Technological advancements prevent us from living life
We are currently in the grip of a technological revolution and the social landscape has completely changed in the last couple of decades. Computers and transport have enabled our world to become one global society but many problems have emerged that human beings must face. Technology has produced weaponry and chemicals that could end the human race, machinery now takes replaces workers and we can be reached or monitored everywhere we go, through the devices we carry with us. The advancements in technology may provide us with information and convenience but their evolution has definitely not improved how we live our lives. If anything, technology is now working against us and preventing us from living life.
Much of the technology we have produced is dangerous if misused or mismanaged by human beings. Throughout history, weaponry has evolved and with each new development, the potential for greater destruction has increased. WW2 resulted in atomic warfare and weaponry that was effective when used with transportation, producing an advancement that could wipe out entire cities. You would think that what happened to the Japanese in WW2 would have deterred people from creating this type of technology but it is quite the contrary. Most countries in the world have built up their army’s capacity to use weapons of mass destruction, as they are too paranoid to do otherwise. It is only a matter of before someone is responsible for misusing weaponry and another world war is initiated. Scientists are also part of this ludicrousy, as they are the ones responsible for creating chemicals to wipe out the entire planet. Since September 11, the world has lived in a state of fear. Afraid of what where we go, afraid of what we eat, afraid of each other – all produced by technological advancements. We are definitely living life as we used to and it only seems to be getting worse.
Not only have we invented technology to destroy ourselves, we have also created machines that take away our jobs. Not so long ago, things were done by people but money making capitalists decided to start replacing people with appliances. Why get people to sort the mail, when a bit machine can do it? It may shred your mail but it has replaced ten people. Technology is not actually serving people in society, it is replacing them. How many businesses are now closing because machines can produce inferior products much quicker and cheaper? We all know how much we need cheaply produced items that break after a short time. Society is supposed to be about having a purpose and being valued but how can people know who they are if they are merely replaced by a machine? To live life effectively, you need to be able to work, contribute and earn what you need. Technology has taken this opportunity away for many people.
For those who do work now, the price of technology means the can be constantly reached and are frequently monitored by their devices. You can be tracked or watched and even stalked by your employer. You can be constantly reached through a mobile phone or a computer and most people who wish to ‘get ahead’ feel inclined to choose work over family or leisure. There is simply no balance and people are forgetting how to relax or simply enjoy what makes being alive wonderful. Sure we can get any information we want at any time but is it really essential to providing us with a quality of life? Is sitting at a computer like an emotionless blob really a better alternative than walking along a beach or immersing yourself in an amazing book? We are now defined by our devices and the ‘profiles’ we have created that define us. Our relationships exist through our devices and we carry these superficial relationships everywhere we go – we cannot escape them or what we have constructed ourselves as. We are not free, as we are bound to these devices and those who monitor our use of them. We are prevented from ever truly being free.
Technology is seen as necessary to exist in today’s society but it is a society that is dangerous, purposeless and oppressive. We are not free to explore the best that life has to offer or to be surprised by what we discover, as we have already created our own limitations and expectations by the very technology we have devised. The ultimate sensation of feeling free to feel, free to discover and free to work for achievement has been ruined. Technology presents us with all of the cards in one go and there is no real anticipation of something better. Has technological advancement prevented us from living life? I would say this is absolutely true. Unfortunately, we have all been lured by the promise of instant gratification or a quick solution to the problems we all face – and now we will be left at the mercy of our own disappointing lives.
Our future is reliant on how we choose to behave today
The old man sighed as he looked towards the barren hills and rubbed his dry face with his blackened hands. His eyes were scanning the distance for some sign of life.
It had been a long time since had seen others and he had all but given up hope of knowing how to use the language he once knew properly.
Oh he had tried to communicate with those who survived; but they could not speak the same tongue. How they had arrived in the place he now thought of as his world, was a mystery. He had tried to question and tried to gesture. He had drawn pictures in the dirt but they had all eventually died. They had all been dead before they died. What method by which they had been given their death sentence was still unclear but he knew that one thing had become clear. There was nothing to be done. It was too late.
His world, was a gully of greenery that was kept alive by a small stream of water that seemed to come from between the hard rock of the earth. He had not taken the survivors there to be buried and he was glad because they were better in the dust, in the landscape that was now dead. He had dragged them for the longest time out into the blank space that was not his world. The world of rubble and bones was not real, it was nothing – it was empty. His world was a palate of colour and he could not return to the nothingness or the lack of life.
He blinked and saw a prism of light; a fleeting flash of iridescent colour but it was only the precious moisture lost from his own body. The small jewel of perspiration that had made its way to his eyelash and played gentle with his sight. This tiny droplet made him think about colour and how the world had been full of colour.
The old man took one last look at the endless dust and decided he would be happy to die in the gully. If he could become food for the creatures that had started to increase in numbers, it would be a purposeful death. He did not want to be part of the bones of technology or the bones of people…he wanted to be part of the living forever. How long did he have before his observation of everything was ended?
The air in the gully was new. Newer than it had been when he had left and he thought about the discoveries he had made not long ago, beside the stream. Small red and emerald shoots of something not found before. He was always careful and never took more than a little. Always careful, so they would remain. These miracles of nature were always changing.
He lay in amongst the soft green fronds and looked up at the clouds. One streak across the sky, startled him suddenly and then he realised it was just an insect. It was finished. Done. Maybe he was the only one left? Perhaps there were more. It didn’t matter at all. Nature would find a way to survive. The future was dust and bone for those who had not learned the lesson.