Topic: Has Western Societ Become Too Dependent on Technology?

[JamesR]

In your opinion, has western society become too dependent on its technology? I personally think that we may have a little bit. I openly admit that I would not last one day in the wild without my technology. I know nothing about agriculture, fishing or hunting. I've never fired a gun or worked on a farm and on top of that, I have never even been camping. I'm just an urban, Cali city slicker. And want to know the scary thing? There are billions of people in the west just like me who would not survive at all without our technology for even one day.

[Agabus]

In your opinion, has western society become too dependent on its technology? I personally think that we may have a little bit. I openly admit that I would not last one day in the wild without my technology. I know nothing about agriculture, fishing or hunting. I've never fired a gun or worked on a farm and on top of that, I have never even been camping. I'm just an urban, Cali city slicker. And want to know the scary thing? There are billions of people in the west just like me who would not survive at all without our technology for even one day.

Define technology.

Agriculture, hunting and fishing all took great leaps forward because of technological advances.

I suspect you mean something along the lines of creature comforts and processed foods?

By the definition you give about being technologically independent, I would fare OK. About half the food I eat was grown in my backyard and I took a foreigner gun shooting a week ago.

But I still like modern medicine. If not for that kind of technology I would have been permanently crippled or died years ago,

[LizaSymonenko]

If you mean dependent in the sense that 2 minutes after their iPhone/iPad is taken away the kids start whining "I'm bored", then yes!  Kids have little of their own imagination these days, and have no idea how to entertain themselves without some gadget in their hands.

If you worry that we are becoming anti-social....probably.  We can easily deal with folks online, but, when we come face to face with a living person...we don't know how to act.  That is a sad fact.  We literally have to go out of our way to interact with humanity on a one to one basis. 

If you worry that one day all electronic devices disappear.....don't worry...you would survive.  You would learn how to farm and kill game if you needed to.

Humans adapt to their environment, and even though times might be tough, with God's help we persevere to live another day.

As for the miracle of modern medicine.  Sure.  We literally cannot live without it in some cases.  But, that's not really a nagging dependence, that's just utilizing what is available.  I too, would have been dead long ago, if not for our modern day medical technology.

What saddens me is the disappearance of paper books.  Most are getting scanned in and saved electronically.  We download them and read them on our PC's, iPhones, Nooks, Kindles, etc.  Heaven forbid those machines break, or the database crashes, or we loose access, electricity fails, or whatever....and those electronic versions are gone.  It's getting harder and harder to find paper books in people's houses these days.

[Asteriktos]

I don't see it as being much of a problem compared to any other age, really.   For example, when people moved to an agriculture-based society and they were deprived of their technology they generally moved on or died. I think the same would happen if we lost of modern technologies. Also, I think you'd make it a day or two anyway!

[Melodist]

I took a foreigner gun shooting a week ago.

And did you shoot better than the foreigner...

[Melodist]

I would not last one day in the wild without my technology.

I would be out of a job.

[LizaSymonenko]

Yeah, me too!

[orthonorm]

Define technology.

The Question Concerning Technology - Heidegger

Heck wikipedia thinks it can explain it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Question_Concerning_Technology

A terrible exegesis and version of translation into English.

One of the most accessible to the lay person of his later writings.

Should be read with The Origin of the Artwork.

[Agabus]

I took a foreigner gun shooting a week ago.

And did you shoot better than the foreigner...

I was better with the .22 revolver and rifle, and the .410 shotgun. He was better with the hand cannon, a .40.

But one doesn't have to be a particularly good shot when standing on a levee shooting watermelons in the pond below.

[orthonorm]

I would not last one day in the wild without my technology.

I would be out of a job.

I know a good George Carlin rant here.

[Agabus]

Define technology.

The Question Concerning Technology - Heidegger

Heck wikipedia thinks it can explain it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Question_Concerning_Technology

A terrible exegesis and version of translation into English.

One of the most accessible to the lay person of his later writings.

Should be read with The Origin of the Artwork.

The wiki page is a somewhat confuzzling read, but I think this little gem might be of some use to our friend the OP:

although the meaning of Being appears to be more obscured as technology becomes increasingly complex, it is still there.

I must admit that I am a bit of a philistine in that I will substitute "technology" for "means of production"... and in that sense, we all are enslaved to technology to some degree, the nature of the market being what it is.

But -- to take this all back to a more human level, and to use an example that the OP listed as less technological -- I have tried gardening with only a hoe and with the help of a tiller. I can tell you which alternative I prefer, even though the end product -- uniformly turned-over dirt which will be serve as a bed for vegetables -- is not one most people associate with technology.

