Course: English 102
Date: March 19, 18
The Negative Impact Of Technology And Science
In 21 century, the development of science and technology to promote the progress of human race. The science and technology make human has the new and beautiful life. Without technology, you wouldn’t receive a message from thousands of miles in a second; without technology, you would waste a whole day in the library to find information for your report; without technology, you only can watch recent news from the newspaper. The beginning of any kind of science and technology was to serve the purpose of human social development. However, due to the limitations of human knowledge and practice, the adverse consequences are always accompanied; when we take advantages of one thing, the disadvantages follow. Science and technology promote the progress of contemporary society. While promoting social development, it also brings with it a series of negative effects such as the deterioration of the ecological environment, spiritual crisis, moral crisis, and survival crisis. Because of the different considerations and pursuits of people's interests, and the improper use of science and technology, there have been many negative results. Generally speaking, the all-around distortion of science and technology in human society is destroying our social and spiritual world.
One of the negative impacts of science and technology is on the social environment. With the guidance and help of science and technology, the transformation and influence of people on nature are getting bigger and bigger. With the continuous expansion of human social economic scale and industrial scale, the negative impact of science and technology on the social environment has become increasingly apparent. There are many environmental issues caused by technology, “among the claimed negative effects of technology are global warming, ozone depletion, air and water pollution, species depletion and extinction, acid rain, overpopulation, deforestation, and radioactive and other toxic and nontoxic waste” (Karian). For example, advanced technology has developed the plastic that is convenient for people's lives. With the acceleration of the pace of life and the improvement of living standards, the amount of plastics is increasing day by day. At present, waste plastic has reached more than one-third of the waste, and it has greatly increased the difficulty and cost of waste disposal. “As plastic is non-biodegradable in nature, it remains in environment for several years” (Manuel), for this reason, if discarded waste plastic in the natural environment, it will provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes, flies and bacteria; if buried it underground, it will easily pollute groundwater, hinder plant root growth, destroy soil quality, and affect crop yield; if fired waste plastic, it will produce a variety of toxic gases. In addition, modern science and technology have led to a huge expansion of human industry and transportation. The emissions of soot, industrial gases, and automobile exhaust have exceeded the limits of natural self-purification, and the air pollution has become increasingly serious. Especially the urban resident population is plagued by air pollution and noise pollution. Air is essential for everyone's survival and air quality directly affects the body's metabolism and temperature regulation.
Not only on the social environment, the negative impact of science and technology on social life is also huge. There are a few bad aspects of technology that affect our lives. First, technology, especially social media, brings some negative emotions to young people. The 1980s and 1990s were the most rapid development times of science and technology in modern times. People born in this era naturally felt the convenience of science and technology. Whether in learning and entertainment, we enjoyed the science and technology since we were young. In an age when high-tech products such as telephones and computers are not popular, people do not feel any inconvenience. But in nowadays, if you turn off the machines that transmit information, such as mobile phones and computers, people will feel as they are outside the community. A research claimed the longer you use Facebook, the more you will have inferiority feeling. The Child Mind Institute found “teens who have created idealized online personas may feel frustrated and depressed at the gap between who they pretend to be online and who they truly are” (Jacobson). The popularity of the Internet has provided new communication and entertainment. At the same time, it has also led many people, especially young people, to indulge in the virtual world of the Internet and ignore the real world. There is a tendency to evade reality and isolate oneself from communicating with others.
