The Emergence Of A Hazardous Concept Analysis

In his essay, “Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change,” Neil Postman brings up a plethora of ideas on the topic of our ever-changing landscape in the technological world, discussing at length the problems of technology and culture. In his first point, Postman states that “technology giveth, and technology taketh away” (Postman, 27). His argument insists that in a culture swept up in technology, humans do not stop and ask questions regarding the possible detriments of new inventions. He continues on to say that though technology favours some individuals, it may harm others, or neglect a group of people entirely. In spite of this, humans continue to use and expand upon technologies as they emerge. Next, the author discusses how

The Communist Manifesto starts with the famous quote, “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles” (Marx and Engels, p. 14). This quote indicates the class struggle evolved from capitalism where mankind focused their efforts on improving society by desiring more physical means to provide monetary value. Since Marx was philosophical materialist, he held the belief that everything is matter, solid and physical. According to this belief, the human mind is simply neurons firing and everything the body and mind is capable of can be explained biologically. Following this principle, the only things of importance are materialistic objects, therefore objects are of the most value. Ergo, Marx’s prominent claim

What is technology and how can it be defined? “Technology is anything that wasn’t around when you were born,” and he would be right (Alan Kay). Nonetheless, it is also much more: cellular devices, internet networks, and social media, but could technology also be a ballpoint pen, door hinges, or an interstate sign? Absolutely, as it does not have to be plugged-in in order to serve a purpose to our daily lives. More specifically, the World Wide Web and social media integrate with our mind and intellectual abilities. Prior to reading “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr, the arrangement of the Internet seemed quite simple and I believed it was my fault for the distraction but, after I finished reading I can conclude that the techniques

There are many different stances one could take on the subject “Unimpeded technological progress is good for society.”. One could agree with Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, and Bradbury’s The Veldt and claim that technology is dangerous and will inevitably fall into the wrong hands one day. Another stance would be with Spike Jonze’s Her, which brings forth the opinion that technology is both good and bad. Finally, one’s opinion could lie with George Saunder’s “Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz” and claim technology is a good thing. While I can see where both Saunders and Kubrick are coming from, my own opinion is more closely represented by Jonze. I believe that technology can be both good and bad, and that its rapid growth can be both helpful and harmful to those around us.

Arnold Pacey published Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand Year History in the year 1991. Arnold Pacey was an associate lecturer at The Open University in Britain as well as an author to three additional books: Meaning in Technology, The Maze of Ingenuity, The Culture of Technology. He published all four of his books within a ten-year span. Arnold Pacey was trained as an engineer but is well known as a historian of technology because of the conclusions he drew of society and technology and their relationship. Society is defined as the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community. Technology is defined as the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry. Technology influences every aspect of our lives today, but we often forget that it profoundly affected the lives of past generations dating back to the beginning of civilization. Perhaps not to today’s extent, but the impact was still dramatic. New inventions or innovations produced more food, created new processes and tools, made life easier and made war more devastating. This course traces the evolution of technology and its impact on civilization from the creation of elementary tools up to today’s latest devices and even looks into future technologies.

In many respects, the story of the development of human society can be read as a story of technological development. Such a reading might mean interpreting the term technology fairly broadly, however. While this word's everyday use often connotes gadgets and devices, it is also possible to use this term to refer to the use of scientific knowledge to develop innovations that have practical uses (Oxford English Dictionary Online). Thus, in the same way that we think of airplanes as a technology for transportation and mobile phones a technology for communication, we might think of a judicial system as a technology for social control, or of antibiotics as a technology for combatting certain types of infections, and so forth.

As he is describing capital I get the feeling that it is not just about the way people classify each other, but how we also classify ourselves. When he is tying capital into globalization he mentions that we are expanding the capital and therefore creating an overdrive of our growth world (Longhofer). I still cannot fathom how Marx could have predicted the way we would grow as a society and yet he is so right with everything he predicted. When Marx was speaking about how we would grow I first began to wonder how he could have even thought to think outside of the proverbial box and yet the way he talks about the capital of people tying in with the globalization of the world is mind blowing. He mentions that globalization has been happening for a long time, but how could he have even thought that things would grow as fast as they have from back then? If he could only see the growth that the world has made he would be shocked at how 'right on point' he was.

