Is Technology Hurting Us?

Since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution the progress of man has moved rapidly ahead to create an almost science fiction-like world. To the founding fathers of America, we would appear to be almost god-like in our technological advances. We can talk to anyone on Earth, and sometimes even off Earth, with the push of a few buttons. Within this age of innovation, we can do many things that were impossible for colonial society. But for all this progress, society is now weaker in many ways. We have become dependent on our creations, taken a chunk out of our ecosystem, and generally mucked things up a bit. We have to ask ourselves if progress is worth the price. Certain human achievements may actually set the race back if we're not careful.

Since the mid 1990's, technology has grown by leaps and bounds. With computers, complex weapons systems, and corporate funded pop tours that have more bells and whistles than a New Year's Eve party in London, we have come a very long way from Ben and his kite. Yes, electricity is everywhere, in the kitchen, the playroom, and even the bedroom. Since 1996, the demand for electricity has increased 25% in California alone. This is mostly because of California's dominance in every industry except cheese and whiskey. As a result of these two factors, there is an ongoing crisis of almost infinite proportions. California is running out of electricity at a brisk rate. Because many Californians depend on electricity for most of their activities, they are now having an "Energy Crisis" that's got many people worried about our power sources. They're afraid that if we don't eventually come up with alternative forms of energy, society will crumble when we run out of coal and dinosaurs under pressure. They feel that because of civilization's advances, we might be plunged into an anarchic society from which we may never recover.

Electricity isn't the only thing Mother Invention has created that could possibly endanger civilization. She also made computers. Computers were originally designed for calculating complex mathematical equations that the human mind couldn't comprehend in the course of a lifetime. In other words, they were created as a means to supplement human intelligence. We've wavered from this, and although Toy Story was a candid display of human ingenuity, we as a people are getting slothful as a result of these amazing machines. Case in point: no matter how good I think this essay is, no matter how swiftly my fingers danced over the keys, I'm still going to run spell check when I'm done. I never learned how to spell very well. Why should I bother? Since I've needed it, spell check has always been there for me. Spell check is just one of the many computer gimmicks designed to make our lives easier. But in all honesty, aren't they really making us slowly dimmer? Is Cyberspace spacing us out? I'm reminded of H.G. Wells The Time Machine, in which the central character travels to a far away time when mankind had fallen due to their rejection of books, which led to a rejection of thought on all but a primal level. Is the real mankind heading slowly towards a similar fate in the wake of the Information Age? Only time will tell.

Is progress the Anti-Christ of St. John's Revelation? No. Are we as a society doomed to take three "giant steps" back due to our giant steps forward? No. Our lives are what we make them, and there are no absolutes. We have a semi responsible populace and just because we didn't learn from the automobile and air conditioning being responsible for rampant obesity or the nuclear bomb bringing an end to most war in a very bad way doesn't mean our problems are unsolvable. With a little reason and intelligence, we can solve these problems. We can do almost anything. Although we must be careful not to let progress get away from us and throw us into a regressed state, I'm hopeful. And for the record, spell check corrected 18 errors in this document, including one in this sentence.