issue 88

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The relationship between technology and ethics and customs have raise up people’s widely concern for considerable a period of time, does technology can not influence but also determine customs or ethic as the author asserted? In response of the issue, we need to analyze the proposition comprehensively and systematically. The assertion has merits from a normative standard, which I agree with that technology have exerted great progress on customs and ethics. From my personal perspective , however, it is somewhat flawed and defective, because overlook the effect that technology have on customs and ethics, misleading people to see the fact that some customs and ethics which have so long history or deep rent that can not be changed by technology. I will illustrate my point as follows.

First and foremost, technology has already changed people’s life in many ways. Technology aim to use new technique to create new things, which can make people live better. Let’s take internet for example. With the occurrence of internet which leading people went into a new e-life, more and more people buy clothes on the internet instead of traditionally in the supermarket, and also businessmen make deals through internet replacing meeting in a conceal which wastes considerable of time on the way, then the whole world have popular
globalization. Another example is industrial revolution, which bring steam engine, woman began to have their job, workforce was more relied on machines with people to 操作manipulate. From these we can see people would justify their customs due to the out coming of new technique, especially whose can make their lives much easier in an authority’s way.

Beyond the concession, I disagree with what the speaker claim that technology can also determine social customs and ethics. As a certain number of social customs and ethics especially spread from ancient，they have such a deep rent
that can not easily be changed or reverse by new technology. Whether at personal, community, and global levels we can prove it. For instance spring festival in china or chrisms in America always be celebrated every year with no matter so many centuries’ change, which I think thus festival contain the emotion of nature, the best wished and expectation for new year.
From the aspect of ethic, people in every country love their parents which can not be changed a little by technology, that is also from human’s nature, which linked to social right and wrong ethics they remains the same from ancient to nowadays. Meanwhile customs and ethics which associated tightly with some kind of moral lines and perhaps stands for a crucial sprit that support a nation they seems have little or no change with technology.

Finally and perhaps most importantly, it is wise and justifiable to realize the factor that sometimes customs and ethics may obstacle the development of technology which probably cross the moral line. Colony has been a excellent invention when it firstly advocated. While when it begin to announce applying to colonizing human, then ethics play its role, considering the result that make hay of the society, colony people is stopped by government in law force. It is the same situation to unclear weapons, despite how powerful it is, only assuming the terrible result in Japan, finally it is all claimed to stop. At a consequence, it is obvious that the progress of technology in fact has a great limitation of customs and ethics in some extents.

From the analyses above I strongly commit to the optimal conclusion technology and customs ethics influence each other call for a balance. In this sense, technology is a double edged sword hinging on our attitudes toward it, in which way we shall take every possible considerations into account when judging the position that technology lay to customs or ethics.