From the Abacus, the simplest form of calculating to the role of today’s computer, from the early telegraph to today’s satellite communications, from the simplest kite to today’s Jet Engine Airplanes, from the first liquid-fuelled rocket to today’s Space Shuttle, and much more to come, inventors, scientist, engineers, military forces and governments have all been responsible for those new discoveries made by mankind. “Perhaps the most misleading catch-phrase learned in childhood is that ‘Necessity is the mother of invention’ creating social compulsions no one knows how to control.” (The Inventions, pg.8) In the 1980’s, people were embroiled in many problems related to the evolution of technology, from those created by the microchip to those unleashed by the H-bomb. In contrast, invention springs from a divine discontent with things the way they are and a conviction that man can do better.

Marx’s conception of society has its grounds in a theory of action: as he put it, human beings make their own history. But Marx goes on to argue that they do this is circumstances which are not of their own choosing, and he develops an analysis of how action is organized by these circumstances as material conditions of production which structure and determine the social relationship that are primarily generated by the particular material forces of production utilized, which include not only raw materials but also the technology which is used to extract and work them into products (Jenks 15).

Over time our technological advancements have improved. This has improved our way of living. From building machines to making medicine, technology has helped us make it easier to do. Without this technology, we wouldn’t be where we are today. But what is technology? Technology is not just electronics. Technology is simply something that makes things easier to do, such as, a hammer

“Technology is a queer thing. It brings gifts in one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other,” as quoted by American stand-up comedian Carrie Snow. As aforementioned by Snow, technology is an anomaly itself since it is composed of a staggering amounts of attributes, ranging from moral to physical attributes specifically, that have yet to be established or even discovered. These aspects seem to be established for when it comes to developing any form of technological progress. Even as simple as it seems to ponder the concept of technology, it is rather stunning to process as well. It all seems to be due to the thought of not knowing the outcome of any advancement in technology. Unfortunately, there is also the other side of technology

Technology is defined as, “a branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science.”(dictionary.com) To me, there are many interpretations and ideas of what technology is. In my opinion, our world today is based off of technology. We have evolved into a society that depends on technology, and uses it for our everyday needs and wants. Today we use devices such as, cameras, cellphones, computers, television sets, navigation devices, and many more. Our lives revolve around anything technology based and without

Technology has been a constant in human life. Estranged Labor by Karl Marx and Michel Focualt’s Discipline and Punishment depict how technology has effected human history and the beginnings of new ways of thinking about the life and dignity of a human. Karl Marx’s reading, “Estranged Labor,” shows how technology can create mistrust and lessen the value of a human. Michel Focualt’s Discipline and Punishment unveils the beginning of new technology that is constantly evolving from horrifying beginnings to a slowly progressing future. Technology grows and changes every day. The new and old inventions effect the shape of human life indirectly or directly. This essay will argue that as humans evolved, the use of technology, old and new, has greatly effected how a human lives, learns, and understands the ever-changing world.

Technology―a science that enables the ability to control the natural resources that would benefit man’s needs. The complex word originated from techne that was derived from the fundamental idea of the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, which means, “craft knowledge”. Aristotle wrote about how “technology imitates nature” in that humans use natural products in order to create an unnatural man-made resource (Schummer). Even though technology is unnatural, it has been a prominent innovation that promotes the development of society. With this growing trend of this progressing science, civilization is corrupted with technology as it made into man’s major source of life while nature’s mysteries are left unexplored. That is not to say that technology

In today's world, the real meaning of technology is not understood and known by all. Technological innovations do not worry people, unless of course, they are done to things we eat or use as medications or ones that affect our lives in any way. Often we do not think of things such as seedless fruits and antibiotics as technology. However, if we look deep into the meaning of technology, it is bought about my human beings and changes the environment so our goals can be met and in such a case even fruits become technology. (Cowan 301-326)