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Technology's effect on society
Technology's effect on society
How does technology affect culture
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Evolution and Technology
Technology is a vital part of what it means to be human. Anthropologists have found that Homo sapiens are one of the earliest to rely on technology. This is because unlike other animals, humans were not covered in scales nor did they have wings or gills. (Hjorth 64) “The nature of our evolution has been external to our bodies.” (Hjorth 64) Throughout centuries humans have created technology to help them survive and evolve instead of doing so through mutation. Instead of growing wings we developed planes, instead of developing eyes of a hawk, we developed binoculars and telescopes. (Hjorth 64)
In a matter of generations rather then millennia, a new technological device can come into general use by everyone who sees it. An example that supports Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution of “survival of the fittest” is the bow and arrow. “The bow and arrow offers a very great advantage to those who have it; everyone either perishes or soon learns to use the new technology. There is little time for experimentation and testing.” (Hjorth 65)
“Essentially, technology is a means of manipulating natural laws to our benefit by constructing objects that increase our efficiency and reduce waste in our lives.” (Hjorth 65) When we create technology it will either work or it will not and if it does not, humans have the ability to fix what is broken in order to meet our needs. Where as evolution of animals and plants is much more difficult because if mutation is done wrong, the process to reverse it takes hundreds of thousands of years. Striving towards a better way of living has driven human evolution. (Hjorth 65)
Technology in Different Cultures
First-world countries have access to many different types of technology at ...
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...eans to use or purchase technologies. (Bridging) “Women are estimated to be just 25% or less of Internet users in Africa, 22% in Asia, 38% in Latin America and a mere 6% in the Middle East.” (Bridging)
When it comes to woman and technology the target that companies use to draw woman in is a pink colored gadget. Company’s think that if you put pink onto any device, woman will be drawn to it. The ePad femme is very controversial because it is pink and comes with pre-loaded apps for cooking, and yoga, stereotyping and disregarding woman’s thought on this tablet. Technology is just another part of society encouraging stereotypes and gender roles. There are websites and apps exploiting women and videos made specifically for women. Gender roles should not be distinguished via stereotypes but through each individual and the way they see themselves in society. (McEntegart)
Why is technology a source of erotic thrill? A central motivation is the relationship with power. Technology provides control over power, and, by extension, power over the "Other". After the beginning of the nineteenth century, machines came to be perceived as threatening and uncontrollable entities, and thus made the object of displacement and projection of patriarchal fears towards female sexuality. The physical manifestations of industrial machines, such as size, shape and motions (thrust/pause/press), provided straightforward metaphors for human sexual responses, and the increasingly widespread use of cars made it possible to the large mass of consumers to experience the extension and transformation of the human body through exhilarating blasts of speed and power. The drastic changes in technology have brought a new kind of awareness. As an object of erotic attraction, electronic technology is of a different order from the industrial one exemplified by the car. The masculine power of size and motion has been replaced by the feminized and miniaturized intricacy of electronic circuitry. Re-production has supplanted production and space has become an abstract entity hidden behind the opaque screen of computers and electronic equipments. The more overt sexual connotations of power and strength of industrial machinery has given way to an ambiguous relationship with gender roles and sexual identity. Small size, fluid and quiet functioning computers, which provide the practical possibility to assume on-line personae, invert or blend gender roles. The erotic and exciting feeling experienced with electronic circuitry transgresses the notion of solely body control, in that cybernetics enables control over the information and, for those who own the technology, control over the consumer classes. Donna Haraway's call for a feminist embrace of technology is grounded on the recognition that the technological evocation of feminine metaphors in terms of appearance and functioning does not acknowledge the dangers hidden behind the process of miniaturization: "small is not so much beautiful as pre-eminently dangerous as in cruise missiles" (153).
Advancement of the human race through technology is the goal of evolution and is the reason human beings are on earth. The ability to allow future generations to reach their full potential through technology should be the goal of all human beings. The two main criticisms to this argument are, first it is considered unnatural, and secondly it is considered to be “playing god”. Transhumanists dismiss the claim of unnatural because most of what human beings do with any technology is unnatural, yet these uses are accepted as benefits, not harms (Post, 2004). As for the second concern most transhumanists consider themselves agnostics or atheists so playing god is not a legitimate concern for them. The issue is one of great concern to people...
Technology, what is it? It’s usually something new, and better than the old idea. Technology started with cars, stoves, TV, radios, etc. Cars takes somebody from one place to another, faster than walking, running, or biking and one could go places without getting tired. Stoves allowed one to conveniently be able to turn on and off heat to a cooking utensil with less clean up. The biggest contributor to making our lives easier would be computers, which has come a long way since its introduction to the world. Also, computers have the ability to be improved more, and more in time. In general, technology started off by comforting our lives. Now, the rapid growth of technology has replaced the need for one’s own intellect.
