Technology: The Good, The Bad, and The Evil
One of the greatest inventions to date, is the internet. Since the invention of the internet in 1983, the world has absolutely changed, for the good, and the bad. Back before the invention of the internet, I do not think people of the time imagined how the world would be so different, or that something like the internet would come along. If I was born before 1983, I would not think technology of this magnitude would be right around the corner. And to think, the internet was invented only 16 years before my birth... that is as old as my brother today! With that being said, some of us did see it coming, even if I would not have.
GM Predicting The Moon Landing?
When you watch this video here, https://youtu.be/2-5aK0H05jk, the very beginning scene says that man is on the moon exploring with his new technology even though he can not breath on the moon and there is no weather on the moon. This video is about the futurama ride debut in New York in 1964. Do you know when the moon landing was? That's right, 1969. Weird how the opening scene of this commercial promoting a ride in the 60s would have also predicted the moon landing? Something else worth noting: the big rover looking machines that were scanning the land in the opening scene when man was floating around, look very similar to the Mars Rover that was sent up to space in 2003 and landed on Mars in 2004... strange. Very strange, almost so strange that it makes me uncomfortable.
The whole idea behind this Futurama ride, invented by Norman Bel Geddes in 1939, was to predict the technological advancements that were to be made about 20 years into the future, he thought anyway. Wikipedia claims that his look into his "version of the future was rather achievable; the most advanced technology being the automated highway system that General Motors Company built a prototype for in 1960," but I dont buy that. I think, now this is just me being a conspirator, but every big name person that got credit for invented something way ahead of it's time was definitely knew more than they let on about the world. This genius man, Geddes, invented an ideal world for the Shell Oil ad campaign of 1937 as well, which was used as a spring board for this futurama ride two years later.
I find there are too many similarities between this video of the ride and the events that actually took place in history. How could you predict the moon landing almost exactly 30 years prior? How did you happen to stumble upon a 'made up' prototype of a Moon Rover that strikingly resembles the Mars Rover 40 years later? Something just does not seem right about that.
Have you ever head of Carvana? Famous for being the first to have a car vending machine, dating to around 2015. If you skip to 4:40 in the video, you will see something that comes into the frame that looks EXACTLY like the car vending machine that was only invented 5 years ago. At first, you might just think it is a parking garage, because I did too, but if you look closely, the levels are spinning. The car vending machine, which also spins, in Philadelphia, PA. Again, something about this video just does not seem right. Good on Geddes part for being accurate with his predictions... but it seems too accurate to sit right with me, especially on such minor things like a car vending machine that was only shown in one frame of the video appearing for ten seconds.
This just leads me to my next point, the invention of new technologies is absolutely incredible and sometimes the best things to happen to us, but there is a good and a bad side to all technology. The Good and The Evil, but sometimes The Evil goes too unnoticed. This can influence and shape the relationships us as individuals has with technology too.
The Good
As I mentioned before, advancements in technology have brought us great things, like the internet. We have gotten countless medical advancements since, motor advancements, educational advancements, and farming advancements. Technological advancements make the world go round. Actually, one of the best inventions to date, coming in at #1 is the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg in 1405! And, According to history.com, the 10th best invention is anesthesia, just to put that into perspective. Look at how anesthesia revolutionized the development of modern surgery, and that is only at #10, which means the world has been progressing at an enormous rate.
I know it may seem weird to add farming equipment to the list of great advances in technology, but it is true. Something that comes to mind is the modern way to milk cows with a machine- a cow milker. Invented in 1889 in Scotland, it is one of the most widely used pieces of farming equipment connected to the care of cows out there. This lead to the invention of the Rotolactor, a big spinning platform allowing you to milk multiple cows at once, automatically, in 1930. Big inventions like these get so much praise, as they should, for completely turning the development of industries in the right direction. However, the things no one likes to talk about is the same Evil these things cause.
The Bad
Inherently, I do not think that technology is bad. I think most of the time the reasoning behind the invention is good, the intent is good, and the execution is usually good. However, I had come across some bad technology, not because of people misusing it, but because it was invented with malice and intent to harm in a way that was not necessary.
First example being the electric chair. I could go any which way with this one. Morally, it is wrong, physically, it is wrong, and mentally, it is wrong. This is not an argument on whether or not the death penalty should be legal or not. However, I think I can say neutrally that this was a bad form of technology because it was invented with the intent to kill human people. I understand that in some states death row is a "good" thing, since there is so much overpopulations in prisons and this can lead to tax raises, etc., but someone sat down and thought to themselves that the invention of an electric chair would be more beneficial than not. I get it, it was a "good" invention because it can help prevent things, but the morals behind a piece of technology like this is what makes it bad.
Another example along the same lines is a guillotine. Again, this is all just speculation and my opinion. The Guillotine was invented in 1789 as a "more humane way" for death than execution. Not sure if that makes sense to me personally, but those were the reasons behind it. See, an example of intentions being "good" or "positive" to aid some other cause, but in general being something still used to kill someone... in the end.
The Evil
I do not want to dwell here on The Evil side of technology, but I think it is important to touch upon and educate yourself about. Although the amount of good technology has done for us can outweigh the bad that it causes, I think it is important to still be aware of 'The Evil.'
