Technology rising- The cost of advancement

Technology is undoubtedly one of the hallmarks of this century. With the development of technology there has been an unprecedented advancement in the lives of man. Every aspect of life has significantly improved, at least that is the promise technology has brought. But if one considers the relation between society and technology where both areas are affected at almost equal parity as a result of the other, are all these developments in technology necessary for society and the human race or, the more interesting alternative, are these changes in humanity necessary for technology?

Technology in its most rudimentary form has existed for hundreds of years, about the time when man developed the idea of living together in a society. The development of technology has coincided with the desire of man to facilitate the development of societies needs. Should this technology not have evolved together with society it would by no means signal the end of society’s development, perhaps if the technology had stunted the society would still evolve but at a slower pace and perhaps without a heavy reliance on technology to facilitate its main actors. The Monks in Mongolia for example do not rely heavily on technology in the present day context, yet they are able to evolve as a society within themselves, developing their own culture and more importantly religious institution that govern the way they live. This is in contrast to many people living in the developed and industrialised areas around the world, who would not be able to continue with everyday function without the help of the humble telephone. I am not suggesting that we abandon the luxuries of life and technology in favour of the simple life of monks, however it is important to note that even in this century when technology has aided greatly in the development of society and has been instrumental in some of the directions taken by society in its progress, it does not imply that society would cease to function if new technology was not found or the role of technology is lessened. Therefore would the continued advancement of technology be in societies favour? Surely society would benefit greatly but on the account that society is becoming increasingly riddled with structural deficiencies such as inequality and marginalisation, would further change built upon already weakened foundations cause an inevitable collapse of society and its institutions? This would simultaneously plunge the world into chaos and anarchy the extent of which might be unconceivable.

Alternatively, this relation does not only involve technologies impact on society but rather societies impact on technology as well. With the rise of sophistication of technology, society is becoming ever so dependent on technology in its quest to achieve greater efficiency and productively, mainly this applies to the economic institutions that began to utilise technology on a mass scale from the industrial revolution on, resulting in more products being produced from clothing to cars, although this enabled a larger portion of the growing society to enjoy particular luxuries, the use of these machines has progressed so much so that they are able to take over the role of men in the process of production. It is as though society has endorsed technology so much so that it has displaced its own actors. Unfortunately these displaced actors soon become irrelevant as workers and it results in unemployment and by extension poverty. These workers are not able to overtake machines in certain industrial processes nor will they ever will at the rate technology is being developed. Therefore as the trend suggests more and more agents of production will be by machines owned by men. To what extent will this trend continue? Though it is unlikely that the machines will own the means of production and assimilate into a higher class, they are already taking over roles of the working class, a class in which more people belong to. The displaced workers are forced to reinvent themselves through skills upgrading and state institutions are forced to pour in resources to retrain workers, as Singapore has done with the establishment of the Workers Development Agency or WDA. It is ironic that resources are being poured in to retrain workers to overcome the fact that they have been displaced by machines, the very creation that was suppose to improve lives in the first place. It seems that men now have to play catch up to technology. In a profit driven economy unfortunately this becomes the only logic.

The workers who have survived this onslaught of technology have been those who have the ability to absorb and utilise information. The possession of this information would involve education and retraining of workers already in the system, however with increased standards of education quality and application, would the displaced workers be able to adapt and catch up? It seems that a new hurdle has been erected on the part of the workers to restrict them from maintaining or retaining the level of employment they once had, unlike machines humans are not as expandable and there is only an extent that an individual is able to adapt to the changes, the faster these changes occur, the lesser chance of the workers staying in contention. No doubt some will be able to survive, but it is the large numbers who don’t that ultimately becomes a concern.