DEBATE: Has Technology made our lives easier or better?

[theseed]

I would like to hear people's opinions before I offer mine.

[theseed]

Point: Modern Technolody provides of with many time saving devices such as cars, telophones, microwaves, PDA's, copiers etc. We can do more in less time

Counter point: Many of us complain about having less time, 51% of Adults reported wanting more time and money. Where as all the free time gone? Research suggests that our free time is lost to TV. Also because we can do more, we are expected to do more. The expectations are higher. We expect to do more.

Point: Thanks to Technology, we are rich or affluent. We have such ammenities as air conditioning and TV. In the 1990's, spending on luxary items increased 4 times faster than overall spending.

Counter-Point: In spite of economic abundance, people do not feel good about thier f economic well being. Half of adults (American) want more money. Our system's commitment to growth as well as mass marketing as created in insatiable thirst for consumption (According to Watchel) We are not happier because we expect to have more.

Point: Technology has improved our ability to process information exponentially. We can have acess to 500 channels of TV. We have online databases that contain to access millions of magazine and journal articles. We can use the internet to track the stock market, compare prices, and so forth. Also, we can communicate with friends in distant places. Google has recorded over 8 billion webpages.

Counter point: David Shenk in his book, Data Smog, argues that the information glut no longer adds to the quality of life but only brings stress and confusion. and ignorance. . There is an everwidening gap between what we think and what we should understand. For example, the one issues of NY TImes has more info that what someone in the 1600's would have come across in thier entire lifetime. I've also heard something along the lines that we make more decisions in a day that people 100 years ago made in entire life time.

Point: Modern Technology has provided us with control over the world around us. Advances in agriculture have increased food production. We have hundredds of miles of canals to move water where we wish to create reseviors and build cities in deserts. Doctors can take a man's heart out of his chest, lay it on a table, and later put it back in, working better than before. Also, they can reattach limbs, and correct near-sightedness with lasers.

Counter Point: Modern Technology has had a devasting affect on the world. The average temperature has increased 2 degrees in the past 50 years, and scientists believe this could increase exponatially, and it has changed whether patterns already. Also, the soils and air have been doused and dumped with chemicals and pollution. Even more, much of the planet's resources are being depleted through mining, drilling, and deforestation. The US consumes 25% of all commericial energy, with only 5% of the world's population.


Adpated from: Psychology applied to Modern Life by Wayne Weiten and Margaret Lloyd, 7th ed

[docjam]

This can be argues effectively either way I think. While it's true that modern technology can save lives, get us places quicker and do many other things, I think it also has put us in such a society where we actually expect all these things and NOW! I actually remember a time when someone blamed a doctor because a friend or relative or someone died. There's absolutely no way that it simply could've been there time.

When looking at it deeper, they were in their late 50's and had smoked two packs of cigarettes for who knows how long, ate a diet that was fit for that of two and a half people and just lived completely unhealthily. Forget the idea that their completely unhealthy lifestyle helped bring their death along, with all the technology we have today, he shoulda been saved and since he wasn't, the doctor obviously is to blame. I know to many of us smart people on here this sounds completely lame, but unfortunately that's the way our society is. If something doesn't happen the way we want, forget all the good modern technology can do, it's simply not good enough.

Yes, modern technology is a great thing and has so many wonderful advantages for us however it also has made us a very ungrateful nation I feel (in general). Not to get off on a tangent or anything, but I kinda think that's the way satan wants it. If we get so caught up in everything that's happening around us and are so time oriented, we forget to spend time with God. If we have such a certain schedule we must hold to, we don't leave room to just sit in God's presence. Unfortunately, we need to be here or there meeting a person or shopping for whatever because we have a store for everything in this modern day...I could go on forever about this but I won't.

Technology is a great thing, it really is...but it's also made us feel that we can have everything at our slightest whims and we really can't. Technology has made it so we can have the perfect car, the perfect house, the perfect fast food restraunt...never mind, I said I was gonna end there...it's a great thing when it's not abused...

[mentored1]

theseed certainly covered many good bases with point-counterpoint presentation... So I'll not revisit those... There is something that comes to mind that I marvel at though...

I've had many discussions with how limited, finite, and powerless man really is (particularly when discussing theology) but there's something about technology that defies this.

Man cannot fly of his own power - but we can build machines to fly. Fly to another city, another country, and to the moon. And probably - barring self-destruction - to another planet.

Man lived a very short and brutal life not that long ago; yet now we can save people by transplanting organs, repairing arteries, and administering drugs to combat various infections and diseases. And what is to say if we will not someday be able to address aging and live for a VERY long time?

There are so many categories we can address: and of course there is a dark side to each and every one of them, but I fail to see how this is relevant. There are two sides to each coin - it's a poignant fact of human existence.

What I keep in perspective is that man can imagine and then create what he imagines: is that not the power of Creation? When I see how the imagination has driven these marvels to make the seemingly impossible possible I question what the real limits are to this creative power.

Technology is a tool - the art of which is part of the human story - and will be wielded in accordance with our imagination. So perhaps we can ask if the imagination has made our lives easier? If we can envision proper ends for our tools - if we can avoid dismantling ourselves in the process - then what are the limits to our achievements?

Take care