Tuesday 9 June 2015

Ramtin journal entry #4

A major theme in the book is how far humans should go in their pursuit of technological advancements before it is considered unethical. Due to the futuristic setting of the novel, there are many technological advancement in the story that are not currently used in today’s society. Examples of these technologies are hover vehicles, laser guns, robotic animals that look and behave exactly like real animals, androids that look exactly like humans, and machines that are able to control emotions. Also, Mars is colonized in the book which most likely required technology that has not been used in the real world yet. These technologies raise questions about when we should decide to stop before it goes too far. While I do believe that hover vehicles, faster transportation, and colonizing other planets would be mostly positive, I do not think that robotic humans and animals, as well as machines controlling emotions are necessary. Emotions are one of the special elements of being a living creature and controlling them is like programming yourself like a robot. I also believe androids’ looking exactly like humans is unethical because it is disturbing to have something fake behave and look exactly like a human. The book also had the main character fall in love with an android which once again shows how too much technological advancement is unethical. Overall, the characters seemed to lack many qualities that humans in the real world have and they seemed to have very ‘robotic’ personalities. Even though the examples of future technology in the book is very extreme, the question of “how far technology should go” could even be asked in today’s world. While the technology advancements over the past century and specifically the past decade have led to countless positive consequences, some would say that our reliance over technology is already higher than what it should be. Many people in today’s world would have trouble going a full day without a phone, laptop, TV, or any other technology they might use. However, before the 2000’s, many people could function normally without these types of technology which shows how much society could advance in a short period of time. Overall, everyone will have different opinions on how much technological advancement is enough, but the book does a good job of showing the extreme levels of what humans could be capable of.     

2 comments:

  1. That's the thing, we continuously design and build more projects for us to be more dependent on technology. Look at our generation today, we sit in the cafeteria and 1 in 3 students have a device in their hands. We are with our friends and eating, yet our eyes still go back to the little screens. Can I say little anymore? They are practically the same size as when the first phone was made. In fact, they are constantly enlarging the previous models. Next thing you know, cell phones are going to be the size of pizzas. How appealing and convenient to have a 14-inch device up to face. Technology has its benefits like you said but does it outweigh the potential consequences in the future? Do we want our kids at ages no greater than 7 to already have their minds revolved around the idea of how great technology is when really they are too young to realize what the problems really are? I see parents setting a tablet in front of their kids so that they would obey and eat their food. I see elementary kids with the latest phones and gadgets. I see how students are glued to their phones and it's evident that we don't care as long as it makes our lives even easier.

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  2. I think the advancement of human technology can almost be considered a human trait. As new technology is created humans adapt and change to incorporate that new technology. I agree there are numerous ways that the advancement of technology has made humans preform regressive steps. However, I believe that the pros vastly out-way the cons. If technology was completely taken out of our lives society could no longer function. We would revert to a state of savagery, similar to Lord of The Flies. As we have seen from Blade Runner, it is next to impossible to limit the flow of technology. So long as there is a market for it new technology will be produced. So thus, humans must adapt.

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