NOTE: Free essay sample provided on this page should be used for references or sample purposes only. The sample essay is available to anyone, so any direct quoting without mentioning the source will be considered plagiarism by schools, colleges and universities that use plagiarism detection software. To get a completely brand-new, plagiarism-free essay, please use our essay writing service.
One click instant price quote
Technology and Change Technology is one of the forces that drive the overall human progress towards improvements and innovation. Change in technology is one of the major aspects that make the process of innovation possible. In this report we are going to examine the importance of changes in technology and how these two aspects (change and technology) integrate within each other. Technology today has become an essential part of our day to day lives. Even Jonneth Kennedy describes man as still the most extraordinary computer of all. This technological based world has created dependence, somehow, between countries globally and thus, has created a sort of global unity disregarding individual cultures.
Although this advancement in the technological ladder has brought about many advantages, it simultaneously creates a distance between different communities with their traditions and values, as well as a disintegration of human values and ethics. Taking a positive outlook, one must admit that technology has allowed man to become superior to all his fellow creatures. It has a civilizing aspect to it, where man is able, by using his mind, to create great things. Almost our whole world is highly dependent on the technological devices that we have created, varying from a simple radio to a highly developed nuclear device.
These devices have created an interchange and awareness between different cultures. A perfect example of this would be the Internet. Millions of users all over the world have access to the Internet. These users are able to communicate with people all over the world.
This communication has eliminated differences between cultures and has allowed for a better understanding between different communities. However, it is also evident that with the build up of technology, traditions and values gradually disintegrate. The youth are subjected to the same information all over the world and therefore, adapt the same habits and ideology. Although, technology creates a blending of cultures, it also creates a breaking down of the term culture itself. Furthermore some argue that people have become so blinded by this materialistic, technological world we have created, that we fail to see our true origins. They also argue that technology stuffs our minds with overwhelming things that make us disregard our ethical values; Virtues such as modesty, truth, and righteousness seems to have disintegrated and in their place came the damned desire of having.
We have the idea of a perfect world, clean, straight and sufficient. So we cover the earth with technological, worldly possessions that end up owning us. This ultimately leads us to a state where we have alienated our humanity; all derived from our lust for power to know. Overall, one must say that technology has allowed us to globally unite, giving us a broader and better understanding of the world as a whole. However, I cannot agree that this technological uprising should come at the cost of the individuals sense of belonging and of carrying on ancestral tradition.
This excessive technology has somehow, created a sense of greediness: a lack of the simple life. All people care about today is their self righteous, self opinionated, self will. Although technology has saved lives and benefited us in many ways, one is inclined to wonder whether technology is just sucking us even faster into the vortex of our materialistic, stagnant world with no variety or difference in peoples beliefs and customs. Furthermore, if the point of technology is to expand our horizons and become more developed than we are far from achieving this.
The reason being that the world has reached a point where there is no hope of change for the better. Any kind of change is limited within the borders of the Iron Age to which weve plunged ourselves. We have played and used the earth as if it were our toy. As technology progressed, our toy came to own us and we will be engulfed in the calamity of its collapse. We have got very badly to want to get rid of the old before anything new could appear. We have got to destroy the world completely or shrink in it because it wont expand anymore.
Technology and progression has become no more that a tiresome game for self-important people. (Finly) The rapid change in technology excited many people in America, but with any change the skeptics soon followed. This is illustrated in many of the technological advances and the various social and political concerns of the time. The US Industrial revolution established the United States of America as an economic power. The British were shook by US progress.
Americans began to expect change and anticipate new technology. Before one can understand why this enthusiasm for technology was rampant in American culture, one must first understand some of the reasons and influences for US industrialization and technological advancement. In 1865, the North wins the Civil War. The North promotes a Laissez Faire approach to government.
This hands off approach was justified by Social Darwinism. The Morrill tariff was then placed in effect. This tax on imports encouraged Americans to purchase American goods. Promoting education and achievement, the Morrill act was created. This act provided government funding to states and territories to set up universities. The National Banking act established a safe environment for businesses to invest.
This promoted the use of a federal bank rather than individual state banks. A common currency, using a gold standard, was also established. In 1869, the east and the west are joined together by railroad. In the 1870 s the government gave land to the railroad. With the subsidized land, the railroad then gave the land to people in exchange for business. (Finly) In 1886, the 14 th Amendment that states, No state may enforce any law that will deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. was passed.
The Supreme Court rules that a corporation has the same rights as a person in Santa Clara Count v. Southern Pacific Railroad. The United States of America also had extremely plentiful amount of natural resources. Along with the natural resources came capital. The gold rush and a few northern factories were constant financial resources that influenced industrialization. A large number of immigrants aided business with the supply of cheap labor.
Technology began constantly changing. This change is very similar to what is occurring and has occurred in recent years with regards to computers. The trolley car becomes a widely used form of transportation. Eventually the trolley is bought out by the automobile and oil industries. New items were invented. A few inventors, which have become known and often grouped together as the Wizards of the Industrial revolution, rose up to challenge and push the boundaries of technology.
