Author: Marissa Hettinger

This week we had the opportunity to see how the 19th century used technology in more of a negative way. Topsy the elephant was executed by electrocution in public just because they had the technology and it would have been a public spectacle in which they could make money. Upon doing more research I found that at the time it was believed that death by electrocution was more human. People were for the most part unaware of the actual effects of electricity on a living being. This I think this shows that technology is neither good nor bad but rather it’s how well people understand its effects and what people chose to do with it. Electricity can be very useful in everyday life however it can also be deadly depending on how people use it.

In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court Hank uses the technology of the era to electrocute everyone but those he has changed because he believes the church was undermining what he was doing while he was away. He believes that have gone back to their old ways of life and instead of trying to fix the system he decides to just destroy it. This is interesting not just because it is cruel and unnecessary because it hints to consumerism in which we just throw something away when it breaks and buy another rather than try to fix it .

 
We look at these two examples and have a hard time imagining how people could do such things. Today’s society have more understanding of electricity than that of 19th century but that doesn’t mean we have full understanding of technology in our own era. The way society thinks is constantly changing with the change of information and technology. Things that we do now people 100 years from now may find inhuman and cruel using information that is unknown to us now.

The 1893 World’s Fair was an impressive achievement both in showing people new technology and different cultures. It showed off various countries’ cultures and how they viewed technology of the time. It showed important aspects the American culture and how they thought. The city was built in two years and only to be temporary. I think this important because of how our society views technology now. Today we are focused on consumerism and in order for it to work people have to keep buying new technology. Companies try to make new technology that lasts only long enough so that the consumer doesn’t lose faith in the company and will buy the newest and greatest piece of their technology. In class we talked about how a company can put out software updates that makes a phone or computer run slows and make it feel like the technology isn’t working well anymore when in reality it would be working fine without the software updates.

Even if the technology we own is working fine we tend to want the newest piece of technology on the market. When a new version of a smartphone comes out every couple of years there are a lot of people who will get the new version even if their current phone is working perfectly fine. This is part of the consumeristic nature of our society. I think we subconsciously judge those with old technology because they haven’t been contributing to the economy in the traditional consumer ways.

Society has difficulty keeping up with the constantly changing technology which can be both a good and bad thing. As we talked about previously technology can change the way we interact with the world around us. It changes how we communicate with other people and how we gather information.

As we talked about whether or not the brain is a computer it became more and more clear that most people including myself don’t truly understand what a computer is. Similarly there is so much about the brain that we don’t know. This makes it very difficult to make comparisons between the two but it’s interesting how the two are so commonly compared. As humans I think we are curious about how people think in general and because we don’t really know how the brain works we like to use the most advanced piece of technology. I think we do this because this is the most some of the most advanced information.

The way technology has evolved has clearly had an impact on our society whether it’s good or bad. We see the way that people interact change dramatically. We use our phones to talk to people from all over the place instantly. This change has positive and negative aspects and whether or not it’s a good or bad change differs for each person based on generation and background. In my personal opinion it’s not a good or a bad thing it’s just different. People throughout history people have claimed that each new piece of technology that alters social interaction is harming society.

Sometimes people will adamantly resist technological advances. The most striking example of this would be amish communities. I have lived around amish my entire life and it’s difficult not to notice the differences. They won’t use phones or cars which are pretty obvious but they also won’t use things we don’t traditionally think of as technology like buttons or zippers. As much as people resist new technology it tends to work its way into people’s lives and in some parts of society more than others. Some amish though they will not drive cars but they will ride in them. I think as much as people try to resist technology it has an affect on our lives because in order to keep up with society we have to keep up with social changes.