5 pages essay
TracyZhou0806
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Tracy Zhou EAD 1 Section 10 Mr.Akey 4-12-2020
Information Technology
Evolution is the most promising reality of the world and it is because of evolution that
human society has reached its current stage in civilization. Although the human race started its
journey on planet earth around 200,000 years ago yet it has not achieved its ultimate climax.
Over the thousands of years, men have been able to evolve from living alone to clans and tribes
and creating societies and civilization to creating kingdoms and empires. Once the settlement
issues became less significant, human beings diverted their energies to innovate and invent such
things which could make their lives easy and better. The definition of ease and betterment has
been evolving along with the evolution of the human mind. The most evolutionary phase started
after the Middle Ages and from the 16th century to 21 set century, the face of the world has
totally changed. The most advanced and impactful invention of the 20th century is computers and
the internet which was initially created for military purposes but soon it was commercialized and
made accessible for every human being. In the 21st century, the technology of the 20th century is
getting more and more advanced. One reason for speedy innovation is that computes created in
the 20th century are very innovative in nature and they have helped human minds to speed up the
innovation for advanced technologies. The 21st century can rightly be called the era of
information technology. Information technology (IT) has penetrated deep into every sphere of
human life from education, health, food, clothing, living and shelter, governance, finance and
economics and transportation. With increasing advancements in every sphere of life, there exist
two perspectives or school of thoughts. One with believing that information technology has
revolutionized human society and bring growth and ease to human life. While at the same time, it
is believed by others that the natural flow of human life has been erupted by technology and it is
a curse, not a blessing. This essay will explore how technology is a blessing in terms of its
positive implications on human society. Furthermore, the shortcomings and repercussions of
technology will also be discussed under this essay in regard to how it impacts the natural flow of
human life. In brief, the essay will try to build a thorough understanding whether technology is a
blessing or a curse.
Technology is an eminent force and it is here to stay. After the technological evolution of
the 20th century and the information technology of 21 set century, human civilization has
changed and it cannot go back to the way it was. But the changes are for good. Introduction of
technology has made life much easier than it was before. Every aspect of life has been greatly
influenced by technology and this influence is mostly positive. A majority of the human
population of today's world believe that technology has made lives easier. It is because of the
fact that technology has introduced a large number of employment opportunities for people
around the globe. It has put an end to the previous restriction is limitation because of the physical
border or being present in different geographical areas. Globalization coupled with technological
evolution has helped in making the world one entity hence providing unlimited opportunities for
growth of business and employment opportunities. Similarly, education, health and hosing as
basic human needs have improved a great deal with technology. Technological evolutions have
made it possible to develop medicines and antibiotics for previously fatal diseases. Apart from
medicines, the lifesaving machinery has been innovated and now human life is way more secure
than before. Furthermore, the transportation and mode of communication have improved and
made it easier for human beings to travel long distances in a short time and more safely. Another
dimension of life which has improved a great deal is communication. The information revolution
has made it possible for human beings to contact another human being in another part of the
world through just one click. That is why it is believed that "Technologies always improve our
life. Particularly in American culture, "new" is better than "old" (Latterell, 2014, p. 414).
American and western societies are more open to change and hence their acceptability graph is
way higher and that is why major innovation is done by brains in the west. A new innovation of
IT is Artificial intelligence which is in its initial phase but in a few years it is going to
revolutionize human society altogether as the author put it “The new kinds of intelligent
machines, however, are autonomous or semi-autonomous: They create their own assessments,
make their own decisions. They no longer need people to authorize their actions"(Norman, 2014,
p. 464). Critical intelligence is a refined form of technological evolution of the 20th and first two
decades of 21set century; they are readily accepted by American society. These intelligent
machines are capable of making their own decisions which is quite similar to how the human
brain makes decisions which might not be acceptable to some societies but western societies are
readily accepting these technologies which are acting as a form of motivation for innovators to
refine it further.
On the contrary to the first group, another group believes that technology is a curse which
has disturbed the basic fabric of human society. Technology is believed to be making human life
worse due to some of its shortcomings. The technological innovations have caused a lot of
changes in basic human society. Civilizations have changed and the social values have changed.
