Research Paper on Technology: Enhancing Convenience & Efficiency in Daily Life

Introduction

Technological innovations have recently been embraced as part of society to enhance the convenience of the people. Technology has played a significant role in improving the efficiency and convenience of peoples' operations in their day to day life activities. For instance, technological advancement enhances the interaction of people around the globe through social networking platforms. Additionally, the economic, political, health, education, and general lifestyle aspects have been improved by the advance in technology. Moreover, technology has resulted in the development in various areas in the world. This development is prompted by technological innovations that result in the establishment of modern structures. The technology advancement has also led to effective decision-making processes through the creation of artificial intelligent elements. As a result, human lives and activities have been simplified to make them more comfortable than in the past.

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Technology, despite the advantages, has also been associated with causing adverse effects to the users. In the recent past, the negative impacts of technology have been witnessed due to the continuous dependability on the innovations. Long term use of technological innovations has been reported to cause psychological problems among users. Such issues are brain disruption, depression, and narcissism. Additionally, technological innovations result in physical health problems such as vision impairment, hearing loss, and body strain. Over dependency of technology also results in impairment of the ability to think critically, thus, affecting the choices of people on various aspects. Moreover, the use of technology leads to the development of a lazy generation since the innovations perform almost all operations needed to develop the people. These negative impacts occur since human beings perceive technology as the most useful tool hence overusing it even on unnecessary occasions. This paper discusses multiple positive and negative effects of technology, as depicted in the "Black Museum" movie and the "Technological Somnambulism article.

Black Museum Summary

"Black Museum is the last episode of the Black Mirror series. The episode involves the exhibition of three stories that are told by the proprietor of the structure of the Black Museum. Rolo Haynes, the proprietor of the remote museum, tells the stories to Nish, a solitary visitor who had invaded the structure after her vehicle broke down. The three stories show the various technological connections that involve the scientific aspects of transferring human brains. Haynes narrates the stories of how he developed his career in scientific research.

The first narration revolves around an object in the museum that related to Hayne's past experiences in the medical field as a recruiter in neurological research. In this story, Haynes prompts Dr. Dawson to obtain an implant experiment that would allow him to feel the pain of other people. This pain would trigger him to help in medical diagnosis. The second story was triggered by stuffed money, an object in the museum. Haynes explains to Nish how he convinced Jack to move his wife's consciousness to his brain to enable her to experience his feelings (Black Museum). Jack dated Emily, a lady that convinced him to change Hayne's wife into a stuffed monkey. The monkey made was received by Parker, who later got tired of it.

In the third narration, Haynes tells Nish about a holographic object that was the centerpiece of the museum. The object was made by Clayton, who was convicted for murder cases. Haynes notifies Nish that he convinced Clayton to sign his consciousness rights to make provisions for his family. Through the projection in the museum, the visitors were able to recreate the execution of Clayton and make souvenirs that demonstrated his suffering. Primarily, the "Black Museum" episode shows the positive and negative effects of technological development on scientific studies.

Technological Somnambulism Article Summary

Technological Somnambulism is a chapter that is discussed by Langdon Winner in his book, Technologies as Forms of Life. Winner describes the term as the willingness and the ability of human beings to reflect on the importance of technology and to assess the innovations that lag behind their capacity to develop and spreading them (436). The article primarily discusses how human beings willingly walk through the reconstitution process of reconstructing human existence conditions.

In the article also, the author describes the reason the technological somnambulism in society. Among the reasons are the humans' perceptions about the determinism and neutrality aspects of the technology. Additionally, the author also discusses the technical evaluation and predicts the future benefits and disadvantages of technology advancement. In his argument, Winner describes the innovations as parts of life that restructure and social worlds and physical aspects of human beings (Winner 437). Therefore, technology is a convenient tool that is used by the people in the world to perform their day to life, thus reshaping their lives.

Text Analysis

Differences of Technological Determinism and Technological Somnambulism

Technological somnambulism and determinism aspects help to interpret the ways that innovations redefine human behavior as well as their activities. However, the two theories have differences. Technological determinism theory assumes that innovations are responsible for the change of social and cultural structure in society (Winner 440). The approach aims at interpreting how technology affects human thoughts and actions. On the other hand, technological somnambulism explains the philosophy of technology that results in the sleepwalking state of human beings due to the impacts of innovations (Winner 436). The theory explains how human beings have altered the intended consequences of innovations by adopting the over-dependency of technology.

