FREE ESSAY ON TECHNOLOGY: HELPFUL OR HURTFUL?

TECHNOLOGY: HELPFUL OR HURTFUL?

Technology; Helpful or Hurtful?
Everyday we hear about the astounding technological advances discovered year after year.
Thirty years ago, who would have thought that we would soon be able to communicate with a
person half way around the world through a computer? The possibilities of technology are
endless and beyond belief, but are these possibilities always beneficial in society, or
are they causing more harm then help? Authors Pete Hamill, Grant Fjermedal and Roger
Rosenblat take a look at certain forms of technology and the beneficial and detrimental
aspects that have and will come from its advances. 
The family television is one of the oldest, most loved pastimes, and is thought to be one
the greatest inventions. By the push of a button a person can leave their problematic
life and live the perfect one of their favorite soap star, action hero or villain. In
other words, with the push of a button a person is simply taken out of reality. Pete
Hamill, the author of the article, "Crack and the Box," dives further into the effects of
the invention of the television and influence it has the generation raised with it.
Hamill relates the drug epidemic of today with the increase of televisions believing they
work on the same level. Like television, drugs take their user out of reality and into a
different world. Hamill is a firm believer that televisions have had a dominant role in
the great increase in current drug use. In 1955, when televisions were less than six
times the number they are today, there were a mere 1,234 felony drug arrests; in 1988
that number rose to 43,901 (Hamill 374). That could coincidence of facts but according to
Hamill our cherished television is to blame. TV is just one of the millions of pieces of
technology. It is in no way as sophisticated as others, like the computer, yet it may be
a prominent cause for one of the world's largest problems, drug abuse. If something as
old and simple as the television may have had such an impact, just imagine what harm will
come from recent and even future forms of technology.
Roger Rosenblatt, author of "Who Killed Privacy," states, "This is the age where
everything is known, everything told" (Rosenblatt 378). This observation could not have
been said any better. In our day and age everybody has to know everything about everyone.
Privacy is no longer existent; technology has taken all forms of it away from us. An
Atlanta mail-order house offers a product called Listenaider, which amplifies nearby
sounds and is designed to look like a Walkman (Rosenblatt 379). Avid movie watchers are
quite familiar with what a voice changer is. To disguise your voice all you would need is
one of these. Speak into a small device and you are instantly transformed into a man,
woman or, as in the movies, a killer. For those nosey people who have to know every
conversation on every home phone, a scanner is now available. What happened to privacy?!?
As Rosenblatt states privacy was "killed" by the all too popular technology. How can any
of this be beneficial to society? It is sad that a person can't have a phone conversation
without worrying that somebody is listening in. It is frightening about what is out there
and what can be done. It gets more and more complicated and sophisticated everyday. It is
even more frightening about what the future holds.
Grant Fjermedal, author of the essay "Artificial Intelligence," looks into the future
with technology and what we have to look forward to. Fjermedal gives a very vivid
description of what our lives will be like in the future:
"You are in the operating room. A robot brain surgeon is in attendance…. Your skull
but not your brain is anesthetized. You are fully conscious. The surgeon opens your brain
case and peers inside. Attention is directed to a clump of neurons…. The surgeon
determines the three-dimensional structure and chemical makeup of the neural
clump…. A program is written that models the behavior of the clump and starts
running on the computer sitting next to you. That computer is your new brain" (535-534).

Fjermedal looks into the future as a place where humans will be immortal. The only change
will be robotic bodies. A brain that is identical to a certain persons will be placed
inside a robot and humans will live forever. Why must technology interfere so much with
what we are today? We were placed on this earth to be born, make a difference and then
pass on. What is wrong with that? This essay by Fjermedal shows what technology is
bringing our way. 
Every year scientists, engineers, computer specialist and others are paid to improve the
technology of today and make it better. Does that mean that this technology will make our
societies better? According to Hamill, Rosenblat and Fjermedal it will do just the
opposite. The advances in technology are causing our societies to deteriorate. Increases
in drug use, the absence of privacy and computers running our world are all we have to
look forward to. What ever happened to the simple life? It does still exist but the rate
technology is at today it soon will be nonexistent.