The current civilization as we know it is an outcome of technological evolution and it cannot go
back to the way it was because technology has moulded every aspect of human life. The change
is perceived not as a positive force for those who value continuity and likes to be connected to
the past. Another aspect of criticism on the IT inventions is because of its inability to deal with
significant problems like a human mind will deal. Artificial intelligence is a growing force in the
field of IT but Artificial intelligence (AI ) is still far from its maturity as it is shown in the article
that "Human memory, although imprecise finds relationships and similarities among items that
machines would not think of as similar at all."(Norman, 2014, p. 466) Unless AI starts
performing as per the human mind, it will not be deemed a success. Although it is estimated that
in future AI might surpass the functioning of the human brain but it is not a possibility in the
near future. Human brian yes has not be fully utilized. Research shows that current capacity of
humans of utilizing their brain is limited to maximum of 15-20% and that also be most intelligent
minds. An average mind is used even less than 10%. The human brain has not reached full
utilization as per its full capacity yet it is far away from the artificial machines. "The gulf
between what people have in common with one another and what machines people have in
common is huge and unlikely to be bridged in the foreseeable future"(Norman, 2014, p. 470).
The gulf between the human brain and the processors of machines is still not comprehensible as
the human brain is very complicated and scientists are not able to comprehend all human
thoughts to replicate them in machines through AI which leads to creation of gulf between
human brain and machines. The smartest machines are replications of smart human brains but
the human brain is complicated and often acts in unique ways. This ability of the human brain to
formulate unique responses to novel situations is the lacking factor in the smart machines and it
will take some time to bridge this gap.
The debate of technology is a curse and blessing is going on for some time but neither of
two sides is right as technology has improved life in many ways but there are some negative
implications to it as well. The important thing here is to find the right balance where the positive
implications must outweigh the negative implications of the information technology. As the AI is
taking over the world, it is becoming more and more refined. "The fundamental restriction on
people's successful interactions with machines is the lack of common ground, but systems that
avoid this danger, that suggest rather than demand, that allow people to understand and choose
rather than confronting them with intangible actions, are perfectly sensible" (Latterell, 2014, p.
415). Previously the issue lied in the fact that there was no commonality between machines and
humans but now machines are becoming smart and they have opted a different technique to
interact with human beings as now machines provide options for suitability of humans to use as
per their suitability. This is making the interaction between the two races of human beings and
machines a success. Machines are now developed in such a format to facilitate the human lives
which is acting as a positive notion and making advances on the relation between machines and
humans. But the race of technological revolution sometimes gets out of hand as the firms are in
neck to neck competition and the basic purpose of technology to serve the human race has
changed to profit maximization which has resulted in the unchecked competition which is no
longer healthy. "Technology is not a destiny but a scene of the struggle. It is a social battlefield,
or perhaps a better metaphor would be a parliament of things on which civilizational alternatives
are debated and decided” (Latterell, 2014, p. 413). Technology is the biggest reality of 21set
century and it is deemed as the determining factor of success and failure for organizations and
countries. This excessive competition is against the true spirit of technological evolution which
was to help the human race. To ensure that the competition over technological revolution does
not go out of hand and that it becomes a curse rather than a blessing it is crucial to understand
that technology is not the end of human growth. It is a tool to help the human race evolve and
grow and reach its ultimate destiny. But since the ultimate destiny also evolves hence the process
of technology, invention and innovation must remain as one aspect of human life, not complete
life.
It has been some time that the debate between IT as a curse or blessing has been going
on. This debate cannot end with one side as the winning side and the other losing the debate
because somehow both sides are true. It does have both advantages and disadvantages. Over the
years IT has transformed the world into a global unit with a revolution in communication.
Innovations and inventions by technology have impacted every aspect of human life including
health, transportation education, shelter or housing, governance, policing construction,
agriculture and finances. The businesses are growing and there are more employment
opportunities and more chances of business growth as IT has made it possible to do business
with anyone in the world without any regard for the physical boundaries anymore. IT has
somehow created opportunities for everyone to grow and prosper that is why it is believed to be
a blessing. But it is also a blessing because it has raised living standards by improvements and
automation in basic things. This automation has increased efficiency and reduced resource
utilization. It has also led to help humans create more advanced technologies. In recent years, the
most promising innovation is Artificial intelligence which is working forward to remove human
labour altogether and create smart machines which can work on an equal basis as the human
brain. But this technology is in its early years of development as the AI machines still cannot
replace human brains although their decisions are much calculated and precise in unique and
unprecedented conditions they are unable to yield fruitful results. There will be improvements in
the results of these tech smart products but it will be possible in coming years.
