Technology Is The Blame For The World Ending

In “By the Waters of Babylon,” by Stephen Vincent Benét, set in a future following the destruction of industrial civilization, the story is narrated by a young man who is the son of a priest. The priests of John’s people,“the hill people,” are inquisitive people associated with the divine. They are the only ones who can handle metal collected from the home’s “also known as the Dead Places” of long-dead people whom they believe to be god's. Truth and knowledge are displayed as a role for priests to know and not everyone else; because, of consequences that could happen if someone knows too much. Truth and knowledge are only controlled by priests to keep everyone in the village safe; so, no one knows the truth about the gods or anything else that will let society fall to pieces. The narrator's journey and discoveries reveal that the not all knowledge is true. This discovery will influence his knowledge and actions for the remainder of his life.

In the story “ By the Waters of Babylon” the narrator, John, is a priest who values knowledge greatly. In the story John states: “My knowledge made me happy--it was like a fire in my heart.” (312). Through the interpretation of this line the reader can infer that knowledge is very important to the narrator's culture and society. It is what inspires these quests and drives all of his actions. The narrator assumes that all of the knowledge that has been gained throughout a lifetime is true because he has yet to learn otherwise. In relation to John’s strong feelings about knowledge, He also feels as though he can never get enough. His need and desire for knowledge is described by the following quote: “Nevertheless, my knowledge and my lack of knowledge burned in me – I wished to know more.” (312). John

As both the reader and John begin to understand what this realization on John’s part means Benét’s lesson about truth and knowledge begins to manifest. With the truth of John’s ancestors revealed and how it was discovered that the priests in John’s culture have been proclaiming their knowledge without evidence, the relationship that one cannot have truth without knowledge begins to visualize. Benét doesn’t let this lesson stay one sided though, as if he was trying to portray the priests as only in the wrong, instead Benét writes John’s father to give insight as to why the priests may have lied about what they really knew and didn’t know, and why their ancestors didn’t want the truth to be revealed. John’s father says “Truth is a hard deer to hunt….you may die of the truth” and “He was right-it is better that the truth should come little by little” because John’s father is trying to say that the truth is a dangerous thing (Benét 321). While the truth is important, it can also be damaging if it shouldn’t be taught at the right

East across the turquoise sea hides a world draped in opportunity. A world where the broken could potentially be felt whole. The fulfilment of all ones greatest dreams covered in aspiration and allure, and where the undiscovered land is rich in soil and desire. Through the wretched waves and harsh storms, the curiosity of what could potentially lie ahead is the only thing that kept these men going. Wondering if the launching of Roanoke will be everything they hoped for. But once arrived, Conflict with already native groups, along with unpreparedness, and the lack of authority lead to failure of this, once thought, perfect colony.

It's very often that the public has the impression that Native American cultures were inflexible, unchanging societies, with little or variation through the centuries. This is the central theme of this chapter I believe because throughout my days on this earth I have heard plenty of puts on the Native community. I believe the author was trying to address people with negative views on the Native community and open their eyes to the beauty, land, social classes, and development of the Native culture and this book counter acts the misconception of society. Throughout these chapters the dynamic culture of the Northwest Coast people are revealed. With a history that has many twist and turns just like in other civilization these 1400 miles called

“The Cherokees had a strong leader who had not yet given up the fight. They were led by the wily, tough and determined John Ross, a blue-eyed, brown-haired mixed-blood who was only one-eighth Cherokee. Nonetheless, he was the Principal Chief and the most powerful force within the nation.” (Remini, R. 2001) This is only one account of the infamous leader of the Cherokee Indians in the migration out of their homelands to what is now known as Oklahoma. This historical essay will provide a detailed account of the journey of John Ross, an unlikely leader. The unsung hero, John Ross his journey to becoming a Cherokee Indian Chief stood up against the negative treatment and attempted to commandeer the land that was a legacy to his people.

