Technological Advancements and Society

1.5. Technological Advancements and Society:

Technological advancements and society (or social life and technologies or social environment and technologies or technological advancements and culture) referred to as the process of a cyclical co-dependence, co-influence, and co-production of technology and society or their interdependence i.e. technology upon society, technology upon social life, technology upon social environment and the technology upon culture, and vice versa. This relationship occurred from the dawn of humankind with invention of simple tools and continues into modern technologies.

The importance of stone tools, some 2.5 million years ago, is considered fundamental in the human development, during the initial hunter and gatherer society of men and women. Where men were the hunters and women were the gatherers. The control of fire by early humans and the associated development of cooking was the spark that radically changed the human evolution. The early advancements of plant agriculture and animal husbandry fundamentally shifted the way that collective groups of individuals, and eventually societies, developed. Technology has become a huge part in society and day-to-day life. When societies know more about the development in a technology, they become able to take advantage of it.

When an innovation achieves a certain point after it has been presented and promoted, this technology becomes part of the society. Digital technology has entered each process and activity made by the social system. In fact, it constructed another worldwide communication system in addition to its origin. If a technology assessment is carried out of last one century it would be evident that, current technologies are the outcome of the marriage of two older technologies i.e. computers and communications technologies. 

Since the creation of computers achieved an entire better approach to transmit and store data. Digital technology became commonly used for downloading music and watching movies at home either by DVDs or purchasing it online. Digital music records are not quite the same as traditional recording media. Obviously, because digital ones are reproducible, portable and free of cost. These previous notions about technology advancements only shown a few of the positive aspects of technology in society by the generation X culture i.e. related to the people born in between 1950s to 1980s.

As many people believe it is free or as propagated by the technology companies that, computer and communication technology is free within the cyber world, is not true. In fact it is the more roaring business than any other business in the world. However there are negative side effects as well which were not emphasized because we are living in the market economy world. Where, the buying, selling and manufacture is believed to be the keys of success for any society or its people. 

Thus, there are exchange offers but definitely there is no free lunch, dinner or breakfast for that matter. The reality of life is that, survival of humans, plants, animals, birds, and insects on land and the water world plants, animals, fish, and insects is as significant as the technological advancements. The human is believed to be superior among all life forms because of their thought process. However, in order to prove this popular belief by human beings a deep thinking and analysis is required about all living beings on this planet earth. In order to reach to a truth a yawning comparison will be required about, what humans have contributed in this world and what other life forms has contributed.

The current notion of virtual realm with social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat have altered the way Generation Y culture i.e. related to the people born in between 1990s to date is understanding the world and thus how they view themselves. In recent years, there has been more knowledge on the development of social media depression in users of internet websites. "Facebook Depression" is when users are so affected by their friends' posts and lives that their own jealousy depletes their sense of self-worth. They compare themselves to the posts made by their peers and feel unworthy or monotonous because they feel like their lives are not nearly as exciting as the lives of others. 

Another instance of the negative effects of technology in society, is how quickly it is pushing younger generations into maturity. With the world at their fingertips, children can learn anything they wish to. But with the uncensored sources from the internet, without proper supervision, children can be exposed to explicit material at inappropriate ages. This comes in the forms of premature interests in experimenting with makeup or opening an email account or social media page—all of which can become a window for predators and other dangerous entities that threaten a child's innocence. Technology has a serious effect on youth's health. The overuse of technology is said to be associated with sleep deprivation which is linked to obesity and poor academic performance in the lives of adolescents.

The implementation of technology influences the values of a society by changing expectations and realities. The implementation of technology is also influenced by values. There are at least three major, interrelated values and views that inform, and are informed by, technological innovations:

Mechanistic world viewpoint: The first value or viewpoint is of universe as a collection of parts, like a machine, that can be individually analyzed and understood. This is a form of reductionism that is quite rare nowadays. However, the "neo-mechanistic world view" holds that, nothing in the universe cannot be understood by the human intellect. Also, while all things are greater than the sum of their parts e.g., even if we consider nothing more than the information involved in their combination, in principle, even this excess must eventually be understood by human intelligence. That is, no great or vital principle or essence is involved.

