ISSUE196 【clover】 by a08805436

a08805436UID: 2725634

TOPIC: ISSUE196 - "Technology creates more problems than it solves, and may threaten or damage the quality of life."
WORDS: 534

DATE: 2010/2/8 15:22:03

Although there are some possible exceptions to the author's statement, I fundamentally agree with the claim that technology creates more problems than it solves and may damage the quality of life.

Admittedly, technology changes our life. If we look back at history, we see a clear pattern of machine automation slowly replacing human labor. From the disappearance of the elevator man to the near full automation of an automobile production plant, the fact is, as technology grows the need for humans is the work force will continuously be diminished, and thus we have more convenience and live a well-to-do life. It is the development of technology that aligns us and leads us on a continuous path to growth and progress.

Above this concession, I agree with the statement in two aspects. Firstly, with the boom of rapid modernization and inflation of technology, the environment has been heavily polluted.
Along with the widely used pesticide on the green plants we feed and zoo hormone we used on animals we eat, we have developed thousands of new diseases in the near one hundred years.
The development of technology has caused a lot of problems that threatened our lives as well as that of other species that lives on the same planet. Our life depends on how well we relate to everything around us. The whole nature is a unified system of interdependent variables, each a cause and a reaction, existing only as a concerted whole. Once we destroy the harmonious atmosphere of the earth, we, as a whole, have to suffer the consequence.

Secondly, while the damage on the outside world could possibly be diminished or healed by the efforts from all of us, the psychological harm of the inherent corruption is incurable. As mentioned above, the development of technology, or more precisely, the development of automation has slowly replaced the human labor, and thus creates a serious clash, which proves the falseness of the humanity. Industry only hires people because it has not been automated yet. The competition-based economy invariably leads to strategic corruption; power a wealth consolidation, social stratification, technological paralysis, labor abuse and ultimately a covert form of government dictator by the rich elite. When people get fired from their job, because a new machine has been created, which can do the work for less money, they tend to accept that "the way it is", not seen the inherent corrupt inhumanity of such an action. Because the fact is: whether it is dumping toxic waste or downsizing the workforce, the motive is the same -- profit! Therefore, corruption is not some "byproduct" of technology, it is the very foundation. And while most people acknowledge this tendency in one level or another, majority remains naive as to the broad ramifications of having such a selfish mechanism as the guiding mentality in society.

In conclusion, the development of technology has impaired our quality of life by its very foundation of corruption and inhumanity. If we human kind want to live a harmony and peaceful life in the world, we shall better assess the spectacular development from the other side. Only in that way will we be ready for the challenges and opportunities in the future.