Issue88--Thrive小组第4次作业....欢迎榴莲。

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TOPIC: ISSUE88 - "Technologies not only influence but actually determine social customs and ethics."

There is a controversy between people who believe that technologies actually changed our customs and standards of morality, and the ones who think not. The speaker claims that technologies will determine social customs and ethics. I do not agree the speaker's statement that technologies are a determinate factor of them, though new things would have an influence on our society.

Admittedly, new technologies are altering our society, from daily diet to communication style. Our customs, such as the way we travel, cook, dress, and are significantly changed during several centuries. When Christopher Columbus explored the American continent in 15th century, ship is the only method they could travel across the ocean, and it always takes several months to their destination. Now, by airplane, anyone could arrive in New York from Madrid within 24 hours. When we communicate with people from faraway, letter is our best choice several centuries ago. Nowadays, though letter still exist, our main choice has already altered to E-mail, a flexible and convenient way. Also, ethics was changed. Sexual activity before marriage is unmoral to traditional ethics; however, after condom was invented and became popular, it is eventually accepted by most people. Technologies actually influenced our cultures and the standard of moral.

Nevertheless, technologies are not a crucial factor that affects our customs and ethics. Our society custom is determined by many other factors, like history, politics and circumstances. Today, Chinese people are still celebrating their Spring Festival, one of their traditional festivals, and the Americans and Europeans are celebrating Christmas as they were doing before centuries. Although technologies have changed a lot, and they are almost as important in China as in Europe, they simply do not eliminate the custom difference between cultures. If technologies would totally change our social custom, their will not be any cultures at all, and the way people look, dress and act, will be almost the same around the world.

Further more, ethics, even was slightly changed by technologies, are not changing fundamentally. Anyone who treats people unjustly will be punished. For example, cheating in a examination, will always be a unmoral activity because the one who cheats just unfairly obtain information that he or she should not have, simply because it is not fair to other participants in the exam, the one who did it maybe will not get any chance to pass it. Also, people who are not polite to others will be condemned by the society. If someone is very rude, no one in the society will consider him as a transcendent but a malefactor. During this long time, ethics are almost only changed by the alternation of authorities, not the technologies. In slavery society, masters could have more than one wife, it is valid in that time. However, allow someone in a capitalism society to have multiple wives is not legal anymore, even for the king or the president. It is not the technologies which changed the standard of moral, but other factors have slightly changed it.

To sum up, technologies do have influence on today's life, including culture, social customs and ethics, however, the influence is not as strong as the speaker stated and thus could not determine how our custom could be and how our ethics would be like.

提纲:
tech influenced our custom and ethics, but not determine.
new tech do not determine our custom.
new tech do not determine our ethics.

540多字，字多了，却总觉得写的也不好了....
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