Appreciating Technology and the Modern World

I have heard over and over again, how bad life is in our modern society. About how bad technology like cars are, and that TV, Internet, and video games are keeping kids from going out and playing. Cars are polluting the air and cell phones give us no privacy and so on and so forth ad nausium

Cars are technological marvels, with them we can move through 12 miles of desert in 20 minutes or less. The technology of cars allows us to do this in relative comfort, with a soft seat under us, and a climate controlled interior, no rain, snow, wind, or heat ever need touch us. People who curse cars forget how long, miserable and down right dangerous a similar trip would be on horseback. I drive Death Valley all the time in the middle of summer in my car; I do it for fun, because I like going there. I think most of us have heard the story about what happened to the party that tried it with the older technology of horses and wagons, they ended up giving the place it's name. Walking is something you do over short distances or for fun. Other than that, you should use a car, that's what they are for.

Modern industry is another technology that is reviled for its pollution, ridged work hours and repetitious labor. But can you imagine what it was like getting up at 6 in the morning to milk some smelly old cow? The technology in older days consisted of slaving over a loom for days and weeks to produce cloth for clothing? No wonder people had 1 pair of socks and maybe 2 outfits. What a pathetic way to live.

Electric power plants are reviled for "polluting the environment" but imagine if you had no electric light? Or had to cook your food on a wood stove and heat water there in a small kettle just to take a bath? People in the past, often didn't' bathe regularly and consequently couldn't have smelled very good either. Teeth undoubtedly went unbrushed and left to rot. Now we have hot water heaters, and powerful climate control systems to keep the temperature just right. Countless medical devices using this technology sustain life it's self.

Heavy equipment is almost symbolic for what's "wrong" with modern society. I've see pictures of "heartless, mindless" bull dozers crushing and ripping there way through forests etc. I have been lucky enough to operate some very large equipment like articulated loaders and dozers (yes I did drive a very large dozer in a forest, it was a blast!) I can tell you that lousy roads cost lives. In the past travel was very difficult if not impossible. Roads could be snowed in for months that now would be opened in a few days with a giant snow blower. Not to mention the fact that the road exists in the first place. Another obvious benefit is deep wells and clean safe water. In the past wells were large shallow affairs that were often not too clean. Many diseases, unknown in our time were rampant than in holocaust like proportions, simply because people drank dirty water. Now we drill deep into the earth with powerful drilling rigs to reach good clean water. Other machines take contaminated water and filter it till it's pure enough to drink. The benefits of heavy equipment are, in fact, easily too numerous for the scope of this article

Even medical technology is the victim of ridicule. People talk about pill pushers and complain to no end about pharmaceutical companies and genetic engineering. These same people get sick, and run to the doctor for the latest treatment. How many thousands are alive today that would have been dead only 50 years ago? Personally I want more research, more pills, more surgical techniques, and defiantly more genetic research. Mecicine should be a top scientific priority.

Cell phones bad? Are you kidding me? Next time you break down along a deserted road or need to call 911 thank the inventers of that little gadget in your pocket. These futuristic devices are absolute marvels, keeping us safe, allowing us to access the internet, play games, take notes, mark calendar dates, play music and a myriad of other highly useful and pleasant activities that would be much harder with out them.

As to TV and the internet I have researched countless college papers with much greater speed and efficiency online than I could ever do in a library (if it even had the book I needed) TV has provide me with hours of fun and wonder and I've even learned some things on Discovery, TLC and the Nasa Channel. My child hood doubtlessly would have been less enjoyable with out Mr. Spock. If you think your kid watches too much TV, tell them to stop, you're the parent and it's your job, don't blame the technology for being too entertaining, that's what it's supposed to be.

Of course you have the environmentalist crowd of which I'm only a member in as much as it pertains to human safety and comfort or the advancement of science. Anthropomorphizing natural phenomena is a bad habit, Animals are NOT little people in fur coats, they are little animals in fur coats and trees are dumb robotic mechanisms, they feel nothing, they know nothing. The only life on earth that is truly alive is that life, which writes poetry, ponders metaphysics, and creates music, literature and any thing else beyond mere survival. Once you stop anthropomorphizing you realize it's not about sharing the planet with other life forms, we're the only ones here. The rest aren't "ones" they are "things

I for one, love the modern world; I wish it was the 24'th century instead of the 21'st. As technology advances, I see us conquering sickness, age and death, reengineering ourselves to eliminate our faults and weaknesses. Than we will reach out with our machines and make the very stars our home.