Efficiency viewpoint: The second value or viewpoint, earlier originally applied only to machines, but now applied to all human aspects of society, so that each element is expected to attain a higher and higher percentage of its maximal possible performance, output, or ability.

Social progress viewpoint: The third value or viewpoint is the belief that, there is such a thing as social progress, and that, in the main, it is beneficent. Before the Industrial Revolution, and the subsequent explosion of technology, almost all societies believed in a cyclical theory of social movement and, indeed, of all history and the universe. This was, obviously, based on the cyclical pattern of the seasons, and an agricultural economies and Industrial society’s strong ties to that cyclical theory. Since much of the world is closer to their agricultural roots, they are still much more amenable to cyclical theory than progress in history. 

There emerged various new thought processes explaining the modern social cycles and current social progress theory. 

Technology often enables organizational and bureaucratic group structures that otherwise and heretofore were simply not possible. For example; the rise of very large organizations i.e. international health and social welfare institutions, supranational corporations, the commercialization of leisure i.e. international sports events and products etc. and the instantaneous dispersal of information i.e. especially news and entertainment around the world.

Technology enables greater knowledge of international issues, values, and cultures. Due mostly to mass transportation and mass media, the world seems to be a much smaller place, due to the Globalization of ideas, Embeddedness of values, Population growth and Control.

Technology provides an understanding, and an appreciation or critique for the world around us. Most modern technological processes produce unwanted by products in addition to the desired products, which is known as industrial waste and pollution. While most material waste is re-used in the industrial process, many forms are released into the environment, with negative environmental side effects, such as pollution and lack of sustainability. Different social and political systems establish different balances between the value they place on additional goods versus the disvalues of waste products and pollution. 

Some technologies are designed specifically with the environment in mind, but most are designed first for economic or ergonomic effects. Historically, the value of a clean environment and more efficient productive processes has been the result of an increase in the wealth of society, because once people are able to provide for their basic needs, they are able to focus on less-tangible goods such as clean air and water.

The effects of technology on the environment are both obvious and subtle. The more obvious effects include the depletion of nonrenewable natural resources such as petroleum, coal, ores and the added pollution of air, water, and land. The more subtle effects include debates over long-term effects e.g., global warming, deforestation, natural habitat destruction, coastal wetland loss.

Each wave of technology creates a set of waste previously unknown by humans: toxic waste, radioactive waste, electronic waste. One of the main problems is the lack of an effective way to remove these pollutants on a large scale expediently. In nature, organisms "recycle" the wastes of other organisms, for example, plants produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis; the oxygen breathing organisms use oxygen to metabolize food and produce carbon dioxide as the by-product, which plants use in a process to make sugar, with oxygen as a waste in the first place. No such mechanism exists for the removal of technological wastes.

In one line of thought, technology develops autonomously, in other words, technology seems to feed on itself, moving forward with a force irresistible by humans. To these individuals, technology is "inherently dynamic and self-augmenting." The proponents of the irresistibleness of technology to humans espouses the idea that humanity cannot resist the temptation of expanding our knowledge and our technological abilities. This autonomy of technology is not inherent. 

But, the perceived autonomy is because humans do not adequately consider the responsibility that is inherent in technological processes. The technological evolution is essentially beyond the control of individuals or society because, the apparent autonomy of technology is a result of a tendency of people to uncritically and unreflectively embrace and utilize new technologies without regard for their broader social and political effects. At present the social shaping of technology has had new influence in the fields of e-science and e-social science which has made centers focusing on the social shaping of science and technology a central part of their work.

References:

1. From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_and_society (Retrieved 11/8/2018)