Modern Technology

I thought this was an interesting subject by rcgreen:

Quote:

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Originally posted here by rcgreen
Let's debate:
Is modern technology good or evil?...

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Hrmm.. Well, it depends on what type of technology it is. For instance, human cloning and computer chip implants are IMO bad forms of technology. I don't see the need for either. Technology is not necessarily evil, but what about knowledge?. The saying goes "Knowledge is power." Right?.. but think about it. Why were Adam and Eve banned from The Garden of Eden? Cause they ate from the tree of knowledge. So, is ignorance really bliss? You can't advance in technology with out knowledge.. So shouldn't the question should be, is knowledge evil?

Remote_Access_

I agree with you Remote, some technology seems to be inherently evil. I don't think we have any business cloning human beings. And I have already expressed my opinion as to where I think this implant stuff is taking us in another thread. But most knowledge is not. Knowledge is basically good, especially knowledge of God. The problem with Adam and Eve wasn't their desire for knowledge. The problem was that they took a shortcut to get. I think God would have revealed knowledge to them eventually when they were mature enough to handle it. We've have kind of the same problem now, don't you think? We have all these bigger and better machines and scientific breakthroughs, but we still haven't found a way (apart from Christ in my opinion) to deal with the evil in our hearts. As long as we have evil in our hearts, there is the potential for knowledge (even good knowledge) to be abused.

I don't believe any technology (but we really should define 'technology' a little better for this argument) is good or evil. To me most technology or knowledge is like a hammer. It's just a tool, or means to an end. It can be used for good or evil but the tool itself is neutral.

Cloning to me is not really such a bad thing. There are many applications of this technology that help people (such as growing new body parts, which don't necessarily have to be pulled from another clone). And since we as humans do not posess enough of a genetic memory to make cloning another 'Hitler' possible....there are no worries there. There are the more questionable applications such as cloning someone to raise as a child, but in my eyes that really is no worse than having a test tube baby.

The implanting of chips goes either way, it depends on what those chips are being used for. Using them to track people and such has alot of room for abuse.

I think the same for knowledge of 'god'. This too can be used for good or evil. Most religions teach people to be better to each other and to themselves, in this way it is good. But many people also use this knowledge of 'god' to take advantage of others. To get money, or further their own political/socal/religious beliefs even at the expense of others (and remember god is always on your side, no matter who's side your on).

Again, knowledge is just a tool. It can be used for good or evil, it's up to us choose which way we want to go with it. If anything ignorance is a tool for evil, since it allows soo many to take advantage of soo many others, simply because the ignorant did not know any better.

Damn, this thread got off to a slow start..
Anyone else have a different opinion or
additional statements they would like to add?
I'm interested in hearing your views on this so come on,
speak up.. BTW, you both have a good point. I suppose
it really depends on how the technology is used,
whose hands it's in, and other factors.

Remote_Access_

Perhaps full human cloning is not a very bright idea, but I can imagine using some of the cloning technologies to harvest human organs that are compatible with those in need of transplants. As for computer chip implants, these might not be a bad thing, if used in the correct way. Many ex cons wear what is known as a low-jack, that constantly monitors their location. Im not suggesting that all convicts should be fitted with computer chip implants, but high risk/violent repeat offenders that have been released could be monitored with these. My belief is that technology is extremely important, yet many good ideas are presented to the public in bad ways.

Look at technology over time.
Take a person from 400 years ago
and show him the modern world.
The high speed transportation, with
car and plane crashes.

The lack of high speed travel or communication
may have given people a comfortable sense
of distance. Foreign lands and their threatening
ways were very far away.
:cool:

There is a great book that y'all should read. Its "The Axemakers" by James Burke. Burke is the producer/author of the BBC/TLC series "Connections", "Connections 2", "Connections 3", "Connections 4", and "The Day the World Changed" which area all History of Science series...

In "The Axemakers", Burke talks about how Technology is a double edges sword. Although it makes us more efficent/productive, it also makes us dependent on both the Axes and the Axemakers (those who produce the technology). If you buy into this theory, technology is not so much good/evil, rather it is a force for societal change.

I would tend to believe that. There is nothing morally wrong with any technology, we (people) need to adjust/update our morals to encompass how new technology works. We need to set rules and boundries for things like cloning and personal computer implants.

Just my 2¢.

I think we may need to adjust our perspective, view and outlook on matters but not our morals. We've adjusted our morals to fit far too many things already.

Depends on the technology I guess, and from what angle you look at it.

Bioengineering could help eliminate diseases, cancer, birth defects. It could potentially also result in yet another arena of discrimination. Normal vs "engineered" children perhaps. if we engineered children for sports talent/intelligence/beauty, should they compete against "normal" children?

Implant chips could store life saving information for EMT teams, allergies to penicilin, latex, peanut oils etc. But what happens if (when) they become vulnerable? When the technology develops, I'd hate to have someone overheat the processor while it's inside me. *winces* I know that isn't the state of it now (that I've read), but give it a few years and who knows? There's also the half a dozen gov't conspiracy theories about being able to track people.

The internet itself could be considered a modern technological advance. It has allowed for huge advances in research, communication, business and almost every other aspect of our lives. It has also turned child pornography/slavery into a multi-million dollar business. It has made it possible for drug dealers to reach whole new segments of the population. No more running down to the corner and hoping the scrubby dealer isn't a cop. Just pop over to drugsrus.com

Partial cloning could potentially help solve the lack of organ doners, and help save thousands of lives. Then again, the world's population is increasing at a rate that is going to make it unsustainable probably within our children's lifespan. Do we really want to lengthen lifespans even further?

Full cloning might allow parents who have lost children to have them back. But is it really the same person? Do they have a soul? *chuckles* Then again, do we?

