Technological Advance: A Bane to Society?

(the computer) could read aloud from the newspaper, answer the telephone, keep track of food supplies, and act in a more modest capacity as a friendly alarm clock or a ferocious guard-dog. viewer can fly in a helicopter over Ireland or ride on a rocket ship to the outer reaches of our solar system. Virtual reality has progressed from simple simulations to medical procedures, in which a surgeon does not even have to step foot into the operating room. This can be an incredibly powerful experience in the eyes of a child who may have no other way to view such sights.

Unfortunately, not all people see virtual reality, and the benefits it brings, as a good thing. It is certain that all technological advances have been met with controversy that in time has faded, but without these advances, mankind would still be living in caves, foraging for food, and dressing in animal-skins.

Virtual reality is another development under fire.

On this subject, Rifkin replies “The notion of an intimate mechanized companion that, while not completely predictable, is at least somewhat controllable and, of course, replaceable – to wit, an artificial surrogate to living creatures – reinforces the vision Descartes, Bacon, and other early enlightenment thinkers” (289). Jeremy Rifkin, author of “The Age of Simulation”, thinks that television and other forms of electronic media are bad, stating, “Television is the ultimate technological surrogate for real life”(286). The substitution of artificial experiences for natural ones masks an almost pathological fear of the living world”(291). It would also be able to play chess, tell jokes, or give short lectures on aspects of world history (271).

In “The Intimate Machine,” Neil Frude shows how computers can be made more ‘user-friendly’, and how they can be entered into a social circle with humans. Virtual reality allows a person to ‘plug-in’ to a fictitious or distant environment, and experience it as though they were really there. With all of the advantages offered by pursuing this technology, it is very doubtful that scientists will stop because of opinions such as these. With, and only with, technological growth mankind may finally evolve as a species

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