Although technology has its obvious benefits, such as easy access to information and the development of new tools, it also produces detrimental effects on society. Since technology is both scarce and valuable, its presence causes innate feelings of jealousy, stress, and violence; furthermore, technology is not a necessity, but a luxury rather. Technology makes our lives easier, but we have always had the capacity to survive without it. For instance, the invention of the cotton gin did not lead to the use of cotton, but instead allowed for a greater amount of cotton to be utilized. In The Gods Must be Crazy, Jamie Uys illustrates the harmful introduction of the "evil thing" to Bushmen culture, but she also exposes the profound ripples that technology imprints on modern societies. Jamie Uys also does an excellent job portraying the real similarities between Botswana and American society. Throughout my paper, I hope to prove that technology has a negative impact on society because of the following: (1) its creation of winners and losers, (2) its installation of controls, (3) its introduction of prejudice, and (4) its long-lasting effects on society. .
Body.
The Price.
A price must be paid for every new technology. When I say price, I do not necessarily mean physical monetary value; I mean the value that is paid in ethics, culture, and wisdom. In Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change, Neil Postman argues that every benefit technology generates is offset with a corresponding disadvantage. The automobile, for example, allows us to travel long distances in short periods of time, but it pollutes our fresh air and replaces our beautiful parks with concrete parking lots. In The Gods Must be Crazy, the Bushmen were originally pleased with the coke bottle (God's gift) because they found many uses for it. However, as the coke bottle's value increased, it tore the Bushmen tribe apart.