The technological determinism approach makes human beings uncomfortable since it reveals the adverse effects of technology on human lives. Through theory, it is evident that technology has transformed various social activities in unintended ways (Winner 437). These ways are beyond the control of human beings and their operations. For example, the innovations of computer technologies have resulted in the replacement of human activities in companies. Such computer systems enable the operations of production machines that required human efforts in the past. Robotics technology has also replaced human activities in ways that cannot be controlled since they are more efficient than human power. As a result, individuals have adopted the use of robots in place of human efforts.

The Problem of Sleepwalking

Winner describes the aspects of human beings sleepwalking as the human existence conditions are transformed by technological advancement. In his description, the author finds it a problem for human beings in various ways. Among the problems of sleepwalking, as described by the author, is the disregard of human value due to the innovation (Winner 441). The adoption of technology in human operations results in the displacement of human importance in conducting similar activities. Therefore, in the future, the value of human existence in the world will be disregarded. For example, the innovation of robots to perform functions in production companies has gradually replaced the workforce, thus ignoring the presence of humans in such organizations. As people continuously adopt such technology in other operations, there is likelihood that human beings will no longer be existence.

Another problem highlighted by the author is that human beings turn a blind eye to the implications of technological advancement. As a result, people continuously use innovations despite the negative impacts of their activities. Therefore, humans have allowed the technology to replace their value in society. Consequently, technology has become more powerful more than human beings and their activities. Therefore, people have resolved to live according to the directions and impacts of technology. As a result, innovations have caused unintended consequences among human beings. Moreover, human's sleepwalking has damaged the neutralism aspect of technology resulting in negative and positive impacts depending on the use of the people.

Uses of Technology

Technological innovations are developed for functional purposes. However, the tools can be used poorly, thus resulting in adverse effects of technology. Among the benefits of technology is the improvement of health care services and scientific research in the world. Technological advancement has led to the development of techniques that can be used to transfer some body parts from one individual to another. Kidneys are among the organs that are effectively transferred from one individual to another. Through this technology, human beings can survive longer, thus increasing the convenience of health care services.

Such innovations, however, are used poorly in the present-day world. Scientific researchers have been reported to use the tools in an inappropriate way that has resulted in adverse effects of the people. In the movie, "Black Museum," the technological innovations are used to alter the consciousness of a human being. For instance, Jack transferred Hayne's wife consciousness to his brains. This transfer aimed at letting the wife experience his sensation (Black Museum). Through this transfer, Carrie, Haynes' wife was made into a stuffed monkey that would only speak to phrases. Such effects are a result of poor usage of technological innovations in the health sector. Therefore, technology can be used by individuals to alter the functioning of some parts of the human body that may result in physical and mental damage.

The Importance of the Tool Users

Technology is a tool that is commonly used by human beings. Therefore, the value of the user is a significant aspect of consideration in the discussion about the impacts of technology in society. Technological innovations have played a key role in easing the lives of human beings by providing features that enable individuals to perform their day to day efficiently. For instance, technology has resulted in the development of automobiles that are facilitating the movement of human beings from one location to another (Winner 440). Through the automobiles, human beings access various services, and places fast, quickly and conveniently. Ideally, technology aims at enhancing the value of human lives by providing convenient elements to perform multiple tasks.

The technology tool, despite its positive impacts on the well-being of people, is associated with issues of demining the value of its users. Over-dependence on technological innovations devalues some of the practices that were of significance before the development of the tool. For instance, the development of cars has been associated with disregarding the walking culture among human beings. For example, in the US, there was a case in a court of law that involved the case of a young man that was continuously arrested for walking in the night (Winner 440). Police officers arrested the man since walking in the night was perceived as a suspicious action. This case is among the much evidence of instances where the use of technology is devalued in favor of the innovation. In this scenario, automobiles are valued more than humans who tend to use them. Ideally, technological innovations have devalued the users' lives, thus causing a negative perception of the tool.

The Role of the Technology Users in its Impacts

The users of technology innovations are responsible for the positive and harmful effects of the tool. The freedom to choose whether to benefit or lose from the technology is in the...