[Shiny]

As much as I dislike Oscar Wilde, I have to agree with him on his vision of technology.

[orthonorm]

As much as I dislike Oscar Wilde, I have to agree with him on his vision of technology.

Dislike Oscar Wilde?

What is wrong with you?

[GabrieltheCelt]

RE: the OP's question- I feel strongly that the answer is a resounding 'yes'.

[LBK]

It's getting harder and harder to find paper books in people's houses these days.

Liza, you haven't been to my place! Our bookshelves are groaning, and there are several boxes of books in the garage, still unpacked. 

[JamesRottnek]

As much as I dislike Oscar Wilde, I have to agree with him on his vision of technology.

Dislike Oscar Wilde?

What is wrong with you?

Precisely what I was thinking.

[Shiny]

As much as I dislike Oscar Wilde, I have to agree with him on his vision of technology.

Dislike Oscar Wilde?

What is wrong with you?

What isn't wrong with me my dear orthonormie.

But GKC, of course, makes me smile with this gem “Oscar Wilde said that sunsets were not valued because we could not pay for sunsets. But Oscar Wilde was wrong; we can pay for sunsets.  We can pay for them by not being Oscar Wilde.”

I oppose Wilde's materialism and his debaucheries. He was depressingly empty, sought only after pleasure with a brooding pessimism. Is there any real virtue on submitting to one's temptations? No there isn't, and as the man himself said: "I can resist everything but temptation." It is a little disturbing that he didn't have any sort of repulsion when it came to the temptation of sin. Which finding sin to be repulsive is natural itself.

As GKC prophetically said again: “Decadents may like living in a dream which they can alter at any moment to suit themselves, in which they can create causes without creating consequences, in which they can pervert the future or unmake the past. But I think a decent working man of any class, whether he is working at cube roots or cabbage roots, ought to be glad that, as he sows, so shall he surely reap.”

And Wilde sure did reap what he sowed, hence his imprisonment due to sodomy. However he was pretty great at epigrams, through his fictional characters, which I will give him credit for, alot of the time they are merely flippant.

[JamesRottnek]

As much as I dislike Oscar Wilde, I have to agree with him on his vision of technology.

Dislike Oscar Wilde?

What is wrong with you?

What isn't wrong with me my dear orthonormie.

But GKC, of course, makes me smile with this gem “Oscar Wilde said that sunsets were not valued because we could not pay for sunsets. But Oscar Wilde was wrong; we can pay for sunsets.  We can pay for them by not being Oscar Wilde.”

I oppose Wilde's materialism and his debaucheries. He was depressingly empty, sought only after pleasure with a brooding pessimism. Is there any real virtue on submitting to one's temptations? No there isn't, and as the man himself said: "I can resist everything but temptation." It is a little disturbing that he didn't have any sort of repulsion when it came to the temptation of sin. Which finding sin to be repulsive is natural itself.

As GKC prophetically said again: “Decadents may like living in a dream which they can alter at any moment to suit themselves, in which they can create causes without creating consequences, in which they can pervert the future or unmake the past. But I think a decent working man of any class, whether he is working at cube roots or cabbage roots, ought to be glad that, as he sows, so shall he surely reap.”

And Wilde sure did reap what he sowed, hence his imprisonment due to sodomy. However he was pretty great at epigrams, through his fictional characters, which I will give him credit for, alot of the time they are merely flippant.

You should read more about Wilde; you seem to be missing a rather large aspect of him.

[akimori makoto]

As much as I dislike Oscar Wilde, I have to agree with him on his vision of technology.

Don't worry, I also can't abide Wilde.

His works are all flash and witticism. They do not move the soul at all.

[Shiny]

And what larger aspect is that?

But I concur with aki, with of course the tinge of flippancy.

[LizaSymonenko]

It's getting harder and harder to find paper books in people's houses these days.

Liza, you haven't been to my place! Our bookshelves are groaning, and there are several boxes of books in the garage, still unpacked. 

LOL!  Me, too!  I can't part with my books!!!

[Manalive]

I think people have become too obsessed with technology. The other week I was trying to catch a ride in an elevator to work and the guy getting in just let the door shut on me without ever looking to see if anyone was behind him. I was 4-5 feet behind him when he got on. I watched the elevator close and he's still staring at his phone-- oblivious to the world around him.

I've camped, cooked my own food, started fires, and fished enough to be ok when everything goes back off the grid. It will be nice-- no body to bump into while they check out the latest version of Angry birds.