Has technology really made our lives any better?

[lisztisforkids]

The internet, cell phones, cars, toasters, iPods, televisions, pokemon... Has any of this really made the human race any better?  I dont think so....

[lisztisforkids]

Please ignore the the contradiction in the above statement. 

[rc]

Why sure it has, look at how much information we have available to us! Or taste food from around the world...

Why do you think technology has been bad for us?

[emmdoubleew]

What does "better" mean. Happier? More sophisticated? More intelligent?

[ahinton]

The internet, cell phones, cars, toasters, iPods, televisions, pokemon...

...radio, the motor car, the telephone, quill pens, printing - the wheel? How far back in history are you persuaded that this doubtfully advantageous technology is supposed to go?

What does "better" mean. Happier? More sophisticated? More intelligent?

Good question! - and one that must be answered before the original question can be meaningfully considered.

Best,

Alistair

[berrt]

id be VERY unhappy without my cellphone...

[rc]

id be VERY unhappy without my cellphone...

hahah, I know what you mean... When I'm out eating dinner or having a drink with some friends, I'm often tempted to drop my cellphone into a jug of beer, just to get it out of my way.

...But in reality, without my cellphone I'd probably be broke and lonely.

[gilad]

i think that technology is a "natural" extension of human kind.
our pace of life dictated the nessecity of cetain technologies. i can't imagine cooking my dinner everynight over a fire, or walking 20 km everyday to work and back, so i think some technologies were ineventualities.
other techs i think like ipods and tv(informational purpose to) are to take our minds off things.
something like skimming stones on a lake, or whatever bright ideas cave men came up with for entertainment.

[thalbergmad]

I think technology has made life easier but not better.

Every now and again, i retreat to a very remote cottage in the Scottish Highlands that has very little technology.

No running water, no toilet, no television or phone, no electricety or gas and if you want food, you go and shoot it.

It is nice sometimes to live without technology.

[ada]

Technology has given us convience, accessibility and instant gratification.

But it comes at a price and it's changing the direction of our evolution.

The technological panopticon (see Jeremy Bentham) has exposed us to an unprecendented potential for scrutiny and surveillance and an erosion of civil rights.
 
CCTV monitors our every move. Anyone can video us on their phone camera without our knowledge. Our mobile phone calls and financial transactions can be traced. Anyone can lurk around the internet, even this forum, and glean personal information about us. Every google search we make is recorded for future retrieval. We put our innermost lives online in blogs for all to see.

And rather than make us work less, technology has increased our workload. How many emails do you have to trawl through each day? Your boss, or anyone, can contact you any time of the day on your mobile phone. And the immediacy of information means we have more to process, more to transmit, than ever before in the history of humanity.

Technology is also making us fat and unfit and ultimately shortening our lives because we spend too much time in front of computer screens and video games (look at the obesity epidemic in the US, and increasingly, in Australia).

But no, I wouldn't want to turn back the clock

[ahinton]

Technology is also making us fat and unfit and ultimately shortening our lives because we spend too much time in front of computer screens and video games (look at the obesity epidemic in the US, and increasingly, in Australia).

...and on this forum, perhaps...

But no, I wouldn't want to turn back the clock

You can't "turn back" a digital clock anyway...

Best,

Alistair

[ada]

Ha ha ok smarty pants, touche

You see I am a luddite after all...

[jas]

I don't think technology has made life better. It certainly hasn't made us happier. Levels of stress, depression and obesity are soaring. It's made things more convenient, but how many "convenience" items actually help us out? Electric breadknives, electric garage doors and mobile phones that can tell you how many calories you've ingested that day all have a limited appeal or give us an extra ten seconds of our day back, but they get boring and "normal" quickly enough that we keep having to come up with more and more pointless up-to-the-minute "must-have" gadgets.

It's got to the point where unspoiled, non-consumerist, natural things have become an expensive novelty; food without half a ton of chemical rubbish in it costs more, houses with a natural, untouched landscape view out of the living room window rather than a great big factory/someone else's front window cost more (and more) to buy and live in, objects that are made by someone whose working conditions and pay are fair cost more.

The current faddy fascination with things like yoga, The Da Vinci Code, organic food are all a result of us trying to get away from all this. Even as we become more and more dependent on and obsessed with technology and money, we're still all trying to get a little piece of the world that hasn't been industrialised to death. But in doing that, we're managing to turn even things like religion and nature into consumerist, money-driven businesses as more and more people want a piece. And it's all down to technology.

So I'll go and spread the joy elsewhere...

Jas

[juliax]

Perhaps it's not the technology itself that you believe to be bad, but how people are using it.  It's people that are fat and lazy, not computers.  My computer has never made me do anything.  Neither has my cellphone, car, television, etc.  People have called me on the phone and annoyed me, but it was the person calling, not the phone itself.
I think people have a tendency to blaim their problems on, not only other people, but inanimate objects as well.  Is technology hurting people?  No.  Are people hurting people?  Bingo.

