Future Shock Reaction

“We must begin to say 'no' to certain kinds of technology
and to begin to control technological change because we've now reached the
point that technology is so powerful and so rapid that it could destroy us
unless we control it.”

I
agree with this statement because it does seem like technology has more control
over us than we have over it. People can no longer function in their daily
lives without using a computer, cell phones or some sort of technology. Because
we are so reliant on our technology, it has control over us. We are willing to
sacrifice certain human rights for the ability to use technology. For example,
when you get on Facebook you have to agree to certain terms that restrict your
privacy. A Facebook user may not necessarily want their information to be
released to the internet, but in order to get Facebook the user must agree to
the terms. Most people are unwilling to give up Facebook, so they give up
privacy for technology. This is an example of how technology can have control
over us.
There
is a theory out there that I tend to agree with. This theory is Technological
Determinism. In “Wired: Why the future doesn’t need us,” Bill Joy discusses how
eventually artificial intelligence will get to the point where humans must
compete with it. “The experiences of the atomic scientists clearly show the
need to take personal responsibility, the danger that things will move too
fast, and the way in which a process can take a life of its own.” This idea of
technology taking over is one that has been portrayed in many science fiction
novels and films, but it may be true unless humans become less reliant on
technology.

Likes & dislikes of technology

The characteristic of technology I like
most is definitely the ability to access information quickly. If I’m doing a
research paper I can just go online and Google something rather than search
through stacks of books, pining through pages and pages of information, while
looking for something useful. If I am ever curious about
something I can pull out my smart phone and have the information I am seeking
within ten minutes. The ease of accessing information is leading to exponential
growth in discovering new technologies. According to scientist and author, Ray Kurzweil, “An
analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is
exponential, contrary to the common-sense ‘intuitive linear’ view. So we won’t
experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century — it will be more like
20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate)” (www.kurzweilai.net). Therefore,
the ability to access information is only getting easier and more convenient.
The characteristic of technology I
dislike is when it does not work. Certain technologies provide the users which
such high expectations of their abilities, so people rely on them. Then when
they fail, users have a tendency to get frustrated with it because it does not
meet their expectations. I am one of those people who get extremely frustrated
with technology. I feel I spend half my awake hours waiting for pages to load
or trying to fix my computer with my limited knowledge in technology. And I
know I am not alone because when I mentioned this is what I disliked while in
class on Monday, several of my classmates reacted in a way that seemed like
they felt the same way. “In a Sunday Star-Times readers' poll, almost half of
respondents said they became so irked with technology they resorted to yelling
at their computers or phones. Almost half of those surveyed (47 percent) were
driven to yell occasionally and 10 percent frequently found themselves driven
to shout (stuff.co.nz). Technology frustration is something inevitable, but it
is an obstruction to the many positives.

A Matter of Ethics

     After viewing Future Shock, one thing about society is clear: We may advance quickly, but the people accept change well. he author of Future Shock theorized that technology would take us places which would cause us harm. In some cases, the author may be correct, but for the most part, technology succeeds in that it brings us more good than harm. I believe that humanity has the power and the responsibility to use the advances it creates sensibly.

Organ Transplants

Watching "Future Shock" actually frightened me a little bit. The program brought my attention to something that I had always taken for granted and never actually considered abnormal. Organ transplants.

Technology Takeover!

Technology is advancing at a rapid pace. It seems like only yesterday I was listening to my cd player. And now we have iPods and iPads that not only let us listen to music but watch movies, check email, etc. Today it seems like these new advances are appearing at a ridiculously fast rate and our dependence on them is so great.

The Times, They are a Changing

DON'T FALL BEHIND, KEEP UP WITH THE LATEST, BUY NOW!

These three phrases seemed to be prominent in the lives of the American population in the 1970s. The phrase “keeping up with the Jones’” comes to mind when watching Orson Welles’ narration. Technology in this time was advancing too quickly, and people were becoming too “sick” from this change.

Tackling Technology

After watching the compilation of Future Shock videos I gained a sense of what technology has truly become in recent years.  It seemed as if in the 1970’s scientists were trying to come up with a resolution to every problem.  However, as Orson Welles’ narration summed it up best we use technology as a way to be “adapted to momentary needs” (Future Shock). 

