- Introduction
There have been a number of important changes in the world in recent years, and many of these changes are due to technology. There are very few technologies that have not changed with time, and many of these technologies have evolved to make humanity live easier, more comfortable lives. Examining how technology has allowed us to live easier lives can be investigated in a number of different ways. There are now computers we can carry in our pockets; our car can give us directions to the nearest restaurant, and we live much longer lives thanks to advances in medical science. All of these benefits have been as a result of improvements in technology. These technologies have allowed humans to live easier, less stressful lives, as well as extended those lives significantly.
Technologies are improving so quickly that it is difficult to keep up. Trends in technology change so quickly that sometimes it seems as though one has barely risen while another has taken its place. There are people in their twenties today who remember a time before the Internet was ubiquitous; but today, in many parts of the world, Internet access is readily available via a cell phone.
New technologies have made everything much more convenient. While meeting people used to be a more complicated prospect, the introduction of cell phones means that now everyone is able to find each other. It is possible to track a lost cell phone across a continent, or to find a long-lost relative via social media. Technology has made a plethora of changes in our lives. These changes can be broken down into social and cultural changes, intellectual changes, and communication changes.
- Social and Cultural Changes
In Medieval times, people had no understanding about the necessity of clean water or the importance of cooking food properly. As a result, many people became ill and died from unclean water and food. However, today, science has advanced human understanding to the point where humanity as a whole understands the importance of cleanliness, although some places are cleaner than others.
Technology has also helped humanity deal with the knowledge that clean water and food are necessary. While the technology is not perfect, there are advancements being made every day to deal with issues that currently exist. For example, there are still people who do not have access to clean water in their homes or within close walking distance. Technology is how humanity is solving this particular problem: “According to the World Health Organisation, 1.6 million people die each year from diarrhoeal diseases attributable to lack of safe drinking water as well as basic sanitation. Researchers in India have come up with a solution to this perennial problem with a water purification system using nanotechnology. The technology removes microbes, bacteria and other matter from water using composite nanoparticles, which emit silver ions that destroy contaminants. ‘Our work can start saving lives For just $2.50 a year you can deliver microbially safe water for a family’” (Heneley) Technology has a cost, but that cost is minimal when considering the amount of lives donations of a minimal amount can easily save on a yearly basis.
This is, of course, only one functional example of social changes that have occurred as result of technology. There are many different ways that social changes have happened; for instance, today, there is a prevalence of online shopping in many places. This has led to a boom in an entirely new economy. In addition, people can much more easily vacation and experience new parts of the world as a result of improvements in technology. These improvements, have, in short, completely altered the social structure of many western countries.
Cultural changes have also been rampant as a result of technology. The advent of YouTube has created many an overnight celebrity. It is an interesting phenomenon-- anything can catch the eye of the public, even things that are seemingly random and unlikely to go viral. However, there are also very talented individuals that are discovered as a result of the Internet, who may never have been discovered otherwise. The internet allows people to post their ideas in a legitimately open space, in which there are very few ideas that are spread more widely than others merely because of who has written them. Everyone on the internet has the ability to be heard, and their voices are almost equally loud.
It is also much easier to maintain large networks of friends in various geographical locations as a result of changes in technology. Social media has introduced a way to present one’s life onto the internet, and to follow other people’s lives remotely. Today, many people engage heavily with social media. It is often hard to separate today’s twenty-somethings from checking their social media accounts on their mobile devices.
- Intellectual Changes
Most research suggests that far from becoming less intelligent with every generation, the intellectual capacity of every generation is improving. Indeed, just recently, humanity landed on a comet, after a journey that took the probe ten years to arrive. This is something that has never been done before, and this generation of scientists figured out how to make it happen. The Science Daily likens the event to the flight of the Spirit of Saint Louis-- not the first flight, to be certain, but a monumental one nonetheless: “The “we” echoes a famous human-machine flight relationship, Lindbergh’s solo crossing of the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis. Here, the distant robotic messenger and the human receiver — the “we” — are also collaborators in reaching a new milestone in flight. Philae had made it to the surface on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko ” (Wilford). Landing on the surface of a comet is something that humanity could not have conceived of even fifty years ago.
The rate of intellectual change is also changed because of its effect on education. Technology has changed education in very significant ways, and its impact increases all the time. Perhaps one of the most important ways that technology has improved education is the start of communication evolution. Although the common cultural trope is that kids do not know how to write properly anymore, there are fewer illiterate people today than there ever have been in the past. Kids haven’t lost the ability to communicate-- they’re merely speaking a different language.
Another significant way that technology has improved education is in the field of biochemistry. In the past, before Germ Theory, people died young; even in the past decades, treatment for many diseases has improved. For instance, both AIDS and cancer used to be death sentences for the individual who is diagnosed, but today, that is not the case at all; individuals with both cancer and AIDS survive long enough to live significant lives. Biochemistry and medical science have improved the length of life, while simultaneously attempting to minimize suffering.
Biochemistry has also managed to create genetically modified crops. These crops will be resistant to bugs, and will often produce more food per acre than the non-genetically modified crops. However, people are very distrustful of these kinds of changes, and often refuse to eat them because they do not understand the science behind them (Rifkin).
