Hong 1

Jiyu Hong

ELA Core 3

Ms. Powell

3 January 2019

Technological Advancement: Its Effect On How We View Utopia

For many people, it feels like we can’t live without technology. We look forward to the

next iPhone, or buying the latest computer. We use technology without a second thought, and we

don’t think about its effects on us and the earth. Technology seems to always have been there for

us, solving problems and creating solutions. No one really thinks about how technology can

affect the future, and how it affects our vision of a global utopia. Global technological

advancement affects the human view of utopia because it affects the environment, it is causing

the rise of the belief that technology can create a perfect future (Segal), and it is part of our

everyday lives.

First of all, as technology gets more complex, it can help the environment with inventions

such as electric cars, smart homes, and renewable energy (Six Ways Tech is Helping Our

Environment), but can also harm our Earth by adding waste, pollution, and causing animal

habitat destruction (Green Computing). This effect on the environment can affect our vision of a

utopia. Everyone has a slightly or dramatically different vision of utopia. Some people would

like a natural world, while others could like a future where technology dominates and humans

learn more and more about how to create better devices. Technology is affecting our

environment with production waste, releasing carbon, etc. (Green Computing), which means that

our natural environment is already starting to disappear, and the earth could look a lot different

in the future. While that is one way that technology could affect people’s view on utopia,
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technology might also influence the environment in a positive way that could also change

perspectives on how our environment will be in a utopia. The global advancement on technology

for renewable energy has a positive effect on Earth, with energy like solar and wind energy

becoming more popular and cheaper (Six Ways Tech Is Helping the Environment). With these

devices and the increasing number of technology helping our environment, it might outweigh the

bad things that technology is doing to our environment and help our Earth even more than it is

hurting it. Overall, both the negative and positive ways that technology is influencing our

environment can affect how people view our utopia. There are many people who have different

opinions on how much technology is helping/hurting the environment. For example, one

informant of an interview said, “There are specific technologies to help our environment but

most of them pollute our environment” (Hong).

Next, the global advancement of technology has started to cause people to think about the

concept of technological utopianism, or the belief that the future’s perfect society will be made

through technology (Segal). This means that people today think that technology will help us

acheive utopia. One interview respondant said, “ [Yes] most things are turning to technology”

(Hong). This means that more problems and solutions are technology based. People who believe

in this are called Technological Utopians and they are confident that the solutions that

technology will create will outweigh the problems that come about as technology advances

(Segal). This concept can lead even more people to think that technology is helping our future,

along with the people

who already do. As said earlier, everyone has a different view of utopia. Technology can change

more and more views of how utopia should be, and could cause people to think of technology as
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the center rather than other things like the environment, communication, etc. Technology

companies compete to make better technology, or to invent something that no one has seen

before. Because of this competition, technology will continue to advance and that means that

technology will continue to make our lives easier and also create problems that technology will

then be created again to solve. This cycle will go on and on, and as technology advances so will

human’s reliance on technology, and technology will continue to have an effect on human’s view

of utopia.

Finally, as technology continues to get advanced, it starts to get more and more involved

in our lives, such as helping us shop or communicate with people around the world (The Role of

Technology). This involvement in our lives can also affect our utopia because technology is

advancing more and more resulting in further involvement. Technology is already helping us in

ways such as better communication, transportation, and improvements in healthcare (Stojanov).

Newer technology makes our lives easier and in some cases, saver, and technology will continue

to do so as it advances further. We spend a lot of time in front of our screens and devices, and

technology seems to eat up more of our time. Technology makes our lives so much easier, and

we immediately jump to doing things the more convenient way rather than the way that takes

more effort. For example, take the GPS. Before the GPS, we had to navigate through maps. With

the map on the screen being more interactive and easier to understand, we save money on gas

and can potentially save time (Capturing Technology’s Impact). This affects our vision of utopia

because it can cause people to start imagining more ways that technology can make our lives

easier. As an example, when asked if technology was helping us effectively, one respondant said,

“[Yes] it is helping in the medical field, it is saving people’s lives…”(Hong). Continually, many

people feel like technology is essential, with products such as the smartphone and the computer
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always being on hand, which causes us to be more dependent on technology and to spend more

time indoors on our devices rather than outdoors (SiOWfa15). For people in the recent

generations, it feels like technology has always been there, and will always be there. It has had

such an impact on our lives, that many people can’t imagine life without it. In a survey 95.2% of

respondees answered that technology will affect our future entirely or greatly, while 4.8% said

technology will affect our future a little bit or a medium amount (Hong).

Some people could say that technology won’t affect people who’s cultures don’t really

involve technology or they do not have access to it, or that technology could reach its maximum

point where it can’t advance further, therefore stopping the competition that keeps technology

constantly advancing. However, technology can affect these people too. Society is continuing to

connect through technology, and technology also does not just include complex machinery, it

includes tools that we use everyday, like a fork or a toothbrush. Though many people might not

see these basic tools as technology, someone designed these for our convinence, which therefore

means it is technology. As technology improves and gets cheaper it will eventually affect

everyone. I also believe that humans will continue to push technology and there is no maximum

point because whenever we think we are at the peak of technology, scientists come up with new

devices and technology.

Technology feels like it has always been present, from things that seem simple like the

wheel, or something more complex, like a smart phone. It changes the world around us in the

present, and will continue to do so in the future. Technology is both hurting and benefiting us at

the same time, and as long technology continues to advance all around the world, it will continue

to do that, and will continue to change and manipulate human’s vision of utopia. It changes how

we live, where we live, and how we interact with one another. Technology will always be in our
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lives. From the invention of stone tools to self driving cars, technology comes in different forms.

Whichever way that each individual sees technology, in someway it will always be in our lives.

Works Cited

“Capturing Technology's Impact.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 21 Dec. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/business/capturing-technologys-impact.html.

“Green Computing - Environmental Issues - The Carnegie Cyber Academy.” Green Computing -

Environmental Issues - The Carnegie Cyber Academy - An Online Safety Site and Games

for Kids, www.carnegiecyberacademy.com/facultyPages/environment/issues.html.

Hong, Jiyu. “Language Arts Research Collection.” North Carolina, 17 Dec. 2018.

Hong, Jiyu. “Technology's Effect Interview.” 18 Dec. 2018.

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Segal, Howard P. “Technological Utopianism.” Maritime Theater,

web.mit.edu/m-i-t/science_fiction/jenkins/jenkins_1.html.

“SiOWfa15: Science in Our World: Certainty and Controversy.” SiOWfa15 Science in Our

World Certainty and Controversy,

sites.psu.edu/siowfa15/2015/10/23/is-society-too-dependent-on-

computersphones/.

“Six Ways Tech Is Helping the Environment.” Blue and Green Tomorrow, Blue and Green

Tomorrow, 5 Apr. 2018,

blueandgreentomorrow.com/features/six-ways-tech-helping-environment/.

Stojanov, Zlatko. “The 6 Main Ways Technology Impacts Your Daily Life.” TechCo, TechCo,

19 Dec. 2018, tech.co/news/6-main-ways-technology-impacts-daily-life-2017-02.

“The Role of Technology.” Knight Foundation,

knightfoundation.org/digitalcitizenship/technology/.