Technology: Yay or Nay?

Technology: Yay or Nay?

Alpha Oduro, Writer

What is technology and how does it interact in our everyday lives?

From planning the logistics of feeding thousands of animals, to delivering vaccines, to providing education, to creating job opportunities and advocating for human rights, technology tools are used to improve and directly deliver the social benefit for us humans in many ways. Life as we know it can be very busy and frustrating, and has many ups and downs that we humans face during the time we live on earth. We use technology every single day either by using social media, watching T.V., or just writing an essay so we can accomplish different things for different uses. Technology creates, builds and processes new ideas and products. It allows us to plan and carry out our daily lives and other futures so we can have easier and better solutions. For an example of how technology is being used right now during these hard times, we are able to communicate, teach, plan and so many other activities so that our society can continue to live.

Technology can be used anywhere at any time, which makes it so much easier and useful for humans to do so many things due to our lifestyles. Technology also allows us to do so many different things together or individually for our own benefit. That being said, even though the technology is a blessing and a huge advancement in our society it has many negative effects that may or may not be bad. With all the new technology and tools we are creating and using as time goes on, it also brings up many worries for humans that may be the fact that they think the technology might have too much power. This brings up the question for humans about how far we can go as a team with technology and the future of it.

How Technology Helps Us Plan for the Future

The future of technology is very bright and so complex. It makes us wonder how technology will look in the future and how it will benefit humanity and our civilizations. It is rapidly advancing by becoming smarter and more complex. Engineers, social media app creators, spacemen/women, scientists, and more people are creating new ways to allow us to see the future of technology in ways that we never taught was possible. With the emerging tools, we are creating game-changing technology such as industrial robots, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. Virtual reality, self-driving cars, solar panel energy, and so much more will become even greater as technology advances and time increases. 

Advancements in technology have many positive effects but at the same time negative effects as well. As technology grows and more robots and artificial intelligence are capable of completing human jobs, the population will face a loss in many things that they maybe did not even think about when talking about the future of technology. One negative about the future and advancement of technology is job loss. According to economist Andrew McAfee, “…we are facing a time when machines will replace people for over 12.3 percent of most of the jobs in the current economy, and I believe it will come not in the crazy distant future…. due to artificial intelligence and robots.” Due to artificial intelligence, it is possible that machines can take over many jobs like taxi/bus drivers, factory workers, and maybe even pharmacists and doctors. Another negative about the advancement of technology is individual privacy concerns and data security being damaged. For many people it is a major issue because while technology can lead to increased security, it can also lead to daily activities being recorded and saved. Advancement of privacy personal data is a problem because due to the advancement of technology, it will be easier to find the criminal actions of many people, but that can only happen with a decrease of privacy. So the real question is, how much will people give up to allow safety for all, and what does safety mean when it comes to technology?  

The Overall Effect of Technology

Overall, when you think about technology you think about many concepts. The endless possibilities, the future, and how it will either benefit or not benefit family, friends, and ourselves – and the world in general. The growth of technology is a very debatable topic. Some scientists and engineers and people refer to it as a disaster while some refer to it as a blessing. There is no doubt that we live in the age of technology where it has become an important part of our life. However, is it a hindrance if dependency continues to increase? It will be interesting to see how the world and humanity copes with the rapid advancements. These developments and advancements in robots, artificial intelligence, and other technology can improve the speed, quality, and cost of goods and services.  On the other hand, they can also create and replace large numbers of jobs, increase security concerns, and create a lack of human effort and independently. Only time will tell exactly how the future of technology will really affect humanity and society. What do you think about technology advancements?

              

 

Works Cited:

Erik Brynjolfsson & Andrew McAfee. “Brynjolfsson and McAfee: The Jobs That AI Can’t Replace.” BBC News, BBC, 13 Sept. 2015, www.bbc.com/news/technology-34175290.