Second, another disadvantage of technology on social life is that the Internet let people lose the basic reading ability and thinking skills. Nowadays, depends on the search engine like Google’s powerful search function. “ Google it” could search every data and information that you want. The Internet brings us rich and diverse content, but the cost of sacrificing is our ability of thinking and reading, it even changes the way of brain works. In the article “Is Google Making Us Stupid” published in The Atlantic magazine, writer Nicholas Carr thought his own patterns of reading, writing, and thinking had a big change under the influence of the Internet from his own experiences and point out “the more they use the Web, the more they have to fight to stay focused on long pieces of writing” (Carr). He can’t focus on long pieces of writing because the way he read had changed and used to another way he read. In the Internet read, he has to read so fast from a lot of pieces to find important information that he read. Carr’ brain has long been a data processor and lost focus after reading 2-3 pages book. When we browse the web, there are various links can be clicked on. When we originally have been reading a web article but click a link to open another page, then again to open more links. Finally, we didn’t finish the original article. We thought that we get more information, in fact, even the beginning of the purpose of reading is not completed, and the process of browsing the link content cannot remember because our brain’s process of the memory has interfered all the time. After we use Google and web reading for a long time, people become unable to focus and no patience to read heavy books or even a long article, because “the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation” (Carr). In the search, people no longer need to read a book, the Internet could save your time and get every important detail. Gradually, our way of thinking is changed. People who living in the Internet age meet a problem and want to solve it, usually the first thought of the solution is “Google it”. Whether the problem is difficult or simple, concrete or abstract, we tend to search first rather than thinking. The Internet does not make us stupid, but it can make us lazy, too lazy to concentrate on memory and thinking; too lazy to sit down and patience to read a book; too lazy to make direct contact with family and friends; too lazy to say hello to our heart.
Third, science and technology will have a human ethics issue in social life. The success of the “test-tube baby” technology is an important step taken by humans in the life sciences. It means that men and women who have not been able to give birth normally can have children who wish to have children. The success of cloning technology once again pushes biotechnology to the limits of human bioethics. Cloning technology is undoubtedly more advanced than test-tube babies. It uses only single cells to completely replicate the entire organism. Once cloning technology is applied to humans, changing human’s traditional reproduction patterns will inevitably cause many disastrous ethical issues. So National Bioethics Advisory Commission (NBAC) concluded “that at this time it is morally unacceptable for anyone in the public or private sector, whether in a research or clinical setting, to attempt to create a child using somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning,” because “the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer cloning to create a child would be intrinsically immoral and thus could never be morally justified” (Shapiro). Cloning people are also people. When the most precious life of humans becomes a high-tech product, life is not that precious. Without the legal constraints and moral constraints, the traditional stuff will gradually disappear. The existing laws and ethics of human society cannot deal with the emergence of clones.
Another important negative impact of science and technology is on social stability. Modern warfare is a confrontation between high technologies, and high-tech weapons have great harm to humanity. In one article published in Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict, Brian Martin described in detail to us the negative impact on human life safety that technologies have long been used as tools for violence. He claimed, “technologies have made possible ever more destructive forms of warfare and technologies of violence can also influence social relationships at a more intimate level” (Martin). Technology gave us atomic bombs, pistols, rifles, various explosives, and weapons. The use of atomic energy is an important chapter in the history of modern science. When we talk about atomic energy, we can image that numerous nuclear warheads are the big threats. According to statistics, there are approximately 50,000 nuclear warheads in the world. This number means that these nuclear bombs can destroy the Earth more than a dozen times and cause intense radiation pollution. In other words, this also means that each of us is equivalent to sitting on about four tons of TNT explosives. Those countries without nuclear weapons want nuclear weapons; countries that have nuclear weapons want to use it to contain and threaten those countries that do not have nuclear weapons, in order to maximize the benefits of national interests. In addition to the country, there are various terrorist organizations that are coveted by nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons have a fatal temptation, but once a nuclear war breaks out, it means the end of humanity.
Overall, science and technology are the crystallization of the wisdom of all human beings. And its progress is always accompanied by the corresponding maladies. Therefore, the various negative impacts it creates are supposed to be faced by all human beings. We need to avoid its shortcomings and give full play to its strengths; and strengthen the formulation of legal norms, improve the legislation and supervision of scientific and technological inventions and use. We cheered for the new technology because our lives are therefore more convenient. We cannot predict the impact of new technology is good or bad. Without the technology and science one day, the whole world would fall into chaos. Now that the technology has emerged and is occupying a large part of our lives, so why we cannot be the good company with it?
Madun
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