- Communication Changes
Communication has changed humans’ lives significantly, perhaps even moreso in the last decade than ever before. The introduction of the telegraph and the telephone were, of course, revolutionary in the age of smoke signals and flares; however, the internet that we use today is easily the most intensely important innovation in communication technology that has ever been invented.
Billions of people in the world have access to the internet. This is a huge, incomprehensible number-- it is the kind of number that cannot be imagined. Whenever those people go on the Internet, the only thing that is truly stopping them all from communicating is the language barrier. This is amazingly different than the past: today, an individual from any corner of the globe can contact nearly any other individual using the internet.
The introduction of sites like Facebook and other social media sites have also changed the world. Today, it is easier than ever to connect with anyone in the world via the internet. Long-lost family members can be found, cold cases can be solved, and lovers can see each other regardless of what continent they are on. Gone are the days of snail mail in which people had to wait months for news. Information today is instant; even news media can report live via the internet whenever an event happens.
- Globalization and Technology
The economy has also been irrevocably changed by improvements in technology. Today, businesses can operate on a global level-- both in terms of sales and employees. An employee who works for a company does not necessarily need to live in the same city or even on the same continent. Friedman, author of the landmark text on globalization entitled The World is Flat, writes: “No matter what your profession – doctor, lawyer, architect, accountant – if you are an American, you better be good at the touchy-feely service stuff, because anything that can be digitized can be outsourced to either the smartest or the cheapest producer” (Friedman). This is, Friedman suggests, the direct result of the interaction between the free market and technology.
Friedman also goes on to suggest that globalization is a positive force in the world. Globalization, he claims, has brought opportunities to every corner of the globe. Technology has allowed humanity a truly free and open marketplace of ideas, and the internet is a place where anyone can become well-known purely as a result of hard work and talent. How accurate this rose-colored view is remains to be seen; however, there are individuals from all over the world and from all acts of life who do become recognized as a result of technology. Stiglitz disagrees with this analysis; in Globalization and its Discontents, Stiglitz writes: “To put it baldly, there are two ways to become wealthy: to create wealth or to take wealth away from others. The former adds to society. The latter typically subtracts from it, for in the process of taking it away, wealth gets destroyed. A monopolist who overcharges for his product takes money from those whom he is overcharging and at the same time destroys value. To get his monopoly price, he has to restrict production” (Stiglitz). There is much discussion about the impact of globalization on the world, but one thing is certain-- globalization will not slow, and with it, many of the benefits will continue to spread to all corners of the globe.
Today’s world is, essentially, flat. An individual can get from one side of the planet to another in almost no time at all; as this travel time decreases, so too does the ability ideas to spread from one corner of the globe to another. There are many different ways to consider globalization as a force, but it is certainly a powerful one that will not be slowed in the future; it is a force that is here to stay.
- Problems of Technology
The problems that arise as a result of technology will never outweigh the benefits of having and utilizing technology. However, there are certainly bad things that happen as a result of having too much access to technology. For instance, students are no longer faced with the problem of not having enough information: today, the issue is students having too much access to information and being unable to determine the difference between good information and bad information.
Another common problem of technology is the problem of over-attachment to technology. It is not uncommon to go to dinner and see people constantly attached to their mobile devices. People go to concerts and hold up tablets to take images. In short, today’s generation is living behind a phone, capturing life on video, rather than living it. They are experiencing life completely differently than any generation before, and there is no knowing what the effects of this exposure will be.
One other type of unintended side effect of technology that can be very problematic is the medical side effect. For instance, there are many hospitals in the United States that are facing outbreaks of MRSA-- a type of antibiotic resistant infection-- as a result of the introduction of so many antibiotics into the environment, and the misuse and overuse of antibacterial products by the general population.
- Conclusions
There are no conclusions that can be drawn insofar as the future of technology is concerned-- there are so many potential avenues for technology to advance. In the future, issues such as the issue of worldwide renewable energy may be answered; perhaps hoverboards will be invented in the next year, or perhaps a manned mission to Mars is one of the next advancements. Regardless of the next advancement, each change is built upon the work of those that came before. Advancements in technology are an inevitable reality of being human. With every question humanity answers, ten more arise in its place, and those too must be answered. Humanity is incurably curious, and that curiosity has helped humanity build what it has today.
References
Chandler, David L. 'Innovation In Renewable-Energy Technologies Is Booming'. MIT News. N.p., 2014. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
Friedman, Thomas L. The World Is Flat. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. Web.
Henley, Will. 'The New Water Technologies That Could Save The Planet'. the Guardian. N.p., 2013. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
Mantoux, Paul. The Industrial Revolution In The Eighteenth Century. New York: Macmillan, 1961. Web.
MIT News,. 'Innovation In Renewable-Energy Technologies Is Booming'. N.p., 2014. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
Rifkin, Jeremy. The Biotech Century. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1998. Print.
Staton, Hilarie N. The Industrial Revolution. New York: Kingfisher, 2012. Web.
Stiglitz, Joseph E. Globalization And Its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton, 2002. Web.
Whitford, John Noble. 'So Far Away, Yet So Near To Us'. Science Daily., 2014. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
