In the last one hundred years or more, technology has been advancing at a breakneck pace. No longer does a person have to walk to the corner store in order to place a phone call; they can now place the call from most anywhere in the world with the cellular phone carried on their belt or in their pocket It is no longer necessary for a person to bear traffic and long lines at shopping malls since technology now allows a person to shop from the convenience of their easy chair. These are but two examples of the cunning ingenuity of mankind that have allowed this race to progress into the twenty- first century, despite some people's beliefs that these and other technological advances are working to turn the human race into lazy introverts who have lost contact with each other and the land in which they live.
             The television is one device that never ceases to amaze. From the comfort of one's couch, a person can be entertained, educated, and informed. It allows people without the necessary means to travel to places they've only dreamt of. A viewer can fly in a helicopter over Ireland or ride on a rocket ship to the outer reaches of our solar system. This can be an incredibly powerful experience in the eyes of a child who may have no other way to view such sights. 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).
             Virtual reality is another development under fire. Virtual reality allows a person to 'plug-in' to a fictitious or distant environment, and experience it as though they were really there. 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. In "Electronic Expansion of Human Perception," Warren Robinett describes ano...