A Technological Humanity
A Technological HumanityThe technology surrounding everyone in modern society affects everyday activities. Since the dawn of man, humans have produced ideas to make life more enjoyable and easier. From Galileo’s telescope to Gates’s computers, people have developed objects to enrich their everyday lives. The technological advancements throughout history, affect humanity in many several apparent ways.
Computers contain information sometimes unwanted by others. They influence minds in both good and bad ways, and allow people to share information that they would otherwise be unable to attain. Even if a person does not own a computer or credit cards, information about anyone can be discovered through this technological advancement. Technology, just now beginning to be manipulated and harnessed, is affecting the minds of small children and adolescents in ways that could possibly become harmful. It also gives another form of communication and exchange of information previously unavailable.
Anyone owning computer can access offensive material such as pornography or violent websites. With just a few clicks of a mouse, one can view a problem that jeopardizes the nation’s moral and ethical values. Often times the young people accessing such websites in cyberspace aren’t even old enough to understand the complete meaning of human sexuality. More often, the adults accessing these websites, who do have a common understanding of sexuality, obtain distorted views of normal sexual behavior. Violence plagues the streets of America today. If kids see gangsters in Los Angeles committing drive-by shootings or the KKK burning the cross, they receive a false sense of reality. In order to save our children’s innocence and America’s moral values, the Internet should be strictly regulated.
With the new online wave, minds not only of small children, but also adolescents and adults become influenced by outside information. As the mind develops, things such as pornography is no longer the main concern. Now, because of the easy access to information, the fourteen years old who has just discovered that she failed ninth grade can find out how to make a bomb out of household detergents. The laid-off business man, the dumped boyfriend, and the deranged psycho also find potentially dangerous information at the tips of their fingers. What is to stop humans from using weapons of mass destruction instead of committing less violent acts with this technology at hand?
Curiosity of mankind has led to the development of varying types of energy. As a result of these new power sources, many consequences seen light. Solar energy is an extremely efficient method to produce power. It is used in certain areas to charge things such as household utilities and lighting for expressways. This technological advancement is quite expensive and space consuming. The discovery of Nuclear Fusion has produced a breakthrough in science: nuclear energy. To production of this power is less costly and more affective. However, the waste produced after the fuel is burned is not recyclable. Nuclear fuel is very radioactive and can contaminate miles of land if not properly disposed. In the past, Nuclear Plants have malfunctioned and caused great grievances with deaths. Nuclear Fusion has not only produced nuclear energy but also the most detrimental technological breakthrough in history. Through Nuclear Fusion, weapons, such as the Atom bomb, have made it possible to completely destroy the surface of the Earth. Chemical Weapons were first used in World War I, and still play a tragic role in the destructions common today. A recent incident involving Americans and Chemical Warfare was from the Persian Gulf Conflict where US soldiers were exposed to chemical weapons. Since then, many soldiers have become ill with a strange “Gulf-syndrome” that has been attributed to Chemical Weapons secretly used by Iraq. Chemical Weapons are extremely dangerous and hazardous to life. Danger being their sole purpose, chemical weapons affect humans and the environment incredibly. The effect of a chemical weapon depends on the type employed. Nerve agents can cause death. Along with their fatal properties, Nerve agents can be colorless, odorless, and tasteless. Other Chemical agents, such as mustard gas, can be used to render their victims unable to fight. Mustard gas causes huge blisters on the skin and has caused many causalities in war. Other chemical weapons agents can be used to cause blindness, mental confusion, and violent coughing in their victims.
Chemical weapons are also dangerous to the environment. They are used to destroy food supplies, damage the environment, and poison water. The effects of the weapons are long-standing and dangerous. Plant life is discolored and often killed. Animals suffer the same dangerous effects of chemical weapons as humans. Water supplies often require heavy equipment for re-purification in order to make the environment suitable for life. Chemical weapons leave lingering effects on the environments of which they are employed. Science has played a major role in technology by taking lives and creating them.
Through genetic engineering, humans have been able to alter unborn children to their own specifications. One can give a child certain abilities and change minor aspects of its appearance. Not only can doctors change physical things about a child, but they can also clone and make identical twins. It is difficult to determine if cloning is ethical. The general public and government’s views on cloning are diverse. This technology is very scary and could lead to major problems such as rioting and protests of that nature. Most people believe that “playing God” is something that should not be attempted by humans. Nature was here before humans and will be here after we are gone. It is best to let well enough alone and quit trying to make life easier. Easier is not always better.
Because of human curiosity, technology will continue to grow through the ages. Should there be a line drawn on how far one can go? There is no doubt that technology will increase the living standards of everyday life for years to come, but when is advancement too much? Is it when one’s mother suddenly has a double, or when a nuclear bomb blows up one’s house, or even when pornography tears apart one’s marriage? Further advancement remains unknown. Fear the unknown. Fear the advancement.