Galileo's Argument Essay: The Development Of Technology

In 1609, Galileo put 3 lenses together in just the right way so that when he looked into the night sky, it was magnified by over a factor of thirty. His invention was the modern telescope, and “Cartesian doubt, the most immediate consequence of Galileo’s discovery”, was quickly amplified by the newfound understanding of the universe around us (Hannah). As people began to look out into the night sky, a new realm of technological opportunity was revealed.

Some philosophers have a problem with this expansion- Hannah Arendt cites Galileo’s invention as the beginning of humans looking away from the world, distracting us from our worldly obligations. Conversely, I fine my views more aligned with those of Nick Bostrom- embracing technology and the consequences it entails. For instance, the development of the telescope was the not only a scientific development, but a human one. Over the years, we have been able to develop space technology like the global positioning system (GPS), which has been used

One such was German philosopher and economist, Karl Marx. He believed that the development of technology holds the potential be a monumental improvement to the human condition, but only once freed from the constraints of a capitalistic economy. He argued that as capitalism develops, so follows the “intellectual degeneration artificially produced by transforming immature human beings into mere machines for [the sake of] production” (Philosophy). By his assessment, technology is no more than a cog in the ever expanding atrocity of capitalism, and by association, a detrimental presence in our lives. Martin Heidegger takes this idea a step further, citing technology itself as the reason for various societal downfalls. He places the value of life in personal interactions at the individual level, and finds technology to blame for our inauthentic