The advancement of new technology has been evolving since the beginning of human history. From the invention of items like the spear and knives to help assist in capturing animals, to items like the first phonograph and the computer. The advancement in technology has been extraordinarily fast in the 20th and 21st century. With electronic technology and machines being produced and improved ceaselessly, it was logical that along with the positive aspects of these advancements, people would also consider the negative aspects and look to attack new technology.
Humanity has changed because of science and technology, primarily through the availability to almost everyone on the planet of on-the-spot communication. A protest at Times Square is seen by the world within minutes of its eruption. World calamities are instantly viewed worldwide. We are no longer a world of numerous cultures unaware of and inhuman to one another.
Instead we now have a wholeness that encircles what humans are, living beings struggling to succeed and survive, all sharing a common need for love and connection, having a desire to learn, grow and evolve, security by our government, and liberation from hunger, maltreatment and abandonment.Technology has advanced to the point where our lives are being made easier by just a click of a button and tap of a screen. The wealth of information and science we have learned in the last few centuries have impacted our lives especially when concerning civilization as a whole.
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The capability of imagination impacts us in a variation of ways. “Imagination is a specifically human gift,” (616) which signifies that other living organisms are not provided with the advantage of imagination, as claimed by Jacob Bronowski. To imagine is to have images in your head move in a course, maybe from memory or an undisclosed future. It can be us purely coming up with what we want to occur in our own futures. Science and literature both advanced from our own imaginations, and we alone as humans are able to undergo creativity.
This essay by Jacob Bronowski tackles imagination, a feature which he swiftly argues is possessed only by humans. Imagination, which Bronowski defines as the power to influence images in the mind’s eye, was conveyed inactive in lower animals in a bundle of experiments putting their memory to the test. In “The Reach of Imagination” (616), Bronowski interprets imagination as “the manipulation of images in one’s head.” (616) According to Bronowski, imagination is a comprehensive human trait that is incomparable. Through this powerful ability, humans are competent of living a limitless number of lives (“Cats,” he states rather, “only have nine.”)(616)
Imagination permits humans to live multiple realities that not yet exist and many that cannot exist, all in a brief time period and turn loose of any physical restraints. Because of this capability of creativity and imagination, humans are able to make advances in science. Animals, as argued about by Bronowski, do not possess this power and cannot accomplish the same developments. Bronowski goes on to prove that imagination is the backbone of human innovations through the application of anecdotes from history. He states that Newton was not once able to actually test his findings, yet he was able to create the most fundamental calculations known with his brain alone.
Galileo’s first “experiment” (616) took place entirely in his mind, and Einstein was “wonderfully ignorant” (616) of what could have been observed in laboratory when he concepted his paradox at a young age and solved it one decade later with the theory of relativity. All of these significant advances in science were the result of powerful imaginations. Bronowski stated that this originality and mastery of the mind were attributes of being human. They are what distinguishes us from animals, therefore, we can not clarify our humanity without our imagination.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi begins his essay by establishing one concern that will become central in the next couple years. The issue he alludes to is about how we should use the ability to manage the genetic makeup of the human species. He says that well before we were aware about genes, farmers “recognized that the traits of parents were passed down to the offspring.” (623)
The author also explains that “genetic engineering” (623) was achieved because they were seen as granted traits to the survival of the group. Some examples are, it is less likely for impoverished people to get married and have children, and people with “ desirable phenotypic traits” (623) are more likely to marry one another. He goes onto say that now, with all the genetic breakthroughs, many genetic engineers are convinced that “designer babies” (623) are at hand. In his essay, Mihaly questions whether the society would receive an advantage from our children being genetically engineered for more pleasure in their lifetime. Mihaly says that every parent evidently wants happiness for their kids.
Although if everyone is happy, then what do we have to hope for or look forward to. He states “ happiness is that the state in which one does not want or wish anything else.” (623) Happy people tend to not think highly about material possession nor driven by desire for power and achievement. “Why would they? They are happy already right?” (623) Mihaly’s essay helps express that the development and evolution in science and technology is changing the society. From designer babies to genetically engineering happiness, the advances are becoming a key factor of our lives.
What differentiates us from others? Is it our genetics? Our surroundings? Our environment? Is it how we were raised? Or our socio-economic status? Mihaly stressed that biodiversity is essential to the survival of the human race. Why? Because if we all shared identical genetics then wouldn’t that mean that we would be attracted to the same things? Would it mean that we all would share the same allergies? In Mihaly’s essay, it is claimed that “ because the future is largely unforeseeable it is the best to have a diverse pool or potentialities from which adaptive responses to new situations may emerge,instead of locking ourselves into a pattern that in best terms of present condition.” (623)
The scientific method is a procedure that experiments and aims to minimize unfairness or bias. We utilize this in our day-to-day lives even if we are not scientists or researchers. Humans are by nature born with inquisitiveness and it is the unknowing that entices us into running our own “experiments” (609). From the use of the scientific method, we are better able to determine facts when establishing natural laws and theories about our universe and much more.
The means to think and generate laws and conclusions based on scientific evidence using the scientific method is not an expertise strictly designed to scientists, but rather the scientific method was obtained from the natural arrangement of human decision making. Author T.H.Huxley in his writing “ The Method of Scientific Investigation” (609) describes a closer look at how we make decisions makes this apparent.
Through there still lies a level of value in decision making in reference to how much relevant information is obtained prior to decision making. Huxley’s claim of “ the method of Scientific investigation is nothing but the expression of the necessary mode of working of the human mind,” (609) expresses his intentions to disclose the process of thinking, which has been taken and applied in the field of science and mistakenly seen as too compound for the common man.
Conclusively the scientific theory is in accordance with common sense derived from logical and synthesis. A human’s odd ability to rationally think through situations via inductive and deductive reasoning endorsed for the creation of “laws” (609) which are generally accepted truths one can use to steer their life.
Technology refers to what you do with it, how it is put to use. It is mankind’s alternative on whether the progressions of technology will be used for positive or negative outcomes. In contemporary society, technology has evolved to play a much prominent role than a straightforward support system; it has developed as an overriding factor in the way we interact, communicate, discover, understand, and carry out our daily lives.
