Thursday, September 8, 2011
Technology: a double edged blade
The article by Postman, "Five things we need to Know About Technological Change", brings up an interesting perspective about technology: the good and bad it does for society. I had never really looked at technology in the terms of good and bad, yes I have know that they can be used for good and ill, but I never went looking for their impacts on society. The points Postman uses make sense, however I have always lived by the view Elder Oaks presents in "Focus and Priorities", that there always will be bad people around that try to use a new technology for evil, but if used carefully and wisely, modern innovations can be a great asset in life. Everyone must decide for themselves where the boundary between using wisely and carelessly lies, but by discovering it and staying well into the wisely side, technology will be a great blessing, rather than the cause of ignorance.
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First, your link is broken.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I agree that each person is responsible for how they use technology, dependent on their moral boundaries. However, is there a point when another party should intervene? Furthermore, who decides what that line is.
Thanks for the link to Elder Oaks talk. It's a great one!
Reading your post made me start thinking about WHY technology would have negative impacts on society. Sure, people can purposefully use it for evil/negative motives, but technology isn't inherently good or evil. It seems like computers in particular have have expanded our agency dramatically in the last 20 years. We now have easier access to more resources both good and bad, and now it is up to us to use the technology in positive ways. I don't agree with Postman on the fact that technology inherently has negative impacts on society, but by expanding our agency we have more options and unfortunately people too often make the wrong choices.
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