comparative essay

Centuries ago, the plow and the printing press were the rising innovations of technology. The plow helped bring in crops at an easier and quicker pace, and the printing press gave access to writing materials and had the ability to spread works to those other than the elite. In today’s society, technology is the basis of the world, helping us develop inventions to further medicine and allowing people to communicate all over the world within seconds. With the simple touch on a screen, there is the ability to call someone from another continent, as with medical technology, the life span of humans is significantly increasing and many diseases are being treatable. Present day technology has also brought new opportunities including social media, letting a variety of age groups connect through apps and online websites to share messages, photographs, and promote their lifestyles.

In Why the Future Doesn’t Need Us by Bill Joy, Joy remarks how far society has become technologically, but is apprehensive if it will be a positive aspect for society. Though enthusiastic about what could happen in the future, Joy voices a few concerns. He believes that technology will further into the future and that it will most likely take over society. He states his concerns about how technology could possible take full control over the universe and how that would affect the people. He is assuming robots will control most of the world, humans will not need to lift a finger, and will have no use anymore in their fields of career. He expresses a sense of unease about the intensity of technology and what it could be capable of. He questions the fact of whether robots could become too powerful, leading to people suddenly become unable of work if robots begin to replace them in their qualified professions. He brings up genetic engineering and nanotechnology as evidence that humans could loss control if not taking advantage of technology. Genetic engineering and nanotechnology are just a few examples used that could possibly help technology take a higher power over humans. These two transforming technologies have the power to self-replicate, which leaves humans with no control to stop the process. 

We could lose control of the world if robots get too carried away

As We May Think- Bush:

In As We May Think by Vannevar Bush, Bush writes about his predictions based in July 1945 of what the future holds in a technological standpoint. talks about the innovations humans have made throughout the past centuries and how now technology is being improved more rapidly than ever. He talks about the ever-changing process of photography, the future invention of the photo cell, and the questioning if dry photography will perhaps be something discovered in the future. Joy continues to be optimistic, believing the world has a long ways to go in developing technology so advanced, but is in full determination that amazing inventions will be marketed and will change the human-kind for the better. 

Discuss the differences between the two articles- 

Based on Bush’s and Joy’s predictions for the future of technology, many of their ideals have come to life and have actually succeeded in the economy. Robots, though not as in control as Joy believes, having become vastly more popular and are in constantly being curated to become more innovative and functional for the global economy and society. After hearing Joy’s concerns over the possibility of robots taking over, I do agree with him and believe that this is going to be a commonality of replacing people in their jobs. While it is amazing to see how far technology has come and that robots actually do exist, to a certain extent, it can become to the brink of this technology becoming too powerful over humans. That is something that will certainly convince many people that technology is being taken too far and needs to be balanced. Even today, people from all over the world, of all different age groups and economic backgrounds, use smart phones and other technological devices to use for their careers, social media, and for entertainment. Majority of time is spent on the screen, rather than interacting with fellow co-workers or peers, thus creating social awkwardness. Many in this modern world people tend to prefer speaking to others if it’s based on a screen rather than in person, in order to avoid their inabilities to speak in a social environment (a face-to-face conversation). Although Bush and Joy made many accurate depictions of how the present day would look like, we have not reached the full futuristic appearance of robots and technology completely taking over society. People are still in communication with others and have used their natural skills to run businesses, control governments, and try to create stability throughout the world.

-iPhone composed of small switches arranged (transistor)

1000-1200 words

https://www.cc.gatech.edu/computing/nano/documents/Joy%20-%20Why%20the%20Future%20Doesn%27t%20Need%20Us.pdf

http://web.mit.edu/STS.035/www/PDFs/think.pdf

 

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