Technology refers to the application of machines in day to day human life activities to simplify or make work easier thereby reducing the need for human input. Technology has continued to evolve over the period because of increased human interest to escape manual involvement. With the development of mobile phones, motor vehicles, computers and in the recent year's robotics, human beings have greatly benefited in terms of improved communications and advancements in industrial development, therefore, making life easier and more enjoyable. However, with misuse of technology comes various implications to human life as shown in the piece of art Machine man through character Charles Neumann.
In his book Machine man , the author brings out his main character, Charles Neumann as someone who is over-dependent on technology making him misuse further and abuse the whole concept behind technology. Just because of developed dependence on his mobile phone, Neumann loses his track when trying to find his misplaced phone. This causes him to accidentally crash his legs in a hydraulic clamp which he goes ahead to replace with a prosthetic leg (Barry, 2009). The idea of a professional concentrating on locating his cell phone to the extent of losing touch with the necessary precautions taken when dealing with machinery highlights, a situation of havoc in the society in which sobriety is overtaken by carelessness initiated by personal obsession. This can lead to a great deal of personal harm or loss to the general society, “ While I lay there, waiting for time release, I could see the top of what used to be my leg poking out from between two thick slabs of steel, gently dripping blood to the floor … ” (Barry, 2009, 1). This kind of pain illustrates to a large extent the harm that could be caused by overdependence on machines making humans ignorant of their day to day life cautions.
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Technology also degrades normal human thinking therefore eventually leading to erosion of humanity altogether. This causes the substitution of core human values and general consciousness by mere abstraction (Orr, 2004). When Neumann had replaced his amputated leg with prosthetic one, he started developing a dislike for his normal leg. Besides carrying his body, it could not perform additional functions as opposed to the artificial one. This leads Charles Neumann to a cloning spree in which he replaces various parts of his body with artificial ones. Eventually, Neumann feeds his brain into a computer system (Barry, 2011). This is a situation in the society where individuals lose faith in the normal human systems and develop unwarranted likeness in the machinery systems. When the norms are eradicated so is humanity flushed away with it. This creates confusion in the system where computers overtake humans and being that they cannot be controlled by emotions they can do a lot of damage in the society even destroying human relations.
Technology can also be credited with the laziness and reluctance among humans in society. Neumann starts visualizing his prosthetic leg as an independent entity and better compared to his biological leg which he has to control (Barry, 2011). This is a situation brought about by how machines are made to simplify work. The normal way of doing things greatly relies on how an individual does it, but a machine will almost perform every functionality as long as the necessary commands are fed into the system. “ One of the problems with biological legs,” I said in the elevator, “is that they can’t survive on their own. They’re not modular. This creates isolated points of failure and dependency issues. All of which can go away if u make a leg self-sufficient…. ” (Barry, 2009, 64). With time humans get used to computers doing things and eventually lose their sense of doing their errands, and this creates laziness.
Conclusively, machines have a lot of positive impact on human lives. However, this should be accompanied by self-discipline which demands controlled applications of technology. The new era of machines, therefore, introduces in equal measure challenges that have to be combated using normal human intelligence. This is because not a self-sufficient system and addition of human independence goes hand in hand to achieve the best out of machines.
References
Orr, (2004). Earth in mind: On education, environment, and the human prospect . Island Press.
Barry, (2011). Machine man. Vintage Books.
