Is Technology about more than Cell Phones and Computers?

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   jonnycomelatelyposted 12 years ago

   Is Technology about more than Cell Phones and Computers?
   
   Is Technology only about IT, Cameras and what color shoes you wear, or can you expand your mind to greater things?

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   ThompsonPenposted 12 years ago

   it should be! It's about tools and resources! Granted,when you boil down a lot of sciences, they use computers. But technology was the wheel back in the day of our ancestors, the hammer, the wind mill, the plow, the watch - all things which made our lives easier and helped us to advance to the next level

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   MickSposted 12 years ago

   Technology has been about since we first came out of the trees and made tools and weapons.

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   moonfrothposted 12 years ago

   |The operative word in the question is "you".   An electronics engineer, a nuclear scientist, a theoretical physicist , an inventor, an astrologer-ly-these people have the opportunities to work directly with the tools of present technology, and they become aware of the awesome new practical applications that technology makes available.  More importantly, these people function at technological levels so advanced, they become attuned to METAphysical vistas undreamt of before technology began expanding nd challenging (or destroying) the frontiers of knowledge in every field.  So, yes, I would think for this elite group we could see opportunities for them to literally "expand their minds to greater things."   In his later work, Einstein sounds like a religious mystic--and Stephen Hawkings' new work clearly indicated a mind vastly expanded from a decade ago.
   
   These seminal thinkers, however, are leading-edge people.  In many cases they are MAKING technology as much as they are reacting to it and thinking about it . But what about you and me?  Is technology "expanding our minds"?  I would say a resounding NO!  Einstein and Hawkings et al are deeply concerned about how and why technology works.  Where it has failed, and why?. Where it enjoys special success, and why. They must answer those questions so that they can work on new, expanded possibilities.
   
   So, again, what about ordinary people--why do I suggest that technology does NOT expand our horizons?.  Here, we must pause and remind ourselves that the question is whether technology expands our MINDS.   It does not, for a very simple reason: for (probably) 95% of the population, the impact of technology on their lives is 100% FUNCTIONAL.  My 14-year-old granddaughter can text with her thumbs faster than most adults can type, bur she knows nothing about how data moves from A to B.  She will post 17 photos t her life, enables her too--all within 5 minutes.  But she knows nothing about the technology that makes that happen--but the scary part is that she has no curiosity about it either.
   
   I say "scary"--showing my age, eh?  Why is it scary?  Technology manages all the functions of her life.  Along the way, there is a truly scary possibility her freedom of thought about how things work will transfer into a lack of curiosity about how things ARE, which could lead to automaton acceptance of whatever IS.
   
   That's scary.

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      jonnycomelatelyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Moonfroth, welcome after so long.... wonderful thoughts and expanding my mind, thank you.  Currently in Haiti where the cell-phone rules, but I see a great need for down-to-earth appropriate technology.

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   Garifaliaposted 12 years ago

   Yes it is. It is also about robotics (if I've written that correctly), but modern day technology is also about causing more harm than good.

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   joanwzposted 12 years ago

   Yeah, there are all kinds of medical devices that could be listed under technology.
   1. blood sugar testeres that are now quite small and easy to use.
   2. digital x-rays - they're no longer on film and can be uploaded to any computer within a hospital system or to the doctors who operate within that system (subject to patient privacy laws).
   3. thosw high-tech patient monitor readouts, which were no doubt inspired by similar gadgets used in Star Trek.

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      jonnycomelatelyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      How do we get the younger generation interested in such "other" technology and do you feel we need to?

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