I guess my answer is technology is evil, and technology is good.

-Keisha

In my opinion, technology would fall into the catagory of "neither."

Inheirantly, technology is neither "good" nor "evil" by conventional definitions.

It's simply a tool, one that many of use have grown accustomed to using on a regular basis to make our our lives simpler, or easier.

Like many tools, it's a matter of what you do with it that would define the "good" or "evil" aspects of it, and even then, it would be the use of the technology that would be defined, not the technology itself.

What one person may use to save lives, another may take that same tech and use it to destroy lives. Does that mean the technology is to blame? or the one using it?

Just a little food for thought.

At the risk of repeating what others have already said, knowledge is not, nor can it be evil. I believe that evil exists only in the misuse of knowledge. Computer security is an excellent example of the distinction between the knowledge itself and the uses of that knowledge.

The specific knowledge in this case is the how a particular exploit works.

Pure knowledge: There are people and companies like Microsoft that would call that knowledge inherently evil, but I would say that the vast majority of people disagree.

Knowledge applied for good: In the hands of a system administrator, the information allows him or her to apply patches to their system or set up some sort of protection in front of the point of entry until a proper patch comes out.

Knowledge applied for evil: In the hands of a black hat or (God forbid) a script-kiddie, that same knowledge becomes significantly more dangerous.

Hmm,
I would say that modern technology will always be good. I say this only because technology will always have a good side to it, sort of the silver lining of a cloud type deal. But, I am not necessasirly usually an optimist in most of my views,
Another thing is with technology you have to remember, we are humans, when we are looking at technology far beyound our comprehension we are bound to make mistakes, especially considering, 'AI' and 'Cloning', we have to realize that we as we are currently do not have the ability to fully understand these things, including modern technology. {My point being, we are 5 years old and trying to understand relativity, and why we do not feel the earth moving nor the universe} With cloning in particular, we cannot even begin to fathom the millions upon millions of possible outcomes that will occur because of its further development. So I would think that it comes down to this, what do we do with technology that we do not understand? If we do not develop it we will be preventing the end, but we will also be constrainging the unimaginable wonders of human intilect. Now, the choice is to you.

The3ntropy -

Right on man...

I don't understand why so many people are afraid of technology and innovation. Things aren't evil, people are. You can be evil with a bucket of piss or a nuclear weapon, and not developing the nuclear weapon isn't going to make Bill Gates or Rupurt Murdoch or whomever any less evil...

It comes down to what it done with the item, in this case, technology.

Browsing through some of my thousands of quotes, this is in interesting idea:

Quote:

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.

EndQuote.

-Shakespeare, Hamlit

Technology is neither good nor evil. Mankind cannot exist without technology. From the earliest man throwing stones to the modern man firing missiles technology is our survival.

As far as Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve got kicked out of the Garden of Eden because it was a setup from the beginning.

God is omniscient and therefore knew they were going to eat the apples. Therefore if God knew they were going to eat the apples then he wanted them to eat the apples. Therefore he was just looking for an excuse for man to acquire knowledge of good and evil.
An example from my own children. Take a child. Put them in a room with cookies on the shelf. Give them lots of snacks in the room. They will still go after the cookies they know they are not supposed to have. I know that this will happen. If I put them in the room then I know they are going to eat the cookies. Why should I get mad at them for eating them when I know they are going to anyway.

I actually think it's quite unfair to call Bill Gates Evil. I mean, that classes him alongside people like Hitler and Genghis Khan (and Iago from Othello)

As for technology, I think a device created specifically to destroy mankind would still not class as evil, because it has no choice in the matter. The person who uses it to destroy mankind though would be evil, but here's another problem. What if it was a computer who created the device (seriously advanced AI) and then used it to destroy mankind, that computer is technology, and it's then evil. (I think this ties in quite well with the "Will computers ever feel/show emotion" debate that was the Cosmos Games.)

I have to agree with many of the other posts here. In my opinion, technology itself is neither good nor evil. You cannot place this value on it. Rather, that our societal views and morals have not caught up with technological change. We often forget that moderation is the key to anything and if we get caught up in things to the point of obsession it is no longer good for us. The technology itself is not good or bad but rather we have abused the technology.

What I have seen in society of late is a couple of things. First, the concept of a quick fix. It seems that many people do not want to work for achievements. They want the "be-all, end-all pill" that will fix things. From weight loss to psychological issues to technology. I know we see this attitude in the IRC Chatroom here when "kiddies" come in asking how to hack Hotmail rather than asking how does TCP/IP work or where can I find info on how TCP/IP works.

As a professor I often see many students not wanting to do work and wanting the "easy way" out. Perhaps I am too much of the old school that to learn you must do yourself. *shrug* I will admit that as I've gotten older (No, I'm not THAT old) I enjoy learning far more than when I was in University. Part of it is perhaps that I finally found what I loved: technology.

The second issue that has cropped up is not really a new concept. When I first started participating on the Big I internet in 1992 I remember having a discussion with someone that as the Internet expands our contact with the person next door will lesson. We won't go outside as much. I laughed at this thought, thinking it along the lines of a joke from a cartoon where the wife comments how the husband is online yapping with someone on the other side of the world and ignoring the person right next to them. That discussion is becoming too much of a reality. It really hit me when I noticed that Grocery Gateway is now allowed to deliver alcohol as well as groceries. We don't have to go out shopping any more. We shop online. We bank online. We order groceries and alcohol online. We don't ever have to see another person.

It is not the technology that is at fault but rather how we use it. That is what is becoming evil. We are letting the obsession take over what we do. Rather than master our technology we are letting it control us.

Anyways, that's my opinion at this early hour of the morning for what it's worth.