ISSUE 196 - "Technology creates more problems than it solves, and may threaten or damage the quality of life."
Nowadays technology has pervaded every aspect of our lives, and as a result, the society is changing at the unprecedented speed. On one hand the technological advancement not only improve the quality of life by providing more leisure time and more material convenience but also solve the tough problems that perplexed human being for a long time such as severe illness and how to raise increasing population with decreasing cultivated land. On the other hand, technology is like two-edge sword and might harm the surviving of the human being and destroy the civilization and human being themselves. However, in my view, the advantages that the technology brought out overweigh its disadvantages in the long run.
Technology plays a vital part in the improving the quality of life by enhancing the material progress and creating more leisure time. It is the technology that makes people leave the ancient times when human suffered severe natural conditions as well as the slow-developed society and step into the modern times when people enjoy the convenience and efficiency produced by technological achievements. Take the invention of automobiles, one of the most significant inventions in the 20th century, for instance. The automobiles make the traveling of people and goods faster and easier than on foot or by carrier. With the telephone and fax, the communication between people in long distant becomes more immediately and conveniently. When mentioning the technological fruits, the computer, the symbol of technological advancement, cannot be omitted. It transforms the business and life around us, relieves the drudgery of simple task and brings new capabilities to complex one. Simply put, all the technological achievements free man from the laborious work and increase the efficiency of work and life, making more leisure time available for people to enjoy the colorful life.
Furthermore, it is the technology that assists people to know the world and conquer the numerous difficult problems that threaten the living of human beings. With the scientific instruments, people do not constrain by their fields of vision and extension of reaching like they used to. People can observe the structure of small cells clearly by microscope and also the distant and mysterious universe distinctly by telescope, which are beyond the limitation of human being themselves. Furthermore, throughout most of human history, limitations on food production, together with lack of medical knowledge, have threatened the living of human being. As the agricultural technology came out, the machinery of farms, such as tractors, cultivators and combines, dramatically promote the farming efficiency and productivity , and therefore meeting the increasing food demand with the growing population. With the progression toward greater understanding of the nature of disease and its prevention, the medical technology contributes to overcoming the severe diseases one by one. Such discoveries as antiseptics and anesthesia made possible other life-prolonging medical treatments.
However, as things always go against the will, the original intention of technology is to bring benefits, but the opposite side is the threat it brings. The case of nuclear power illustrates once again that technology can be both a blessing and a curse. In recent decades we have become increasingly aware that the damage of nuclear power if it does not use properly. The leakage of nuclear power will bring disastrous fortune to the environment and human beings in the vicinity of it. What is worse, if the nuclear power is used to make the nuclear weapons in the war, tremendous innocent people will suffer the pains of diseases that cannot be cured and even their lives.
In sum, although the technology will harm the living of human beings to some extent, it also provides the convenience and efficiency for people to enjoy and a tool or a new way to conquer the diseases. In one word, the technology brings more benefits than tragedies to human beings.