FREE ESSAY ON THE TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION

THE TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION

The Technological Revolution
Technological Changes of the Past and Present
The technology which surrounds almost everyone in the modern society, affects both work
and leisure activities. Technology contains information that many would rather it did not
have. It influences minds in good and bad ways, and it allows people to share information
which they would otherwise not be able to attain. Even if a person does not own a
computer or have credit cards, there is information on a computer somewhere about
everyone. The technology which is just now beginning to be manipulated and harnessed is
affecting the minds of small children and adolescents in ways that could be harmful. It
is affecting our immediate future. It also gives another form of communication and
exchange of information which was not available before, information that is both good and
bad.
Technology is one of the principal driving forces of the future; it is transforming our
lives and shaping our future at rates unprecedented in history, with profound
implications which we can't even begin to see or understand.
Many different elements affect how satisfied we are with our lives. The impact of
technology on these elements can change how safe, healthy and happy people feel.
Throughout history, people have looked for better ways to meet their needs and to satisfy
their expectations. Technology has improved the way people feed, clothe and shelter
themselves. Technology has also changed other aspects of everyday life, such as health
care, education, job satisfaction, and leisure time activities.
People have used technology since they first chipped stone blades to improve their
hunting. Yet some people call the current age the Technological Age because of society's
dependence on technology. For the first time in human history, almost all the goods and
services people use depend on technology. The products of technology are available to
almost everyone in society. The economy of a country influences how the people of the
county live. Technology is often considered the key to a nation's economic growth. Most
economists would say that it is one of the factors in economic growth, but they would
probably disagree about its importance.
Many economists think that if technology sparks growth in one sector of the economy in
the form of increased productivity, growth will also occur in other sectors of the
economy. Jobs may be lost in one industry, such as agriculture but new jobs may emerge in
other sectors of the economy. There may be more jobs or, in some case, completely new
kinds of jobs. Technology may also be used to solve urgent problems. Our growing
population is using up infinite supplies of natural resources. Innovations in technology
can allow for more efficient use of limited or scarce resources. More products might be
made from the same amount of raw material using new techniques.
Technology can increase productivity to help countries compete with other countries in
selling goods and services. Some say that without technological improvements, the economy
would grow slowly or not at all. Society could remain the same for years, some what like
the early Middle Ages in Europe, in which there was little economic change for hundreds
of years.
Ways to manufacture goods have changed continuously through history. Today, several
important new advances in technology are transforming. These technologies create new
products; most of them also change the way people in society interact. These technologies
have a tremendous impact on our monetary resources. Some of the technologies which are
having the greatest effect on the economy are: robotics, automation and computerization.
Robotics: Artificial Intelligence
Although robotics have a well-established position in the Japanese industry, it has not,
so far, turned out to be what many experts thought it would. Businesses in the United
States and Europe have not embraced industrial robots at nearly the rate of the Japanese,
and other more consumer oriented versions are very much in the development phase. Even
so, industry sources believe that the use of robots to make clothes and other consumer
goods will be common by the turn of the century.
This general trend (the use of robotics) is likely to change, perhaps dramatically, in
the next two decades. Robots are in one sense collections of other more basic
technologies: sensors, controlling and analysis software, pattern recognition
capabilities and so on. Most all of these other technologies will make significant
strides in capability, size, power requirements, and other design characteristics and the
integration of these other advances should accrue directly to robotics.
Robots are machines which combine computer technology with industrial machines. The
computers are programmed to operated the machines. Robots come in many shapes and sizes
and can be programmed to perform a variety of tasks.
Robots are gradually being introduced on assembly lines in some industries. In automated
factories, the amount produced by each human worker increases tremendously, but robots
are very expensive for industries to buy. Only large industries such as the auto industry
currently develops, though, the cost of robots is dropping and improvements to robots are
making them more flexible so more manufacturers will find them useful.
The use of robotics effects our economy immensely. Robots are much more durable, faster,
efficient, ,reliable and cheaper workers. The use of robots in industries will rise
because employers will see the advantages that robots have over human employees. The
utilization of robots in the workplace will have a massive effect to the unemployment
rate.
Automation: Moving in a New Direction
A small number of decisions we make play a major role in shaping many other areas of our
lives. For example, when we decide what (and how) we will consume, a huge system of
farms, distributors, stores, manufactures, restaurants etc these respond directly to
those desires. One of the most important decisions we make concerns the way we move
ourselves and our commodities. Our system of transportation greatly affects how we use
energy, develop technology , affect the economy and environment, and shape our social
relationships.
When Henry Ford was starting out on his remarkable career in Detroit, a bustling town
which gave full vent to the creative energies of some amazing innovators, the economy of
was showing enormous cracks. But at the time, even the most prescient of fortune-tellers
would have had trouble forecasting what was about to happen. Carriage and buggy-whip
makers were still turning handsome profits in a growing market, and the few cars on the
dusty, unpaved roads were little more than fanciful toys for the adventurous rich. Some
of the communications technologies pioneered toward the end of the nineteenth century
must have seemed just as esoteric to the leading financiers and industrialists of the
day, who were doing fine bankrolling the traditional industries they knew so well. Yet,
within a few short years, Ford and others would shape consumer products out of the new
technologies that would set in motion an awesome economic transformation.
