How Surroundings Affect Our Logical Process: Examining the Impact of Technology - Essay Sample

Introduction

People's way of thinking is determined by their surroundings, which influences their logical process. For instance, geological location pays a significant role in many aspects of life, from dressing preferences to social norms. With the expansion of technology, the phenomenon has affected the logical process of the entire world, depending on exposure. Since the human brain processes information in terms of problem-solving, the activities that occur in our lives are directly related to the choices we make. Since in this era information is quickly accessing through our mobile devices, retention of crucial details in or brains is no longer a priority. Therefore when someone needs to get to a location they have been to once but cannot recall the directions, their first choice is to turn to their GPS as opposed to trying to figure it out. Depending on one's perspective, an argument could arise that technology pushes humanity to process information quicker in an attempt to keep up. Processing information rapidly calls for one to make impromptu choices, which is an improvement to our thinking. Consequently, people skimming through news could mean they do not consider the depth of the options they are about to make. Whether technology is a positive aspect or not, it has undoubtedly affected how people think.

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Many philosophers have tackled the topic of how modern technology affects the way people think-for example, Sigmund Freud, who is an Australian neurologist synonymous with being a pioneer in the psychoanalysis field. Psychoanalysis was the beginning of therapy as we know it, which makes Freud an essential aspect of its development. Sigmund had many theories on how human behavior depends on their most immediate interactions (Person,p. 4). For instance, he was able to confirm that childhood experiences affected how one processed information. In this era, children are raised exposed to modern technology, which means they are equipped with more knowledge than the previous generation. The thinking process is different between the generations, which have seen children behave maturely at tender ages. Freud was an advocate for the advancement of technology and its exposure to people since he saw it as a means to improve thinking capacity. One should be aware that a person who has a broad scope of exposure to various aspects of the word makes more informed decisions since the events have altered their thinking. Technology has opened up the name to everyone, which means one is capable of seeing and getting a feel of how other people live across the globe. The globalization of exposure is made possible since those who are not able to afford to expose themselves to such information and sites can do so from the comfort of their homes.

Some philosophers were against modern technology, and a concept referred to as new Luddism. This group believes that advanced technology is not only the root cause of deteriorating the thinking capacity of humans but also caused many societal breakdowns to date. Since the majority of the word is in support of modern technology, those who opposed the development were not vocal and preferred to remain anonymous, raying behind movements against its use. However, authors like Chelis Glendenning published pieces on how harmful modern technology is to humanity. She referred to how it was being used by governments to invade people's privacy by accessing their persona devices. The author also shows how wars waged using modern technology would devastate the word. On evaluating the theories critiques have on the use of technology, there is merit to the claims they make. However, the benefits to modern technology outweigh the negatives, which means it had fostered the growth of humanities thinking to allow us to manage the adverse effects technology can cause. One of the most renowned philosophers who were against modern technology was Jacques Ellul, who was a history professor at the University of Bordeaux (Ellul, p.2). Jacques argued that due to technology depending on the organization, it took away the natural means of living from humanity, essentially turning them into saves. He saw that technology would transform the word into robots by encouraging uniformity and taking away what makes us unique.

In a bid to illustrate what modern technology means for humanity, directors like Alex Garland have created films that show what would happen if technology surpassed humanity. The movie in question is known as "Ex-Machina," which follows a young programmer who gets an opportunity to work with one of the notable names in his field. The programmer is transported to an off-grid location where he finds out that his mentor has made a considerable breakthrough in artificial intelligence (Garland,p. 5). His task was to see if he could distinguish the technology from a real human being. Like the film, we realize that technology can manipulate the programmer into feeling sorry for it, causing him to result in trying to help her escape what he believed was cruel confinement. After the film, one understands that the creator of artificial intelligence knew the risks such technology could pose to humanity if they did not have a way to control it, which is why he conducted experiments off-grid.

Additionally, the audience gets a perspective of how much modern technology could potentially take over humanity by how artificial intelligence can control the young programmer. This film plays a role in educating the viewers on the potential harm modern technology could cause if we lost control. The viewer experiences firsthand how advanced technology influences our thinking by showing how the robot managed to elicit sympathy from the programmer.

The majority of films created to date on the modern technology subject depict humanity being overrun by technology. Therefore since we have already covered a film that covers the eventuality of technology being a negative aspect in our thinking, we should include one that shows a positive impact. The minority report is a film directed by Steven Spielberg about how future technology could be used to predict crimes before they happen, which helps police catch the criminals before they harm them (Spielberg,p. 9). The technology in the film relies on technologically advanced children who are hooked on machines which are admittedly cruel but serve the greater good. Crime rates in the film are shown to be almost nonexistent since all future offenders are captured. There are positives and negatives in the minority report like people arrested are cryogenically frozen, which reduces the cost of maintaining prisons by the government. At the same time, the accused are not technical, not felons yet. The protagonist of the film is accused of committing a future crime where the audience follows him on his quest to prove his innocence. In the film, he uncovers that the corrupt people in the government have manipulated the population into believing the process is perfect by hiding a significant flaw. We find out that without one of the three children, the technology aced accuracy, meaning many of the inmates could be innocent.

Since our environment and modern technology influence thinking has dominated our environments, it stands to reason that it does affect our thinking. The debate on whether the effects of technology on our thinking is positive or negative varies with each individual. One could believe that technology improves humanities thinking like Freud suggests depending on how it is used. In the films covered above, understanding cannot be trusted with modern technology since few with ill motives tend to use it to cause harm to others. Referring to the current word situation, many would not imagine their lives without modern technology; for some, this is a good thing since they use technology to help them make informed decisions. However, some people are seen to have poor thinking quality because they use technology to get rid of their obligations and fill their brains with useless content. Although modern technology has valid arguments on both sides of its effect in regards to humanity, it has affected how we think in contrast to the era before technology. For example, in this era, one is not limited to contents available to them in their environment since they have the option to choose from a more comprehensive array of choices in the word. The cultures of people have interlinked, changing their thinking to ensure there are fewer conflicts on reasoning.

Work Cited

Ellul, Jacques, and Patrick Troude Chastenet. Jacques Ellul on Politics, Technology, and Christianity: Conversations with Patrick Troude-Chastenet. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2005.

Garland, Alex. Ex machina. Faber & Faber, 2015.

Person, Ethel S., Arnold M. Cooper, and Glen O. Gabbard. The American psychiatric publishing textbook of psychoanalysis. American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc., 2005.

Spielberg, S. "Minority Report, movie." (2002).