The Importance of Machines
On a daily basis, humans have been observed to use machines all the time, everywhere, and for almost everything. It is almost as if we depend on them, rely on them, have an unprecedented urge to always have one on hand. Take for example one of the most commonly used machines we have become so attached to, the cell phone. Everywhere we look, we can see people wandering around with their eyes glued to their screen or holding their device next to their ear and having a conversation with whoever is on the other side of the line. Another evident observation of how frequently we use machines are the masses of motorized vehicles that zip through roads and highways. Simply put, machines have integrated themselves into our daily lives and now play a prominent role in our society.
We have almost completely substituted all previous forms of communication, transportation, and other aspects of our society with the creation of newer, more industrial methods and apparatuses. Before the invention of motorized vehicles, people rode horse-drawn carriages to get from one place to another. Before the creation of mobile cellular devices, people sent handwritten letters and postcards in the mail. Before the establishment of the internet, most leisure activities and social interactions were conducted outdoors and in person. There is no doubt that machines have shaped our way of life, but how much will they continue to do so? To what extent will we mechanize our way of life?
By industrializing our way of life, humans have been able to make profound and astonishing advancements. Based off of how we have been progressing in recent years, it can be inferred that we will continue to extend our reach of mechanizing components of our society even further as the years pass by. It is with this mindset that one can assert that machines and technology have and will continue to play a dominant role in our way of life.
But why use machines? Why have they become so essential to us? The answer lies within the general concept of humans having the uncontrollable urge to always strive for something better, something faster, something stronger, something that will outshine everything that has come before it. The past has shown us that people never stopped pushing forward to create a new device, a new method, a new concept, a new something in which humans could prosper from. Over the course of history, machines have proven to hold the key to further advancements we humans so desperately desire. It is because of this that we humans have so tightly woven machines into our daily lives.
Let’s take a look at past inventions. Prior to the 1800s, the production of agricultural products, such as wheat and corn, was severely limited by the farming apparatuses available to farmers, which were mainly comprised of animal-drawn devices. However, the agricultural business saw a huge shift in production with the invention of the combine around the 1830s.
These nifty machines were able to “cut the stalks of grain while also separated the grain from the chaff” (Encyclopedia 2), which drastically reduced the amount of time and equipment needed for harvesting produce. The rate at which grain was harvested and shipped nationwide increased exponentially and the agricultural industry was forever revolutionized with its creation. Soon, the commercial agriculture industry was dominated by the combine and farms nationwide were littered with them.
Another landmark invention that demonstrated the mass use of machines in our society is the steam engine. First created in 1698 by British inventor Thomas Savery, the steam engine would be further developed by Thomas Newcomen, another British inventor, and James Watt, a Scottish engineer (Encyclopedia).
By the time it was “fully” developed, as stated by Steve Blumenkranz, a mechanical engineer, the steam engine played an essential role in our industries due to the fact that it “dominated the production of mechanical power in both stationary and vehicle applications” (Blumenkranz 1). With the steam engine, factories during the Industrial Revolution era were able to locate wherever they pleased due to no longer relying on rivers as their source of power. Another major change brought by the invention of the steam engine during the Industrial revolution era was its impact on transportation. The steam engine allowed for the development of railroads and facilitated river travel, practically making all forms of transportation easier and faster. Rapidly after its invention, the steam engine could be found in all sorts of apparatuses and became an essential component of our society. There are countless other inventions that have transformed our society and have been adopted as vital parts of our way of life, but inventions such as these are able to provide a sufficient representation of our past affiliation with machines and technology.
Circling back to the present, we can see that we have come a long way from where we were just a couple decades ago. However, some things are still the same. We still possess the desire for improvement while machines and technology are still prevalent in our daily lives.
