Technology: Does it Separate Us or Bring Us Closer Together?

Questions/Topics from chapter reading. Answer the questions using your opinion. You may use facts to back your opinion. Make sure to give an in-depth critically thought-out answer.

1)
p.266 - " Will there be cultural dominance and language dominance by those who have greater access to the technology? Will selected access to powerful technologies create an elitism?"

Technology can obviously be a pretty expensive commodity. Those who can easily afford it, spend a ton of money on all the best technology, phones, computers and elaborate tings like private jets. Those who make minimum wage, save up their money just to be able to purchase a fraction of what the richer individuals purchase. Generally, people who can afford the most expensive technology do so because they are well educated enough to receive such a high paying career. The richer you are, the greater access you have to technology. However, just because your filthy rich doesn't mean your access to technology is going to make you an elitist.

Technology is a very universal thing, I don't believe that there is cultural or lingual dominance when it comes to technology. Most parts of the world have access to technology, whether or not you can afford it is another question. Certain people do have better access to more powerful technology, but in my opinion that does not make them Elite. Take people who work at a legitimate research facility, even the CEO, are they elite because the do their research on some pretty expensive technological equipment? I believe that technology is an advanced way of making our daily life's and our future's better.

2) p.267 - Quote from John Barlow - "If it feels to me that technology separates me, I try to reject it. If it feels like it has within it the opportunity to bring me closer, on some spiritual level, to the rest of humanity, I accept it."
What is your take on this. Do you feel that technology separates or brings us closer together? Should we reject it or embrace it?

I feel that we should embrace technology because it does bring us closer together. Technology is the most advanced form of communication we have when you are physically distanced from someone. We can use technology to keep in touch with people who are an hour away or a whole continent away. Nowadays, you don't just have options like email or calling someone, you have features like video chat. It is so much easier to stay connected with someone so far away if you can speak using technology.

And that's just communication, technology also brings people together in other ways. Every day, researchers work on cures for illness and disease, and a lot of advancements have been made in the medical field due to technology. Advancements that make it possible for sick people to get better. With achievements like that, people are able to survive lot longer, and one of the main reasons why is because we are so technologically advanced then ever before. Technology should not be feared or rejected, but instead accepted and embraced.

These questions were from the book(the answers are my own):
Digital currents: Art in the Electronic Age By Margot Lovejoy