Is technology good or bad

As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate.

Instructions : Analyze and take sides.

Dependence on technology has led to an apparent decline in the "mental ability" of people. People rely on electronic gadgets and mechanical inventions for their day to day jobs and it seems that they would not be able to function without them. But does this mean that relying on technology to reduce the burden of daily tasks has slowed the development of the human race and reduced the mental acumen of our generation.

On the contrary, today, technology has shifted people's focus from the dull and boring tasks of everyday life to the specialized field of his profession. For example, as a scientist trying to develop faster and advanced algorithms in my field I can choose to work in a high level computer language and ignore the monotonous and dull tasks of converting and testing the program in assembly languages. Using the internet, I have fast access to the existing literature at my fingertips. To compare different methods I can use have access to already developed software and testing beds, all of which would not have been possible a decade earlier. Earlier, even If I had access to vast literature, I would have to go through large tomes of unrelated information which would decline my productivity.

The internet allows people in different regions of the world to come together and contribute and develop new fields. People can communicate across the globe via satellite links, which requires the use of systems whose development and maintenance requires expertise in vast number of fields. People do not know the intricacies of these systems but that information is not required for progress in their respective fields.

Technology today has shortened gaps across globes, brought economic and social upliftment of societies, improved the health and longevity of human race and expedited development in every field. When I get up, I do not have to think about the getting to my workplace, as compared to a century earlier where people's profession were determined by their position on the globe. The social revolutions and movements in different parts of the world have been possible only because of the iniquitousness of communication equipments. The human race has benefited from research in healthcare most of which is bundled up in the vaults of big pharmaceutical companies.

Some demerits of the excessive use of technology can be pointed out in the excessive dependence of students on calculators for computation and the decrease in face-to-face communication brought on by social networking. Technology is able to provide information quickly and easily on people's smartphones and thus has reduced retentive capabilities of people's memory. The benefits of these technologies far out-weigh their disadvantages. Social networking sites like facebook have revolutionized communication by bringing together societies on a common medium. It has allowed people to be aware of social issues and keep in touch with old friends across the globe. People do not have to laboriously compile information not directly related to their profession. Computers and calculators have expedited research and development in all fields although many times people using these technologies have very less idea about the intricacies of development of transistors and logical arrays which run these devices.

Technology today has allowed people to focus on relevant details. Experts in a vast array of fields have been created and the development of the race has been expedited, although the knowledge of an expert in a field is limited to his area. Reducing the use of technology would be a ludicrous suggestion although some measures can be taken to properly educate our posterity of its proper usage.