In a study produced by Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan American factual information tank based in Washington, D.C, it was surveyed that in “2015 about 68% of Americans had smartphones and 45% had tablet computers” (Pew Research Center 1). Another 2015 Pew Research Center study determined that “89 percent of Italian, 88 percent of American, and 79 percent of European survey respondents reported owning a car” (Pew research Center 1). From these studies, one can easily see the extent of how machine and technology oriented our society has become. It is estimated that these numbers will only grow in the future. According to an annual Mobility Report from Ericsson, a Swedish multinational networking and telecommunications company, “by 2020, globally there will be 6.1 smartphone users” (TechCrunch). That is a major leap from only 2.1 billion smartphone users in 2016.
The is no doubt that other forms of machines are predicted to increase in their global usage as well. Along with the increase in popularity of machines, industries that are heavily machine oriented are expected to expand with them.
It has become evident that we have consistently used machines to help quench our thirst for advancement and incorporated them into our lives. But are machines as important as we make them out to be? Do they actually play as big of a role in our lives as we think? As most people would argue that machines definitely play an essential role in our lives, there are others that beg to differ.
The earliest group of people that demonstrated that humans could do just fine without the use of machines were the Native Americans. Before European colonists came along and assimilated them to their culture, Native Americans were mainly hunter-gatherers and subsistence farmers. They only used simple tools, lived modestly, and were still able to survive. Nowadays, the simple and humble lifestyle can be found to be embodied by the a handful of groups. One of these groups includes the Hikikomori. Hikikomori are a reclusive group of Japanese people who withdraw from social life and often seek extreme degrees of isolation and confinement. Withdrawn from society, they no longer have the need for machines such as cell phones, computers, and cars. They remain in a certain isolated location and live from the basic necessities for their survival. Another group of people who express little interest for machines are Mormons. They are characterized for riding horse and buggies and maintaining a simplistic lifestyle.
Instead of riding motorized vehicles, Mormons choose to ride the old fashion way by horse and buggy. These groups, along with others, have shown that life that is not machine oriented is viable and is not a distant thought.
However, the amount of people whose lives don’t heavily include machines only represents a small pocket of our population. Based off of global statistics, such as the ones previous provided, it has been proven that the majority of our population utilize machines in their everyday day lives.
It is quite evident that our present day society revolves around machines and technology. Where we are now has been made possible by them and we are expected to see further advancements brought by their continued practice. Both the past and present have demonstrated the extent to which we have woven machines into our lives and that we are expected to follow this trend in the future. Thus, we may come to a mutual understanding that machines and technology have been, are, and will continue to act as an essential component of our everyday lives.
Works Cited
Anderson, Monica. “Technology Device Ownership: 2015.” Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Tech, 29 Oct. 2015, www.pewinternet.org/2015/10/29/technology-device-ownership-2015/.
Blumenkranz, Steve. “What Are the Uses of Steam Engine Machines .” Quora, 19 Sept. 2014, www.quora.com/What-are-the-uses-of-steam-engine-machines.
“Combine.”. “Combine.” Gale Library of Daily Life: Slavery in America, Encyclopedia.com, 2018, www.encyclopedia.com/plants-and-animals/agriculture-and-horticulture/agriculture-general/combine.
Engine.”, “Steam. “Steam Engine.” Gale Library of Daily Life: Slavery in America, Encyclopedia.com, 2018, www.encyclopedia.com/science-and-technology/technology/technology-terms-and-concepts/steam-engine
Lunden, Ingrid. “6.1B Smartphone Users Globally By 2020, Overtaking Basic Fixed Phone Subscriptions.” TechCrunch, TechCrunch, 3 June 2015, techcrunch.com/2015/06/02/6–1b-smartphone-users-globally-by-2020-overtaking-basic-fixed-phone-subscriptions/.
“The Invention of the Steam Engine.” What Does an Architect Do?, www.his.com/~pshapiro/steam.engines.html.
“What Impact Did the Invention of the Steam Engine Have on the Industrial Revolution?”Enotes.com, Enotes.com, www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-impact-did-invention-steam-engine-have-529336.