In today's world, technology is constantly changing from a new paperclip to an improvement in hospital machinery. Technology lets people improve the way they live so that they can preserve their own personal energy and focus on the really important factors in life. Some people focus their energy on making new innovations to improve transportation and the health of people that may save lives and some people focus on making new designs of packaging CDS. Technology is significant in everyone's life because it rapidly changes what is in the market. But, some new innovations of technology are ridiculous because they serve no purpose in helping mankind.
In the past society was able to advance because of science. science has played a major role in discovery. The product of these major discoveries was technology. Technology mankind would use to assist in the search for answers. Used most commonly as an extension of the human biology. The Hubble telescope is a great representation of this phenomenon because it extends our biological sense of sight. But now, in the twenty first century the idea that technology is assisting mankind, has long been abandoned by most people of the twenty first century. Due to ignorance and laziness of humankind, the role of technology as shifted from assisting people in problems, to providing answers to problems. For instance, people depend on google.com for everyday problems instead of solving the issue. In comparison to the society of “The Machine Stops” where technology...
...the images of women are presented through technology. Women can easily access negative images through technological aspects. Advertisements, the internet, celebrities and other technology present women in sexualized and demeaning manners. Showing women in positive manners can shift the negative image of women and empower their role in society.
W. Brian Arthur’s, The Nature of Technology, explains how technology is transformative and answers the unanswered questions about technology’s evolution. Arthur’s discusses about technology transforming the world throughout the years. He takes the readers through a journey on how technology is evolving. He makes a comparison on technology, questioning if technology evolves just like biological life. He brings up the subject of technology and science joining these two topics to come up with the answers. In the Nature of Technology, Arthur discusses the theories of technology and development that helps to construct society.
“A Woman’s Place” In 2013, the American woman can vote, be the CEO of a business, start her own company, and wear pants. Many would say that a woman has the exact same rights as a man in today’s society- and is treated the same as well. However, in addition to glaring economic evidence provided through data stating that women still earn 77 cents to every man’s dollar (Basset, HuffingtonPost.com), we find that women are still entrapped socially by sexualisation and objectification of them. Sexualising and objectifying women in advertisements leads to the de-humanisation of them.
Culture and technology are in a constantly expanding positive feedback loop. The greatest changes in human culture are almost always the result of a technological innovation. However, a technology capable of a cultural shift can only have come from the culture itself. Without the culture's choice to refine the technology, the practical applications would have been left as only fleeting ideas; technology will only be developed if the culture has some immediate and apparent use for it. Although a culture will develop a technology based on its inherent valence towards a particular application, that culture cannot possibly fathom the ultimate repercussions of its collective decision. The inherent multiplier effect in the feedback loop along with unforeseen applications of the technology will guide the "trajectories of cultural evolution" (Ehrlich 255) in completely unexpected ways. Even though cultures can and do have an effect on their course through history, it is only slight when compared to the monstrous effect that their technologies have on them.
...es. Though technology has gotten humanity far, there is still a lot more information to be discovered. Without medical technology, many people would have died of diseases because of inadequate treatment. Therefore, technology has been a friend of humankind and will continue to be even a greater friend in the future.
With the increase of availability of access to technology in society today, women are still lagging behind their male counterparts (Conversations for a Better World, 2010). Why is this still happening in the Twenty-first Century? Globally, the root cause is the cultural treatment of women. In many cultures worldwide, women are denied access to education let alone technology. Even if they are given the opportunity to use a computer, most often they lack the computer skills to effectively navigate most websites (Digital Gender Divide, n.d.).
Technology now literally controls the world and what goes on. The economy is dependent on the use of technology, but there are minor creation that don’t really have a use at all and can be done without it. So again my opinion is that technology is need in life, but at times it isn’t that use. Things that can be done by technology can sometimes be done by without it.
“… and yet a true creator is necessity, which is the mother of invention.” (Plato 390c). It’s this ‘need’ that fueled are inventions and innovations to reduce the difficulty of all those scenarios deemed impossible. Over the centuries, mankind has progressed by leaps and bound. Starting from being cavemen who hunted animals by sticks and stones to survive, mankind is now able to live luxurious life with well-built homes, stable food and water supply and efficient communication and travel methods. Just picturing the Stone Age and our current lives side by side will make us realize how technology has changed our society. It has changed how we produce our food, communicate with others and how we travel.
The Oxford English online dictionary defines technology: as the product of such application; technological knowledge or know-how; a technological process, method, or technique. Also: machinery, equipment, etc., developed from the practical application of scientific and technical knowledge. In the space of a few decades technology as experienced incredible growth and has become a crucial part of our everyday life. Most of us use technology in every aspect of our lives whether we are at work, school, or relaxing at home in our free time. Now most of us could not imagine returning to a time in which technology was not so readily available. Most of us expect to have access to information at a moment’s notice. There are many advantages and disadvantages to our obsession with technology.
In the 21st century, we live in the era of technology-driven world. Humans never stopped the development of technology, because we always have a natural tendency to pursue a higher level of human being. Technology is the best evidence of human intelligence, which has shown that we are different from other animals. We have lived with technology since we were born. Although it has intervened heavily in our daily lives that we can’t no longer live without, nobody can deny the achievements it has brought to us.