However you argue it, information overload is better than information poverty. But access to information is just one of the many arms of technology. We may be living in the best of all possible worlds but the awesome is still yet to come. Human evolution has come this far because of innovation and improvement in everyday products and services. And technology has played a significant role in what we do and how we live our lives. But has tech fixed our economic and social problems?
But the ugly truth is, technology gives and takes. You can be assured of the help you need when you reply on technology. There are also associated risks with technology in all industries. It’s about what we decide to do with technology that matters.
Today, thanks to exponential growth in processing power, storage, and bandwidth, we have the ability to do things that were literally impossible just a few years ago.
There has been an ongoing debate on whether the effects of technology are negative or positive. Some believe that technology is moving too fast and the advancements technology is doing more harm than good. Others believe that technology is extremely helpful and the benefits out way the risks.
Here is a in-depth response from a redditor on the topic.
I think the sum total of its impact is negative, because although it is directly responsible for our enormous ascent in population (which in itself is a huge problem), this is also due to irresponsible use and development of technology. That is to say our mindframe, from which these inventions spring, has been exploitative and this is self destruction.
Sure a “simpler time” may have more frequent problems, hardships in the daily lives of individuals, but what we have now is a massive riddle that few people even acknowledge the existence of, always staving it off for the next technological inoculation, a neo “waiting for Christ” approach.
But technology can’t necessarily save us from the crises we are moving towards or the crises we are in. One invention attempts to fix what the last invention caused and the world and its life forms continue to be exploited, enslaved, abused, and sold …… often for human conveniences and luxuries that dont give to us but rob us of true Earthly experience, like being out of breath, sweating, being rained on, talking to a neighbor, going to the forest (as our lifestyle will eventually cost us all of the forests), having a fresh breath of air etc.
The internet is a wonderful invention too yes, but how many billions of gigabytes are devoted to absolute nonsense, distractions, deceptions, and otherwise harmful material….as the planet burns. The emphasis I intend to make is on responsible use, and that is what is rare.
It is also worth considering that the structure of these tools do not inspire the most responsible use, in other words, that a bulldozer or a gun couldn’t possibly do much good… and then there is also the nature of how these things are marketed to us, appealing to our base nature. ..
Overall I believe our daily reliance on technology be it the internet, our cars, our society, our phones puts us out of touch from ourselves and the world around us. The internet enables us to share text on a screen with people around the world, but this kinship can be more tangibly expressed in a life of love for your neighbors, a locality, or landbase.
My car can take me where I want to go, but if I was using my land properly, I wouldn’t have to travel 30+ miles everyday to make a living. Or rather, to have numbers transferred to my bank account… and there is the maxim also about having access to all this information, in lifestyles deprived of the ability to develop experiential wisdom which i believe refers also to the factor of responsibility. The fact is technology is the justification in the narrative of infinite progress, and I don’t think we should accept it, because it will cost us our lives and all life on planet earth.
It is my belief that if it goes on the way that it has (exploitative, capitalistic, imperialistic, social darwinian, anthropocentric, consumerist , etc.) it will be destruction for life as we know it on earth. But if we learn from our errors and approach life from a different orientation, we may be able to transition to a better place and all of this would not be for nil.
I do believe that imminent destruction is more realistic than techno utopia though. We need to get our hearts right If we want to survive. The whole concept of society, resource management, and economy needs to be rethought, or we’re going to be extinct. I’m sure that technology could facilitate this process somehow, but it cannot possibly do it for us.
Do you think our reliance on technology in everyday life has made a positive contribution to peoples lives,or a negative one? Follow the discussion on reddit here.
