Is Technology Murdering Us?
TL;DR: You Have Lost More Than You Could Ever Know
Cover Photo by Thanh Tran on Unsplash
As we all know, technology has come a long way from where it started. From the invention of the wheel to the invention of nanobots, it has come a great deal. The main reason for something to be invented is to benefit us, humans. This can be seen in major inventions. For example, the invention of the wheel resulted in easing transportation. The issue with technology is that most breakthroughs have unintended effects, and those unintended consequences are stacking up, inflicting pain and posing existential threats. We ignore such hazards and naively assume that, with the exception of the terrifying technologies (such as animal cloning), the benefits exceed the risks and that technological progress is humanity's noblest calling.
Photo by Joseph Gonzalez on Unsplash
Can Technology actually kill us?
Technology has made it easier than ever to wreak widespread devastation. And because it is becoming simpler for a few bad individuals to utilize technology to wreak catastrophic devastation, mankind may be in peril.
Oxford philosopher Nick Bostrom says technology often has unintended consequences and that we may have to choose between totalitarianism and annihilation. This is the argument made by Oxford professor Nick Bostrom, director of the Future of Humanity Institute, in a new working paper, "The Vulnerable World Hypothesis". The study investigates whether really harmful technology can be inexpensive and simple - and hence extremely difficult to regulate. Bostrom examines past trends to speculate on how the spread of certain of those technologies could have been different if they had been less expensive, and he outlines some reasons why such hazardous technological advances might be on the horizon. From viral outbreaks to nuclear weapons, these can end up killing half the human population in no time.
Although the chances of you actually dying from a technological disaster are quite low, you have probably lost your human self by now. We humans have started to lose our human touch because of the involvement of technology in our day to day lives. Take our social life as an example; I personally have friends who spend most of their day - sometimes up to 12 hours, on social media and later worry about not having enough time for their daily tasks. As we become more and more connected as a society, behaviours are evolving - some for the better, some for the worse.
Have you ever wondered what you do with the "time you saved" by using a dishwasher?
My mother once told me,
"We humans are losing our connection with the things around us. Take this grandfather's clock, for example. You have to wind it up every week for it to function properly. This means you are connected with that machine. With the clocks that run on battery, there is no need for any maintenance. You will simply forget that it even exists until the clock stops working"
This actually made me think about how and why we interact with the things around us. When people say that you value something only when you lose it, that is because you never feel the humane touch when handling it. Once you lose it, your human feelings take over, and you realize the value of it.
Conclusion
I am quite aware of how technology has helped us improve the quality of life on a decent scale. But is it worth it to trade ourselves, our humanness for it? This has become quite a debate in recent times, and this article is solely based on my opinions supported by a few facts.
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