The Values of Technology

I like my iPod. I like my computer. I love being able to walk into my house, turn on the lights, and take a hot shower after a long day. Technology is a difficult thing to imagine living without – especially depending on how far you go in defining it. For example, a shovel was a pretty hot commodity back in the days of subsistence farming and by the definition we came up with for technology in class – a tool that helps us extend our capabilities – it meets the criteria. Now, I know a lot of environmentalists, but I don’t think that any of them would make the argument that we shouldn’t use shovels because they’re damaging to the environment. Therefore, technology is relative, it can’t all be lumped together as something evil and destructive, or something good and desirable.

Of course, most technology isn’t completely neutral either. Some technologies lack any redeeming qualities, nuclear weapons for example – bad for people, bad for animals, bad for the Earth. That’s like the US claiming to be neutral while it’s shipping guns and tanks over to Europe to destroy the Germans – sure we’re not pulling any triggers, but we’ve obviously picked a side. But then, who gets to define what’s good and what’s bad? Shovels are also used to help build energy sucking sky scrapers, are they bad technology then too? Where does one draw the line for the desirability of technological enhancement?

So here’s my theory: in order for technology to offer any positive advancement, it must be recognized as a tool and not a solution. Technology is a reflection of societal values and desires. If it is not created with this in mind doesn’t catch on, doesn’t develop. In fact, if it doesn’t reflect those core concepts it usually isn’t even dreamed up because there would be no demand and no market for it. Think about it, our technology today reflects a society that is fast paced, information driven, and individualized. Very little of the things we use don’t reflect that.

Unwittingly, by spreading technology with these core values to different cultures, we have also spread the values they were designed around. Africa’s values may not originally have been reflected in an iPod or a BMW but after being exposed to something so new and exciting, it’s hard not want to at least try it. Over time, prolonged exposure to a certain technology will change the way one considers the world and thus change their value system. Consider the definition of fast. Before the widespread availability of cars, riding a bike across town would have been really quick. Now, if it takes more than ten minutes from Tenley to Downtown it’s a travesty. And that’s life, we don’t even think about it.

So here’s the thing, once again, it comes down to changing our core values and thus the things we expect/want out of our technology. We need to jump off of this bandwagon idea that technology just develops and we have no idea where it will end up. It’s true to the extent that human ingenuity is amazing and we can create unbelievable things seemingly without trying. However, we can guide it to some extent by changing the way we see the world. So my answer to whether technology can save us or not is a resounding no! However, I think that technology will be a helpful tool no matter if we continue to think of the world as disposable or if we change our mindsets and consider it the valuable life force that it is.