On a side note, I too am irritated by my cell phone.  It annoys me how people think they can just demand my attention with the push of a few buttons.  But instead of saying cell phones are horrible, I just bought a ring tone that sounds like real violins playing Vivaldi's Winter from The Four Seasons, and I keep the volume all the way down.  If I need to hear it for some reason, I'll just keep it visible, otherwise it's in the bottom of my purse where I can easily miss the calls.  My cell phone is not an electronic leash!!

[ahinton]

I don't think technology has made life better. It certainly hasn't made us happier. Levels of stress, depression and obesity are soaring.

True - in some places - but is that the fault of "technology" or of those who make it? (people called "humans", I believe)...

It's made things more convenient, but how many "convenience" items actually help us out? Electric breadknives,

Great for slicing electric bread...

electric garage doors

Very handy if your driveway is a fairly steep slope and it's icy - at least as long as there's no power cut when you arrive back home...

and mobile phones that can tell you how many calories you've ingested that day all have a limited appeal or give us an extra ten seconds of our day back, but they get boring and "normal" quickly enough that we keep having to come up with more and more pointless up-to-the-minute "must-have" gadgets.

19th century Luddite though I may be, I actually only use my mobile phone to make and receive telephone calls; I doubt that I'm entirely alone in this bizarre minority habit...

It's got to the point where unspoiled, non-consumerist, natural things have become an expensive novelty; food without half a ton of chemical rubbish in it costs more,...The current faddy fascination with things like...organic food are all a result of us trying to get away from all this.

Now that's not entirely fair; food presented in supermarkets having been mass-produced as inexpensively as possible is inevitably predetermined to "cost" less than that which is created by small-scale producers to far higher standards of agricultural and animal husbandry, so that's nothing new beyond the fact of the sheer prevalence of the former food type these days.

Even as we become more and more dependent on and obsessed with technology and money, we're still all trying to get a little piece of the world that hasn't been industrialised to death. But in doing that, we're managing to turn even things like religion and nature into consumerist, money-driven businesses as more and more people want a piece. And it's all down to technology.

So I'll go and spread the joy elsewhere...

OK - I'll largely go along with most of that - but, in so doing, may I ask precisely what technology you propose to call upon in order to accomplish the joy-spreading that you intend?

Best,

Alistair

[Bob]

Maybe it limits the depth of our thought in general because there is so much?  If you can't get anything else, you probably think about what you do have a lot more.

I do believe in the saying "Ignorance is bliss."  I see a lot of people blissfully going about their lives.  The less they know, the happier they seem to be, the more delighted they are with simple things.  I think there's something in that somehow.

I don't necessarily mind all the choice.  It's up to the person as to how they use it.  I takes more self-controll.

[jas]

True - in some places - but is that the fault of "technology" or of those who make it? (people called "humans", I believe)...

Well, no. I'm not laying the blame in any specific direction here -- in fact, I'm not really thinking in terms of blaming anyone or anything at all -- I'm just observing how far we've come, and how negatively it affects us. Of course it's not the technology's fault that depression etc. are sky high (unless AI is much further along than I realised and harbouring malevolent intentions, which is a scary though if ever there was one), and it's not the fault of those who make it, either -- it's the lifestyle it engenders. We're constantly being told to do things faster, work harder, because now we expect things to be done RIGHT NOW. Isn't there some sort of scientific evidence that people who live in the country whose lives are less dependent on technology are generally happier, less stressed and healthier? I might be wrong there, but I have a vague memory of reading/hearing something alone those lines...

Great for slicing electric bread...

The day electric bread comes onto the market I'm leaving the planet.

Very handy if your driveway is a fairly steep slope and it's icy - at least as long as there's no power cut when you arrive back home...

Well, fair enough, but watching someone try to walk up an icy hill can be vastly entertaining. But I suppose if it keeps the number of garage-door-related deaths down it's all to the good.

19th century Luddite though I may be, I actually only use my mobile phone to make and receive telephone calls; I doubt that I'm entirely alone in this bizarre minority habit...

Not alone, but very likely in a minority. MP3 players and things I can understand, but I'm totally baffled by the calorie counters and perfume-finders.

Now that's not entirely fair; food presented in supermarkets having been mass-produced as inexpensively as possible is inevitably predetermined to "cost" less than that which is created by small-scale producers to far higher standards of agricultural and animal husbandry, so that's nothing new beyond the fact of the sheer prevalence of the former food type these days.

That's true. I'm not saying it's anything new that smaller production lines/small independent businesses are more expensive, I was just referring to the fact that it now costs extra not to have anything unnatural added to our food. I realise that leaving their produce unsprayed means a bit more work for the people involved in tending to it before it hits the shops, but my point is that these days we have the scientific knowledge to know how bad these chemicals can be for us, and yet we're still doing it the quick and convenient way, all because it's a bit cheaper and quicker. This is what technology is doing -- it's encouraging us to believe that everything can and, more importantly, should be done in the quickest and most cost-effective way possible. But in the case of food especially, it only contributes to the depression/obesity/stress that increasing numbers of us are suffering from, and we then rely on technology to deal with these, too.