Henry Ford didn't invent the automobile. Nor did he invent mass production or the
assembly line. Ford is famous because he took these existing concepts and incorporated
them into a n efficient, large-scale system of manufacturing inexpensive, reliable cars.
I'm going to democratize the automobile. Ford said, and when I'm through, everybody will
have one. (Chase, 1997, 47)
Cars have made a big difference in the way communities have been designed. Street layout,
the design of homes, and traffic laws have changed as methods of transportation has
changed throughout history.
Automobiles are responsible for more than half the airborne pollution in the western
world. Many plans are being developed to control air pollution. Burning cleaner fuel and
burning fuel more efficiently both help the environment. Pollution controls devices for
cars have also been developed. For example, catalytic systems were installed in many car
exhaust systems in the 1980s. These devices change dangerous gases into harmless carbon
dioxide and water. They also burn up much of the exhaust with fresh air in a chamber near
the exhaust pipe. The car of the future will need new designs which make even better use
of the fuel which powers them.
Cars influence the ways communities are developing. Since it is possible to drive great
distances rapidly, many people choose to live far away from where they work. Many cities
have a downtown core where people work and a suburban area where they live. People may
spend a great deal of time commuting through rush hour traffic.
In spite of many problems , it is hard to imagine a society without cars. Cars and trucks
have become so important that most people would not want to do without them. They would
prefer to see the design and construction of cars changed to accommodate safety and
environment concerns. The car has helped created jobs, freedom, convenience and fun as
well as pollution, traffic jams and urban sprawl. The challenge facing the auto industry
is to keep pace with the changing values of society and to develop the technology to do
so.
Computerization: Extraordinary Technology
Computers are used in most manufacturing industries today. Computers are used to automate
processes in much faster ways . These can be office procedures such as word processing or
bookkeeping, or production processes such as cutting and assembling clothes.
Computers are becoming an important part of industrial design. Computer-aided design
(CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) are new terms which describe the important
role computers have come to play in our industry. The wide use to computers has
stimulated companies which manufacture the many parts needed to make and operate them.
Some people, however feel that computer technology has gone too far. It may create
problems such as machine errors in people's records and banks and governments may gain
access to private financial information. Computerization has made it easier for banks to
keep track of individual baking transactions so charges for these have increased.
Branch-bank employees worry that computers and automated tellers may replace people.
While technological change has been a priority for banks over the last years, they also
recognize the need to communicate in person with customers. Banks must manage money and
data effectively but they must also maintain personal relations. Bank personnel may be
assisted with computer and some services may work well when automated, but banks will
probably never lose their staffs to machines.
A new, information-technology-driven circle of growth has replaced the aging
manufacturing ring and scarcely not many have noticed. The statistics that told us so
much about the economy's health during the 1920s to the 1980s are still treated with a
reverence they no longer deserve.
That's why the experts have so much trouble explaining what's going on now. The prophets
mumbled about the severity of the recession in industry; rising unemployment; a weakening
currency. Now, statistics can be managed to produce all sorts of results. But no matter
how you shake or stir them, the numbers show plainly that a New Economy, embodied and
driven by technology, information and innovation, has emerged, with little fanfare, in
the past decade. And though it would be impossible to tell from the general statistics,
this New Economy is absolutely booming, with no peak in sight.
Now with the new wave of the Internet minds of not only small children, but also
adolescents and adults become influenced by this outside information. As the mind
develops, things such as pornography is no longer the main concern. Now, because of the
easy access to information, the fourteen years old who has just discovered that she
failed ninth grade can find out how to make a bomb out of household detergents. As can
the laid-off business man, the dumped boyfriend, and the deranged psycho.
My general sentiment about technology, and the Internet are simple. In light of the
history of mass communication, there is nothing we can do to protect any media from the
sound byte or any other form of commercial poisoning. But, our country's public opinion
doesn't have to fall into a nose-dive of lies and corruption, because of it! Television
doesn't have to be a weapon against us, used to sway our opinions or to conform to people
who care about their own prosperity, not ours. With the power of a critical thinking
education, we can stop being motivated by the sound byte and, instead we can laugh at it
as a cheap attempt to persuade us and have a little fun with it.
Technology is not all bad. The whole point of this is that people have to be sure that
everyone is aware of all the good and bad aspects of technology. I feel that the advance
of technology is a good trend for our society; however, it must be in conjunction with
advances in education so that society is able to master and understand technology. In the
future we may see many problems arising from this new wave of technology. Unemployment
numbers will most probably rise, crime will increase, and We can be the masters of
technology, and not let it be the masters of us.