I was struck by just how many areas of our life people are working on changing.  The beauty of life is about going through natural changes and growing old, as did our parents and those before them.  Now we have elderly people going in for cosmetic surgery trying to look younger when in reality their “clock” is on its final moments.  While we can use these upgrades in technology to cure a disease and expand the age of which we can live there is a certain point where technology becomes to be too much. 

            Technology has not only replaced the way humans look and act today but it has sometimes negatively affected humans in other areas as well.  There are many jobs in which people have been laid off because a team of robots can do the job better or faster.  What we have to ask ourselves is who is behind the mind of these robots? It is the people who have created them and it is the people who need to put limitations on them because it is causing many families to fall apart.  I don’t think one would be too happy if a company came out with a machine that could do your job better than you.  All those years of work, studying and applying yourself for what reason? 

            While technology may pave great advancements for generations to come, we must not be totally reliant on these machines to help us function.  We need to bring back the era of appreciating what we have and not throwing our favorite toy away because the newest one came out, as shown in Future Shock.  It is destroying the minds of the young because we look to technology for answers instead of people.  We prefer to “ask Jeeves” a question instead of going to our moms and dads which is an issue that must be controlled by limiting the power of technology.

Controlling Our Technology Usage

                We can see the constant changes of technology in two different ways: positive or negative. There are two sides to most issues, and naturally people have different viewpoints. Would one rather live in a world with so many changes that it is impossible to take the necessary time to adapt to them? Or would one take a liking to all of those changes and admire the fact that our world is becoming more and more advanced each day and altering the future? Are people afraid of what the technological future potentially has in store for us?

Is Technology taking over?

            When I was little I used to sit around the kitchen table and listen to stories from my grandpa about when he was growing up in the depression. He would talk about how he felt lucky that he lived on a farm and always had food and how the only thing he ever wanted was a bicycle.  After that I would listen to stories about how my dad had a so called party telephone like with his neighbor’s house. Up until now I always kind of dismissed those stories as just something that happened a long time ago but now I think that maybe technology is moving a little faster than anyone ever imagined.

When Has Technology Gone Too Far??

“Back when I was a kid I played outside until dinner, we left the doors unlocked at night and listened to the news on a radio” is a classic quote my father says, and until this class I just thought it was another “old person quote” said by my parents, but now that I look at how technology changed us as a community I begin to rethink my reasoning about how this technology generation has completely changed the way of life as we know it.  Technology could someday take over our lives or completely change society.

The Future is Now

            While there is certainly some truth to the statement that “we must begin to say 'no' to certain kinds of technology and to begin to control technological change because we've now reached the point that technology is so powerful and so rapid that it could destroy us unless we control it,” I feel that it is rather more alarmist than useful (Future Shock). I do agree that there are certain technologies that should be denied for the moment, to be researched in-depth further in the future when we are more used to the constant change technology has brought us and have better learned to adapt to such change, for instance, eugenics and human cloning. There are so many possible abuses of such technology, and such a fine line between a miracle and an abuse, that a culture just emerging from the throes of “future shock” should not ideally be trusted with them.

Is Technology Taking Over?

            Our world is full of choices. Walk into a grocery store, and one is faced with many choices. Which brand to get? Frozen or Fresh? Organic of Non-organic? Even when getting ready in the morning, which clothes should one wear? What shoes? Should one put on make up or gel their hair? Everywhere we go we are faced with choices. With all the choices we have set before us, what would happen if those choices were taken away? Would our world be the same? Technology is a huge part of our world, and because of it, we are allowed to have all these choices. Are we all going through ‘Future Shock’?

Click...click....BOOM goes technology (and maybe us as well?)

 This blog post will cover the concept of digital natives and the current crisis of the beginning of technological dependence. In addition to these themes I will also be analyzing the dystopic concepts of technology stated in an article titled Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us.

Does the future freak you out?

"We must begin to say 'no' to certain kinds of technology and to begin to control technological change because we've now reached the point that technology is so powerful and so rapid that it could destroy us unless we control it."

After watching Future Shock, I’m mostly glad I didn’t live in the 70’s.  My first impression was that people are crazy!  Everyone seems to be freaking out without good reason.  I am excited to see where technology takes us, not scared!  I’m figuring that at least for the next few decades we’ll be alright because to the best of my knowledge we don’t have any Artificial Inteligence’s who have the capacity to re-create themselves either by cloning or Frankenstein-style.