toldailytopic: What are the best things, and worst things, about technology?

[Nathon Detroit]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for February 15th, 2011 11:22 AM

toldailytopic: What are the best things, and worst things, about technology?

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[Nathon Detroit]

One of the most odd things about technology is our communications. We have cell phones, e-mail, video conferencing, and every other imaginable type of communications technology. Yet... it seems like we talk to each other less and less.

It's almost as if... the more communications technologies emerge the less we actually communicate with each other.

 

[chrysostom]

Wolfe in 'you can't go home again' talks about the mounted drunk
the real crime isn't that he is drunk
and
the real crime isn't that he is mounted
but
the real crime is that he is actually going somewhere

technology is the horse

 

[Granite]

Off the top of my head...

Access to information is surely one of the best and most frightening gifts the Interest has given us.

The ability to improve our lives in every conceivable way is offset by the ability to wipe out life on this planet many times over.

 

[Nathon Detroit]

Access to information is surely one of the best and most frightening gifts the Interest has given us.

That's a great point.

It's good that the media can hold a military accountable for their actions but I also believe the media takes advantage of that power and does everything possible to find something that the military is doing wrong.

With all the embedded reporters and information about military maneuvers I wonder if we will ever have another war that the country supports.

 

[Nathon Detroit]

Another thing.... with all of today's awesome computer technology and smart phones etc. (which I love) it's very difficult to take an actual vacation anymore. It seems we are always "connected" in one way or another.

 

[Granite]

It's good that the media can hold a military accountable for their actions but I also believe the media takes advantage of that power and does everything possible to find something that the military is doing wrong.

That's a fair example. It's also encouraging that we can hold the government accountable for its actions but also disconcerting to consider the power that same government has to tap into and monitor any aspect of our lives they choose.

With all the embedded reporters and information about military maneuvers I wonder if we will ever have another war that the country supports.

The press can skew and twist information on the ground any number of different ways, on that we agree. But I'd prefer an open media presence and greater governmental and military transparency as opposed to the alternative.

 

[taikoo]

I think the worst thing is how incredibly vulnerable it makes us.
A small group set off the whole terrorism thing that has consumed our country.

A small group of skilled hackers in, say, China could go after our power grid and some few other things and the consequences would be beyond imagining.

a nuclear weapon in the sky over the east coast, and your car would stop. Nothing would work anymore.

 

[Cracked]

Texting ("worst" thing).

 

[Selaphiel]

Positive:

-Information age, pretty much anyone with access to internet has access to vast amounts of knowledge.
-The advancements it has led to in medicine.
-Sheer processing power for advanced calculations.

Negative:

-Vulnerability, a society dependent on technology for its infrastructure is potentially extremely vulnerable if one link in that chain breaks down.

-Almost too many ways of communication. It is so easy to communicate changes that almost all appointments become tentative. I like it when a date/time is set and it is kept.
The loss of privacy through online social networks like Facebook. They are not mandatory of course, but they are more and more becoming a social convention.

 

[john w]

Best: Cell phones

Worst: Cell phones

 

[Nathon Detroit]

Best: Cell phones

Worst: Cell phones

Tell us why.

 

[Nathon Detroit]

10 Jobs That Didn't Exist 10 Years Ago.

 

[ragTagblues]

Best: Cell phones

Worst: Cell phones

I'll second that . . . My mobile phone has got me into more trouble then I care to think about!

I think someone made this point earlier; but it is worth making again. The world is such smaller place for technology and there are any number of ways to stay in touch with people and for all that it feels like we know interact on such a meaningful level . .

Interaction is now a daily thing what with mobile phones and the ilk, its turned to quantity and not quality . . . .

The main positive for me, is that there is now never an excuse for knowledge to be lost as that would be a real shame.

 

[rexlunae]

Access to information is surely one of the best and most frightening gifts the Interest has given us.

You posted this from your phone, didn't you. :chuckle:

I think there's the Internet is tremendously empowering. It makes information freer and more widely accessible, but it can harm our personal interactions when used incorrectly. I suspect that in short order, we're going to start recognizing a need for safe guidelines (not necessarily regulation) limiting how much of ourselves we invest in being online, much as we have for alcohol use.

 

[john w]

Tell us why.

Prayer-communication to the LORD God
The Book-the LORD God communicating to us

In war, what is the first thing the enemy attempts to do? Cut off communication between the "Commander In Cheif," and the troops.

Cell phones-focus on talking to each other, not the LORD God(prayer), and the cell phone draws some/most(?)from studying the book, listening to Him, and, instead, we talk to, listen to each other.


Very subtil. Slick. Great ploy.Prince of the power of the air. I "get" that.

I do not have a cell phone. I still have an 8 track player. Others can knock themselves out. And chicks still dig me, even when they discover I do not have a cell phone, or that I do not "text"(or that I hate long walks on the beach, bubble baths..........).

 

[Ps82]

Now I looked up the definitions of technology and technological to make sure my favorite invention would fit this thread... and it does:
The science or study of the practical or industrial arts... applied science... progress in the use of machinery ... etc.

In door plumbing and toilets.
Though difficult, I could survive without a phone and maybe a stove ... but I don't know if I could make it a week without indoor plumbing and the inventions that come with it!

 

[john w]

Now I looked up the definitions of technology and technological to make sure my favorite invention would fit this thread... and it does:
The science or study of the practical or industrial arts... applied science... progress in the use of machinery ... etc.

In door plumbing and toilets.
Though difficult, I could survive without a phone and maybe a stove ... but I don't know if I could make it a week without indoor plumbing and the inventions that come with it!

I bet I can go longer without a smoke, than most cell phone users can go without checking out their cell phone. I have not lost that bet yet.

 

[Vaquero45]

Technology is great for information and communication and entertainment. It's usually good for health care, but there are times when I think we are too good at keeping people alive.

Technology is bad because it makes it so much easier for society to be in such big hurry. There are times I see a show about some tribe of villagers who live at a stone age tech level, and I am jealous. lol I often wish electricity had never been discovered. Also, we have become very good at killing each other.

 

[Nick M]

Tell us why.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2011/02/14/suit-motorist-updating-facebook-during-fatal-crash/