As I struggled to learn to kayak I pushed through the same water the Edisto’s paddles had touched. My experiences mirror those of Joseph Bruchac, in his work “At the End of Ridge Road.” Bruhac has a cabin in the country that is very close to “the homestead where [his] grandfather and his twelve brothers and sisters were born…Even closer to us are the unmarked burial places of Abenakis and Mohawks and Mohicans” (215-216). Bruhac’s modern home’s proximity to places of cultural importance for Native Americans shows that the way the land has been impacted and used by Native Americans should not be overlooked. The Native presence on the land is often overlooked since the Edisto people had all died from disease or war by the early 1700s. The Edisto people are often overlooked because of heavy focus on Civil War history in the area. The land that I’ve been walking for twenty years has an entire culture buried beneath it and I haven’t thought about it once. The Native Presence is not entirely gone. The Island’s infamous Captain Ron, a white man raised by the Cherokee, has had arrangements with my family for decades. Like the Edisto people before Ron uses the land to procure majority of the food his family eats. His children Rain, Tide, Marsh, and Wind learn these same skills and continue to grow up on Edisto Island.

John is a priest and the son of a priest and has a strong desire for knowledge, the reader can see this when he said, “My knowledge made me happy--it was like a fire in my heart” (Benet 312). From this thought, the reader can tell that John’s knowledge was an everyday necessity that he needed to have in order to function, like food or water. This also helps the reader understand how important knowledge is to John and the rest of society. The knowledge John receives is so important to him that it ultimately takes him on his quest and drives him to do certain things along the way. This is strongly shown when he commented, “Nevertheless, my knowledge and my lack of knowledge burned in me-I wished to know more” (Benet 312). With that statement, the reader notices that knowledge drove him to go on his quest because he wanted to learn more, because at this point he

John is a priest and the son of a priest and has a strong desire for knowledge, the reader can see this when he said, “My knowledge made me happy--it was like a fire in my heart” (Benet 312). From this thought the reader can tell that John’s knowledge was an everyday necessity that he needed to have in order to function, like food or water. This also helps the reader understand how important knowledge is to John and the rest of society. The knowledge John receives is so important to him that it ultimately takes him on his quest and drives him to do certain things along the way. This is strongly shown when he commented, “Nevertheless, my knowledge and my lack of knowledge burned in me-I wished to know more” (Benet 312). With that statement the reader notices that knowledge drove him to go on his quest because he wanted to learn more, due to the fact that at this point he believed his knowledge to be

In the book, Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury predicts the ways of present-day American Culture and presents to the readers his fears of what the American society may become over time. Facets of his prediction appear in the everyday lives of American citizens, with certain aspects of Bradbury’s fictional world sounding astoundingly similar to America and its society. Bradbury predicts what the negative influences of technology can do for a society. With this negative impact, humans have deteriorated in nearly all aspects of day-to-day life, including intelligence, brain capacity, humanity and much more. The author emphasizes many of these aspects, which are a result of negative technological influences; society may become extremely impulsive and inhumane.

The author comes to senses with what happened. “Perhaps, in the old days, they ate knowledge too fast” (Benet 321). The people took in too much knowledge which led in their downfall. So, this is when John takes his father's advice into action.

Knowledge seems to over power what he and everyone else thought was the truth and he needs to spread what he has learned. Knowledge was something John and his father has a lot of they were priests. They were taught many things about the places

In “By the water of Babylon” by Stephen Vincent Benet the significance of knowledge is it creates power, which only the priest possess. Only the priests withhold the knowledge because they desire to hold the power in their society. At the end of page one John, the narrator, says he wished to gain more knowledge. The priest are the ones with the power and knowledge in his tribe so the reader can infer that John aspires for more power. Since the narrator is a priest’s son he can strive for higher knowledge; therefore, he also can attempt to gain higher power in his tribe. At the end of the story when John gains the knowledge of the Gods being men he says that he can not tell his tribe everything. John says he has to tell the truth little by little.

In today’s modern world, technology reigns. Millions of people all over the globe utilize technology for a multitude of purposes every day, whether it be at work, school, or even from the leisure of their home. If you were to ask most people in America if they could live without technology even for a day, the answer would most likely be no. Contrary to opinions that are popular with my fellow millennials, I think that society is too dependent on technology. I believe society relies on technology too much because we use the internet for simple tasks that we should be capable of doing ourselves, our dependence has resulted in laziness, and technology is rapidly replacing people in the workplace, thus resulting in less jobs.

According to Steve Ballmer, I quote “The number one benefit of information technology is that it empowers people to do what they want to do. It lets people be creative. It lets people be productive. It lets people learn things they didn 't think they could learn before, and so in a sense it is all about potential.” End of quote. Although research has shown that technology is the enemy of human progress; over the years, technology has created faster communication, shortcuts in working, improved medical advances, and aided in relaxation.