Hype Vs. Hysteria

The Pros and Cons of Technological Advancement

People often say, “Change is good”.  I often wonder if those are the same people who declare new technology the bane of of humanity.

In class we learned about the myths, hype and hysteria. I really connected to the concept; will we see a utopian future due to technology, or will we see a dystopian one. I believe this issue isn’t black and white. I can see as a whole how both sides will frame their arguments. But I want the past to be examined before the future is predicted.

Just from pre-industrial revolution day up to present day I think technology has done the world a lot of good and a lot of harm. Overall it would be good to list all the good things technology has done and all the bad, and which which side will come out on top. But, I don't have the wealth of historical data to based my stance on hard numbers. Without even talking about the Internet much more primitive technology ushered in periods of fear and adulation for humanity. Things like electricity, modern medicine, cars, planes, rocketships and, on the other hand tanks, submarines, advanced weaponry, let alone atomic weapons. The manufacturing industry aided by new technology quickly changed the way people lived, fought, and entertained themselves.  The technology that mind that world smaller, telegraph, telephone, radio and television can be overlooked for all  the benefit they did to spreading information and quickly making the world a smaller place. Not as small as we know  it to be today but smaller still.

When I hear the argument that technology is bad it this makes me think how would we be living without it. I think it has done much more good than bad in the last 100 years or so. Would people who denounce technology want to live in a world without it-or even the pre-industrial world. If they do I would digress be does not even make this argument but I don't believe that to be the case. An added element to this is the idea of invisible technology, or the idea that as technology matures, it ceases to be remarkable or people don’t realize just how dependent they are on it. Once old technology becomes invisible it’s solely the newest thing that is viewed as technology. So, people talk about the detriment of cell phones and then that go home and use a land line.

I am in general excited as to what the future holds in terms of technological advancement. From relatively simple thing like oculus rift and gaming to nanotech and whatever that stuff will be able to do. I don't remember where I read this but I remember reading something about aging populations and how the hysteria around robots taking all the jobs is misplaced because these very same robots could be the key to  supplementing health care for elders. Simple things like helping elders get around their homes, creating an environment where they feel like someone is there and listening, providing with a sense of security if they live alone. I think this'll be a big issue with the baby boomers getting increasingly older, we might have the technology when they are at that age to need care that the technology might be available to them to help assist with their self-care or those caring for them. It will be interesting to see how that plays out whether older people keep this stance as a whole that technology is deprivating to the world as it cares for them. Or, will they become more receptive to what is really inevitable because even with the people on the hysteria side of things technology won't stop, progress won't stop. Even it is not in fact progress because we are progressing towards dystopia I don't see the train of technological advancement slowing down or stopping anytime soon