that something had to be done about it went on ahead and actually made a device that shuts down all the mobile devices