Technology is one of the principal driving forces of the future; it is transforming our lives and shaping our future at rates unprecedented in history, with profound implications which we can't even begin to see or understand. Many different elements affect how satisfied we are with our lives. The impact of technology on these elements can change how safe, healthy and happy people feel. Throughout history, people have looked for better ways to meet their needs and to satisfy their expectations.
Technology has improved the way people feed, clothe and shelter themselves. Technology has also changed other aspects of everyday life, such as health care, education, job satisfaction, and leisure time activities. People have used technology since they first chipped stone blades to improve their hunting. Yet some people call the current age the Technological Age because of society's dependence on technology. For the first time in human history, almost all the goods and services people use depend on technology. The products of technology are available to almost everyone in society.
The economy of a country influences how the people of the county live. Technology is often considered the key to a nations economic growth. One of the most important decisions we make concerns the way we move ourselves and our commodities. Our system of transportation greatly affects how we use energy, develop technology, affect the economy and environment, and shape our social relationships. When Henry Ford was starting out on his remarkable career in Detroit, a bustling town which gave full vent to the creative energies of some amazing innovators, the economy of was showing enormous cracks. But at the time, even the most prescient of fortune-tellers would have had trouble forecasting what was about to happen.
Carriage and buggy-whip makers were still turning handsome profits in a growing market, and the few cars on the dusty, unpaved roads were little more than fanciful toys for the adventurous rich. Some of the communications technologies pioneered toward the end of the nineteenth century must have seemed just as esoteric to the leading financiers and industrialists of the day, who were doing fine bankrolling the traditional industries they knew so well. Yet, within a few short years, Ford and others would shape consumer products out of the new technologies that would set in motion an awesome economic transformation. Henry Ford didnt invent the automobile.
Nor did he invent mass production or the assembly line. Ford is famous because he took these existing concepts and incorporated them into a n efficient, large-scale system of manufacturing inexpensive, reliable cars. Im going to democratize the automobile. Ford said, and when I'm through, everybody will have one. (Chase, 1997, 47) Cars have made a big difference in the way communities have been designed.
Street layout, the design of homes, and traffic laws have changed as methods of transportation has changed throughout history. Automobiles are responsible for more than half the airborne pollution in the western world. Many plans are being developed to control air pollution. Burning cleaner fuel and burning fuel more efficiently both help the environment. Pollution controls devices for cars have also been developed. For example, catalytic systems were installed in many car exhaust systems in the 1980 s.
These devices change dangerous gases into harmless carbon dioxide and water. They also burn up much of the exhaust with fresh air in a chamber near the exhaust pipe. The car of the future will need new designs which make even better use of the fuel which powers them. Computerization has made it easier for banks to keep track of individual baking transactions so charges for these have increased. Branch-bank employees worry that computers and automated tellers may replace people. While technological change has been a priority for banks over the last years, they also recognize the need to communicate in person with customers.
Banks must manage money and data effectively but they must also maintain personal relations. Bank personnel may be assisted with computer and some services may work well when automated, but banks will probably never lose their staffs to machines. A new, information-technology-driven circle of growth has replaced the aging manufacturing ring and not many have noticed. The statistics that told us so much about the economy's health during the 1920 s to the 1980 s are still treated with a reverence they no longer deserve. Thats why the experts have so much trouble explaining whats going on now. (Finly) Now, because of the easy access to information, the fourteen years old who has just discovered that she failed ninth grade can find out how to make a bomb out of household detergents. As can the laid-off business man, the dumped boyfriend, and the deranged psycho.
My general sentiment about technology and the Internet are simple. In light of the history of mass communication, there is nothing we can do to protect any media from the sound byte or any other form of commercial poisoning. But, our country's public opinion doesnt have to fall into a nose-dive of lies and corruption, because of it! Television doesnt have to be a weapon against us, used to sway our opinions or to conform to people who care about their own prosperity, not ours. With the power of a critical thinking education, we can stop being motivated by the sound byte and, instead we can laugh at it as a cheap attempt to persuade us and have a little fun with it.
Technology is not all bad. The whole point of this is that people have to be sure that everyone is aware of all the good and bad aspects of technology. I feel that the advance of technology is a good trend for our society; however, it must be in conjunction with advances in education so that society is able to master and understand technology. In the future we may see many problems arising from this new wave of technology.
Unemployment numbers will most probably rise, crime will increase, and we can be the masters of technology, and not let it be the masters of us. Bibliography: Chase K. , Automobile Industry Innovation, New York: Viking Press, 1997. Finly W. , Evolution of Technology, from Wired Magazine, issue April 2000.
Free research essays on topics related to: united states of america, industrial revolution, henry ford, natural resources, sound byte
Research essay sample on United States Of America Henry Ford
