Essay Topic:

The analysis of the influence of the technological progress on the contemporary world.

Essay Questions:

How does technology separate the humans from the nature? What positive changes has technology brought to the contemporary world? How does material progress stimulate the modern humanity?

Thesis Statement:

Technology provides the opportunity to combine resources that have once been impossible to combine crating the products that are in high demand and solve the problems of modern people.

Technology and development essay

Table of contents:

1. Introduction

2. Technological progress in the contemporary world

3. Technology and development.

4. Conclusion

“Today, science and technology need no modifiers as they have become universal”

Dr. Thomas R. DeGregor

i

1.Introduction

What would the life of the planet be without technology? Though million of people claim that technology has separated humanity from nature and converted it into a conglomerate of “lifeless robots”, technology is still the source of the immense development that people tend not to notice. The real truth is that technology has become such an integral part of human’s life that it has become invisible and transparent. This plays a trick on human minds giving them the illusion that they can easily live without the technological progress and they do not need the development it brings.

The word technology obviously ahs a Greek origin and is literally the science of craft. Nowadays, technology has become a kind of a tool, a technique to achieve the goals that have been impossible for many years. The humanity has been on the moon, explores the galaxy, is constantly converting incurable diseases into myths… Technology tries to predict what the humanity will need tomorrow and creates corresponding innovations today.In order to actually understand the importance of the development through technology it is necessary to understand what technology truly is. Technology provides the opportunity to combine resources that have once been impossible to combine crating the products that are in high demand and solve the problems of modern people. Very often, when thinking about technology a person thinks of a computer or a DVD player, but nevertheless technology has gone far beyond this changing the fields of construction, medicine, education and many others.

 

2. Technological progress in the contemporary world

Things change a lot in cotemporary world. The world itself changes, becomes more advanced. Everything is made for the convenience of a man. And the main reason for many inventions – is to make man’s life easier. Inventions that save time and perform different actions as a substitute to the man’s actions. If it were not for the technological progress we still would have been “cave” people. Progress along with the development nowadays is evaluated through technology. Technological development started being the leading power in our world long ago and now it is in its blossom. So many things depend on it and it is very hard to imagine the existence of humanity without it at all. If to talk abstractly, technology is the eyes we see the world through. We do not see the eyes themselves while observing everything around us and therefore we are more likely to believe that we have no eyes and we can see without them. People just get so used to having eyes to see that they stop actually remembering that they have them.

So, technology is the correct issue to talk about in terms of potential development. Such spheres as the manufacturing technology, medical technology, the technology of the infrastructure without even mentioning the space-travel technology, have irreversibly changed the culture of each country, providing more opportunities for life expansion. Indeed, technology is what actually separates human beings from the primates in the zoo and to deny this means to negate one of the vital factors of the contemporary world.

3. Technology and development

People do not trust technology in spite of all the benefits it has brought to them. This fear seems to be unreasonable especially after the fact that technology has saved the human race from malaria and mud huts [1]. Well, one of the greatest troubles concerning technology is the fact that people always put up the environment pollution as the argument that is supposed to cover all the advantages modern technology beings to the contemporary world. In his book “The environment, our natural resources, and modern technology", Dr. Thomas R. DeGregori reveals all the technological illusions of the contemporary humanity. The book reveals the notion of “green consumerism” that is used by those always yelling in the “save the earth” agitations. According to the book consumerism is a quality of a human being and it is impossible to deny it absolutely. The author provides a lot of examples opening the readers eyes on the fact that technology has brought positive changes to the world and that the attempts to “save the earth” have resulted in very upsetting results such as the attempt to save wildlife in Africa has “destroyed” cultural formations. Native people had to move from the land of their for-fathers and had to get used to the food their bodies were not used to at all. There is no surprise in the fact that these natives refused to accept technology in their lives, as for them technology is destruction. Nevertheless, humans remain humans and need to develop and animals cannot take care of themselves. Well, it is common knowledge that denial is a kind of protection (“I do not see it – so it does not exist”). Dr. DeGregori provides another example of such a denial - the American Indians, the “original ecologists”. Indians deny technology and therefore deny a vital part of the contemporary world, leaving themselves not ways to become a significant part of the world, too. The author does not by any means humiliate the importance of the Indian race with its secrets and natural resources, but the basic thing that Dr. DeGregori analyzes is that modern technology has actually expanded the abilities of humanity in each sphere. The perfect example is given through the example of using telescopes and microscopes that connect humanity to the environment in the closest way. Technology according to Dr. DeGregori has developed humanity as a race in the most exciting and wonderful way, saving it from numerous diseases and disasters. The obsession on everything “natural” is not more than the blindness and the inability to go through the adaptation in the world of changing technologies. The transformed notion of the word “natural” so widely used nowadays in terms of making the environment “healthy”, has created a deep abyss between the reality and the illusions people believe in so much. Many people see everything “natural” as a tool to achieve the balance with the environment, but instead hundreds of years prove that what seems “useful” on the surface turns out to be actually “harmful” for the environment.

Technology and development go together hand by hand, gibing birth to one another. The technological progress is not does not destroy everything natural, as it is widely believed, but provides alternatives for natural resources. Both natural and technological products provide quality, but along with quality technology provides quantity, and in term of the fact that there are 6 billion people on earth this factor is unbeatable. It would be impossible to recover from natural disasters if it were not for the technological development. So basically, technology has been saving the lives and the well being of the people for many years already. The life is the most precious gift on earth. So, if technology can save more lives should its development be denied? Dr. DeGregori’s book seems to be very appealing as it reveals the truth that people avoid and try not to take into consideration. His major thoughts focus on “the consumption practices that reflect the phobias and beliefs that deny and/or reject the technological and scientific transformations that have given us longer, healthier lives”. These words from the introduction of the book completely reflect the notion that the importance of technological development has been underestimated by the majority of people that in reality live under an absolute dependence on this very technology.

It is impossible to reject the existence of the material progress as each person is surrounded and protected by it each and every day anywhere he goes. The material progress is the result of the technical development in numerous spheres. One of the most outrageous facts in Dr. DeGregori’s book is that people nowadays to live longer than they used to do centuries ago and he puts it as the product of technology and its development. It is very hard to argue with that because technology has saved million of lives and people honestly live longer and healthier now. Many believe that a lot of terrible diseases such as AIDS appeared, but who told that they did not exist before the contemporary technologies developed. It is owing to the technological development the humanity can identify AIDS or cancer and help the person cope with it. Many years ago people simply did not know what they were dying from, thousand died because did not know that certain diseases were infections and were transmitted through tactile contact.Technology and development is not only weapon production. And in the meantime, there was not less violence years ago, it was just another type of violence and technological development is not to blame.

 

4. Conclusion

Technology and development… What is wrong with the people thinking that if a person has less economic opportunities and is therefore left without technological development than he is the representative of the “original affluent society”?

Humanity has never truly lived in harmony with nature, or the notion “harmony” is a bit screwed. A human being is a part of the ecological system of the planet and has to survive. Technology prevents humanity from dying and prolongs its existence. If it is not true, than why are people with no access to technology due to the financial factor less healthy and dye young? Technology and development is the key to the future of the humanity. It is time to stop denying it but taking the full benefit and potential development owing to the modern technology!

Bibliography:

Thomas R. DeGregori. Origins of The Organic Agriculture Debate. Blackwell Professional paperback.

Thomas R. DeGregori. The Environment, Our Natural Resources, and Modern Technology. Blackwell Professional paperback.