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In the Absence of the Sacred Would the world exist today if there was no technology? Of course, it would, but would it be for the better or worse? There are many pros and cons to this topic. In this paper I will discuss both views. A controversial issue like this one can never be solved, but maybe compromised. There are many advantages in living in a technological world. Diseases are being detected more readily by advanced technology. Not only are they being detected they are being cured. To be able to detect diseases earlier, the better chance of survival for those who have the disease. Diseases that were never cured before are being cured today, but we still have a long way to go. People are living more comfortably. Errands and work are taking less of the day, while leisure is taking more time. Work is less frustrating with the use of computers. It is easier than ever to look something up on the information highway. Life is more fun, in the sense that there is more time to relax. One reason life is more relaxing, is that there is a sense of security. Technology has made everything safer. Airports can detect trouble easier. Police can protect your neighborhood better by having better weapons, faster cars, and greater instruments for detecting danger. Firefighters can get to houses faster by being alerted faster. Hospitals have better instrument for saving lives. Ambulances can get to houses more quickly. In all ways of life, it is safer. With all the advantages there are disadvantages. Employment is harder to qualify for because of technology. Many employers will only hire college graduates. Even if you have a college diploma it does not guarantee a job. Human jobs are being replaced by machines. More and more Americans are losing their jobs and becoming homeless. Take, for example, the advances in automation technology. Automation has improved production efficiency and quality control, and has reduced the need to workers perform potentially dangerous tasks. On the other hand, automation has made many jobs unnecessary, putting employees out of work, or forcing them to retain. There are several alternatives to this contemporary technological dilemma, that have been suggested. For example, one concept formally instituted in the United States has been that of technology assessment. At present, government regulatory commissions, the court systems, and the insurance industry provide the most common means for assessing the effects of technological innovations on human life. In the United States, a congressional office of technology assessment was established in the late 1970 s and charged with the responsibility of evaluating the social, economic, environmental, and health effects of projects and devices. It has been very difficult in practice, however to predict secondary effects of new technologies(Encarta).
If We look at third- world nations that did not have advanced technology, and then joined powerful countries to relate to the twentieth century we can see it destroyed their economy. One, unhappy, example we can look at is Iran. Technology has always been a major mean for creating new physical and human environments. It is possible to ask today whether technology will also destroy civilization that we have created?Many people who have little faith in comprehensive planning. Technology assessment has advanced the concept of so-called appropriate, or intermediate, technology as an alternative to the technological problems of the industrialized nations. As a solution to the problem of social dislocation caused by the transfer of advanced technologies to developing countries. In his Small Is Beautiful, (1973), the British economist, E. F. Shumacher, stated that, “The overwhelming nature of modern technology threatens a quality of life that has meaning, freedom of choice, a human sense of scale, and an equal chance for justice and individual creativity.” Supporters of this view point have purposed a value system in which all people recognize that the earth s resources are limited and that human life must be structured around a commitment to control growth of industry, the size of cities, and the use of energy. Restoration and renewal of natural resources have become the technological objectives of the appropriate technology alternative(Encarta).Another school of thought, technological determinism, argues that modern society is no longer living in the industrial age of the 19th and early 20th century. They argue that post industrial society is already a reality and that the complex technical networks mediated by advanced electronics has made obsolete the institutions of nationalistic government, capitalistic corporation, and heavily populated cities.Many historians of science argue not only that technology is an essential condition of advanced, industrial civilization but also that the rate of technological change has developed its own momentum in recent centuries. Innovations now seem to appear at a rate that increases geometrically, without respect to geographical limits or political systems. These innovations tend to transform traditional culture systems, frequently with unexpected social consequences. Thus, technology can be conceived as both a creative and destructive process(Encarta).
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