Introduction
Over the years, the needs of individuals have been thought to be restructuring the society not in any sense but in the sense that such needs dictate the means and the ways of the society. Well, a critical look at the society today reveals a society that has been totally reformed by people’s needs. Recently, several revolutions spurring technology, medicine and so forth continue to reveal that the society is no longer in its natural context but by individual need. As a matter of fact, as people embrace various revolutions to make their lives better and worth living, they are conditioning the society.
In that line, several writers have insinuated that indeed need conditions the structure of the society to a significant extent. According to Cathy Davidson, in her book, “Project Classroom Makeover,” she tries to elaborate how people’s need has restructured the society. Cathy makes her reasoning on technological advancement not in any view but the view of its need in the classroom.
Apparently, Cathy talks of iPads and iPhones and tries to elaborate if indeed they are important in classrooms. She narrows down to the fact that people think that iPads are distracting in classes, she makes an interesting comparison by saying that if iPads are indeed destructing then, they can’t match the level of destructions posted by friends. By this statement, Cathy elucidates the negative attribute labeled on iPads.
“The Myth of the Ant Queen,” by Steven Johnson
Elsewhere, Steven Johnson in his essay, “The Myth of the Ant Queen,” explores the fact that individuals are conditioning the society though in other different forms. Steven Johnson’s article makes interesting remarks on the human complex system; moreover, he tries to reveal these complexities in a more clear and vivid manner. Precisely, he states that complex systems operate in an independent manner; every single part of the system has its unique ways of operations, it does not need other parts of the system to tell it what to do to work effectively. He compares the system to the single jobs done by individual ants, even though the jobs done by these individual ants may seem worthless, without these jobs the whole colony would not be able to survive. According to Steven, without these little jobs done by individual ants, the colony would not be able to fend for some of the most needed commodities such as food. It’s quite interesting how he makes these revelations, as a matter of fact, he made a more detailed study of how the ant colony works; as for this reason, and he compares it to an actual colony controlled by a queen. He continues to make it even more comical by saying that he was specifically perplexed by the fact that the ants even had a cemetery for their loved dead ones; they made their cemetery far away from their abodes just like human beings.
“The Ecstasy of Influence: a Plagiarism,” by Jonathon Lethem
Nonetheless, Johnson Lethem, in his essay, “The Ecstasy of Influence: a Plagiarism,” tries to explore some contentious issues in regards to the society. On his side, he tries to unearth if indeed there is any relationship between human need and the structure of the society. To prove his point worthy, he makes this comparison in regards to artists, singers, authors, cartoonists and songwriters who borrow from other sources to create their work. He specifically points to various artistic works in the society today, for example, The Simpson, TV Shows and the Surrealist Art Movement, just to mention but a few. He believes that even though these artistic works are part and parcel of today’s life, they are indeed subject to plagiarism and piracy because they are literary copied from other sources. However, he does not dismiss the fact that they farm a well-choreographed cultural identity of the current society. He boldly speaks of the gift economy and public commons are insinuating to the fact that these are just but inspirational works that must be taped from individual sources. He juxtaposes these aspects to the value they generate, not the money they are capable of producing.
Conclusion
However, due to the people’s constant yearning to keep abreast with the current technology, to remain relevant and be trendy, iPads must just be allowed in classrooms. Through this, it can be clearly seen that people’s needs condition the society. Moreover, Steven Johnson explains the same situation though in an entirely different way, in his essay, he makes it clear that just the same way ants behave they greatly emulate human beings.
He goes further to state that ants function in an independent way without being told what to do. Just the same way people have the cemetery for their dead loved ones and make these cemeteries far away from their living setups, so do ants. Human beings are conditioning the society while doing so. Johnson Lethem believes that today’s life is plagiarized from some source, he clearly points out that there is no originality in human setup; everything we see is someone’s creation. Through plagiarism and piracy, ideas will be passed from one generation to the next making it quite clear that people are restructuring and conditioning the society in which they live in. All the three texts vividly reveal that people's needs dictate the structure of the society.