OK - I'll largely go along with most of that - but, in so doing, may I ask precisely what technology you propose to call upon in order to accomplish the joy-spreading that you intend?

Yeah, I hadn't really thought that all the way through...

Sorry if I sounded argumentative, that wasn't the intention! I may have gone a bit doomsday-scenario there... Well, it's coming up for 1am so it could have been much worse!

Jas

[ahinton]

Well, no. I'm not laying the blame in any specific direction here -- in fact, I'm not really thinking in terms of blaming anyone or anything at all -- I'm just observing how far we've come, and how negatively it affects us. Of course it's not the technology's fault that depression etc. are sky high (unless AI is much further along than I realised and harbouring malevolent intentions, which is a scary though if ever there was one), and it's not the fault of those who make it, either -- it's the lifestyle it engenders. We're constantly being told to do things faster, work harder, because now we expect things to be done RIGHT NOW. Isn't there some sort of scientific evidence that people who live in the country whose lives are less dependent on technology are generally happier, less stressed and healthier? I might be wrong there, but I have a vague memory of reading/hearing something alone those lines...

There's speculation aplenty that does (and there's more that doesn't) come to that kind of conclusion - but in the end we make our own stress and lack thereof. We musicians, most especially, make and present all sorts of stress (and please do not forget that "stress" does not at all invite an exclusively pejorative connotation) - but then again, imagine the stress visited on listeners by music performed by people who have of necessity trained themselves to be able to present it without "stressing themselves out", as current parlance has it. As to the middle part of your paragraph, I think that the kind of thing you refer to is not so much a matter of mere technology-dependence per se or things directly occasioned by technology as it is one of quantity - that is to say the sheer quantity of what is available to us all to digest. Technology plays its part in that, admittedly, yet sitting and writing a piece of music using pen and paper (old technology) with an acute awareness of the sheer amount of material that is nowadays taken in in short spaces of time (when listeners are concentrating, that is!) might be taken as one instance where the mental, rather than merely physical, speed of modern life may still impact upon expressions made using past technological means.

I'm not saying it's anything new that smaller production lines/small independent businesses are more expensive, I was just referring to the fact that it now costs extra not to have anything unnatural added to our food. I realise that leaving their produce unsprayed means a bit more work for the people involved in tending to it before it hits the shops, but my point is that these days we have the scientific knowledge to know how bad these chemicals can be for us, and yet we're still doing it the quick and convenient way, all because it's a bit cheaper and quicker. This is what technology is doing -- it's encouraging us to believe that everything can and, more importantly, should be done in the quickest and most cost-effective way possible. But in the case of food especially, it only contributes to the depression/obesity/stress that increasing numbers of us are suffering from, and we then rely on technology to deal with these, too.

Good points here! I have to say that it seems rather topsy-turvy logic to extrapolate from today's "cheaper" and inferior food production methods the notion that organic produce "now costs extra" to something that was not even available to past generations but, that said, there is ample reliable evidence that certain so-called "fast foods" - or at least the consistent and regular use of them - may have adverse dietary consequences in terms of consumers' general health. The only case in which organic produce might come to be "more expensive" in real terms is when farmers producing it have to bear increased costs to ensure that any immediately surrounding non-organic and/or GM farming activity does not impinge upon their own production methods.

As to a more general consideration of the thread question, the answer, to my mind, still has to be "yes" - but only to those who know not only how to use it but when and when not to use it. So many people, for example, spend time doing things at the computer just because they are achievable; computer obsession is by no means uncommon, as we all know, yet despite the obvious fact that computers are mere tools like screwdrivers or pairs of secateurs, many people persuade themselves - or allow themselves to be persuaded - to adopt attitudes to their computers quite different from their attitudes to their carpentry or gardening tools. In sum, then, my positive answer to this question stems from delight that we have such useful technology available to us (well, not quite ALL of it, but most of it), tempered with a need to put and keep it all in its place rather than inflate its importance to such an unwarrantable extent that we allow it to take over parts of our lives.

Best,

Alistair

[prometheus]

I think people have not become any happier because of technology.

If I would theorise about it I would suspect that technology would. or rather should or could, make humans happier. But technology isn't used properly.

Your lives have become very complex, full or choices and with no simple answers at all. Really, it are the dead simple things that make us happy, the connection with nature and the connection with other people. In our society they are much less strong.

Instead of solving the problems the ancient people had we have made tons of new problems. Pollution, overpopulation, nuclear weapons etc. And we haven't been able to solve the important problems of the ancient people, al least not for the entire population.

So we aren't using technology to make us happier, we are using it because we think we have to since we have the knowledge and the possibility. Really, who would cycle 5 miles through the rain if you have a car as well? And then, even a bikecycle is actually technology. But I love the technology of the cycle. I hope that one day they invent a practicle blimp-cycle, so we can fly really fast through the air using our own body energy without polluting anything except for the pollution of the production involved. That would be way superior to a car.

[gorbee natcase]

I like microwave meals, I like instant answers, I like to view this site, I benefit from mans endeavours, Its so good I can't contain myself