Technology More Harm Than Good?!

By reading All Tomorrow's Parties by William Gibson we get a little insight into our possible future. This made me think about whether technology is all good and beneficial. Of course we would not be able to do half the research the we do and have the amount of knowledge that we possess but it can also cause problems.

In the novel Rei Toei is created as being the perfect woman. She is stunningly beautiful and sweet. Men fall in love with her even though they know that she is unattainable. But this is the problem because although she exemplifies this perfection she is not real. She is simply a series of digital images. What good is it creating something that is so perfect that is it impossible in the real world. Being in the presence of such perfection will make everything else seem inadequate. Nothing that is real will ever been good enough. No other woman could ever live up to the same standards as Rei Toei.

What good is it having this creation when it will just make the real world more difficult. Wrapping ourselves in a digital world is not a good idea because its not real. This form of technology definitely has a negative aspect because it prevents us from living what is real because real is hard. It allows us to take an easy way out because we don't have to face the hardships that we are surrounded by.

Another harmful part of technology is presented in a 2006 movie called Idiocrasy with Luke Wilson. This movie shows the world 500 years into the future. Although the movie is quite ridiculous is shows the effects of technology on human intelligence. There are outstanding machines and programs that are invented but as a consequence no one can think for themselves. Machines can do anything and everything so there is no need to even use the brain. As obscure as this thought may sound it is not that unrealistic.

Already we are creating things that prevent us from using our full mental capacity. Things such as spell check and calculators minimize the amount of work we have to do. This technology makes things faster and simpler but i already notice that i cannot spell well and i cannot do mental math. Then again why would i even bother if i have something that can do it for me? These things are minimal but the more creative that we get with technology the less work we will have to do. Therefore the technology that William Gibson is so wrapped up in may cause end up causing us quite the amount of harm.