As I previously mentioned, farming has come a long way since the beginning of time with the Cotton Gin in 1794, and we now have ways to automatically milk cows, using the Rotolactor. But, has anyone ever mentioned to you the negative effects of using these great inventions has on mass farming? Over the summer, one evening when I was on break at work, I stumbled upon the Fairlife Documentary. Done by someone who went undercover to investigate the joint venture of Coca- Cola merging with Fairlife, a dairy company, documented the absolute horrors that is their "operation" at Fair Oak Farms. I have to warn you, this documentary is sickening, and very hard to watch. I am going to link it in case anyone wants to watch it, but DO NOT feel inclined to do so, and viewer discretion is advised. I cry and feel physically sick every time I watch this.
Here is the full version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAJd12AzWH4
Here is just a quick clip if you want to get the gist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_quX1acHGks
What made me want to write about the Rotolactor as being seen through The Evil side of technology is a clip I saw in the long version of the documentary.
There is a scene where a worker in charge of milking the mass amount of cows on the Rotolactor is just absolutely beating these animals. Since they are on somewhat of a vending machine, that is what I can compare this Rotolactor to, one cow after another comes this mans way. And yes, one cow after another gets abused if they are not doing what he wants. A Rotolactor has individual stalls the cows stand in to make sure the milker can work properly, and they are tight. There is not much room for a cow to move in this machine. In the film it goes over the distress the cows have been in due to... things I do not even want to mention... so there was one cow acting up because it was in physical agony and instead of figuring out what was wrong with it, he just beat it for insubordination.
I am in no way saying that it is technology's fault that things like this happen, but I am saying twisted and sick people can use technology in a way that harms, in this case, animals around them. Using something that is only supposed to help farmer's produce more milk, instead is used as a battery ring. Making it easier for an animal abusing worker to wait for the cows to come to him in a nice neat package and do as he pleases if they are not submitting to his orders.
Things like this make me very upset with technology. It is not so much technology's fault than the humans who use the technology, but sometimes you can not help to think that without something like a Rotolactor, it would be harder to abuse animals.
I think I have made my point clear with The Evil with just this one example, so I am not going to go more in depth, to spare not only readers but myself.
Modern Technology
With everything in life, there is The Good, The Bad, and The Evil. I talked a lot about humans contributing a lot to The Evil side of technology, with how misuse happens. In this section, I want to focus more on this human aspect of technology, and zero in on evaluating my relationship with technology.
I think my relationship with technology started very healthy, and soon dwindled into something that I am not happy about. I am not a cyberbully or anything, because I think that is how I am making it sound, but I obsess over technology now and obsessing over anything is unhealthy.
I think the reason the obsession is there is due to social media, not so much the technology itself. I dont obsess over my phone because of the physical technology it is, I obsess over it because I have my social media apps linked up on it and it is how I have access to my friends and the rest of the world.
My computer, for example, I love. It is an older MacBook and I use it just about everyday. I take great care of it, since it cost too much money to have, and I enjoy using it. However, I do not have the same unhealthy attachment to my computer as I do to my phone and I think this is because my computer is used for work. I use it to get all of my school work done, and occasionally to online shop. Mostly, the mindset towards my computer is a business mindset and that is what I use this technology for. I do not rely on it to connect me to my friends or to check my instagram. I love computers, and personally I think they are one of the greatest technological advances humans could have made, because the purpose it serves is so great. Being able to zoom call my professors when I need to, send emails, access Blackboard and Google Drive, as well as Microsoft Word and Excel makes me value my computer more than my phone, since my relationship with it is healthy and symbiotic.
Since technology is all the world really knows these days, I would say with certainty that it takes up an inappropriate amount of my time that I am not okay with. However, sometime there is not really much you can do about it. Even too much of a good thing, can be a bad thing.
Technology has made it easier for me to access my learning and for that, I am forever grateful. I think the best thing to come from modern technology is the creativity and how easy it is to flow with ideas and get innovative. Technology helps you create technology, and I think that is really cool.
Something I do not vibe with, are things like cyberbullying or the dark web, or things you can find on the dark web. I dont want to get into detail, but I am sure you all know what I mean. The internet, though of the greatest inventions to date, is also one of the scariest places to be and you can only get there with access to technology.
I am someone who comes from a very paranoid family. My dad, who I am not going to even name, is untraceable. I know what you are thinking, that is not possible, but believe me, I have tried finding him on the internet and I can not. Even when I type in the address to my house, his name does not come up. He works for a million dollar company and when you search their website, he does not come up. He has no social media, and a cell phone that is only valid through his company so you really can't even find the number. When you google his full name, not one site comes up with any information on him. To put this in perspective, I googled myself for the first time last year and I found a whole page dedicated to where I live, my birthday, how old I am, where I am in the world.... and it was kind of scary, and I only have ONE social media account. It does not even have my last name attached to it either. The email I used to open the account, a spam email I created in 5th grade to use for a project.
Therefore, I think about technology and its impact and how it affects me, a lot. I try hard to limit how much time per day I am on my phone and I monitor what apps I use when I am on it. When I was younger, my mother made accounts to social media I had to watch me, which I eventually wound up deleting. My dad has gotten in touch with that website I mentioned before and told them to take down all the information about me. I think it is just how my family is, but now it has rubbed off on me a little too. Not too much, I am not scared, but I am smart and educated and that is better than fear.
In The End
Like everything in life, there is a good and a bad side. You really just need to weigh out the pros and cons of each piece of technology in your life and decide whether or not you are happy. At the end of the day, your happiness, prosperity, and sanity is worth more than any amount of money you could ever make and we should not let technology tamper with that.
Links
https://youtu.be/2-5aK0H05jk
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