Are High Technologies And The Development Of Civilization Problems For Human Freedom?

If there’s a spectacular phenomenon that differentiates this decade from all other past decades in human history, it has to be the breath-taking transformation that has taken place over time. From the rise of cutting-edge technology to the ever-increasing modernization of many societies today, the cog-wheels of progress have never stopped turning.

While some people celebrate the unparalleled amount of benefits brought about by advanced technology and civilization, others grieve over the possible destruction of authentic human freedom. Human freedom in this context is the state of being free, away from control, restriction, and coercive constraint. Below, I try to decode whether civilization and high technologies impede human freedom or aggrandize it.

Is Technology the Problem?

There’s no doubt that the influence of technology on our lives is figuratively immeasurable. Not only has technology succeeded in improving the physical limits of human beings and their living conditions, but also, it has become an essential part of our day to day lives, and without it, life would be almost unimaginable for most.

Some have even pointed out that if this was taken away from us, say in an EMP attack on an unprotected power grid system, it could be absolutely devastating.

Because of its centrality in our lives, it’s hard to see whether technology has given us more control and freedom or whether it has confined and domineered our human existence — the answer would seem to be a little bit of both. To unravel the actual impact of technology on our lives, especially towards human freedom, let’s take a look at both sides of the technology coin.

The Good versus the Bad

Technology has been hailed by many as a liberating force, one that has increased the standard of living and longevity. Whether it be in the medical industry, electronics industry, mechanical industry, or transportation industry, technological advancements and innovations have transformed the way we live life.

For instance, human resources can be replaced with technology that offers way more efficiency and productivity than human effort — of course, there goes those jobs. Companies are capable of reducing costs and simultaneously boosting their production output while allowing for consistent quality… of course this also means less workers.

For instance, since 1980, Mitsubishi has employed the use of a wide range of robotics in its production, helping the company realize various benefits such as increased safety, reduced wastage, decreased production costs, better floor utilization, and improved product quality. High technology has opened a gateway to access vast amounts of data.

Thanks to the internet and the existence of smart devices such as smartphones, computers, and tablets, one can access data anywhere and anytime. Original content and news in the form of videos and e-books are indexed on sites where people can read, watch, and listen from the comfort of their homes — of course, this can be good and bad.

For instance, content creation on the internet has opened doors for young people to access employment and make money as market influencers. Simultaneously, the same technology has opened a gateway for negative content such as highly addictive pornography to be freely available over the internet. loT has also offered a variety of advanced communication tools that have simplified the way people and organizations communicate.

The global market for digital language learning products hit a high of $1.8 billion in 2013 with mobile users turning to their smartphones to learn a foreign language. Special language learning apps such DuoLingo have become extremely popular with over 70 million registered users. Other popular apps include HelloTalk, Mindsnacks, LinguaLift, Memrise, and Babbel, among others.

On the other hand, a downside of technology can be the rise in use of algorithms. Many experts and individuals alike have expressed their worry about how algorithms are putting too much control in the hands of large corporations and governments to the extent where they can create bias and social bubbles, cut creativity, and reduce human freedom to make choices. Thereby, leading to the creation of a distorted, computer logic-driven society. Advances in algorithms are also allowing large technology corporations and government agencies to collect, store, organize, and analyze massive amounts of data sets.

Large corporations such as Facebook, Apple, and Samsung, among others, have massive access to user’s personal data. This gives them the capability to tap into phone conversations, texts, or emails with great ease through the use of phones, computers, and even your big screen TV (even when you think these devices may be turned off) — which government agencies can gain access to. Some devices, such as the Xbox Kinect and the Amazon Echo, are believed by some to be always listening. A former intelligence officer, Edward Snowden, went to the extent of exposing the NSA’s constant spying and surveillance on American citizens.

To aggravate the situation even further, this same technology that receives massive praise for helping the masses is being used to enable surveillance capitalism. For example, the Chinese government is taking a gigantic step towards becoming a cashless society. However, there is concern from outsiders that a cashless society would destroy the privacy and freedom of Chinese residents — or any other society that fully implemented the concept.

Such is the case when data is used to determine a consumer’s purchasing power based on factors such as online behavior and demographics. Many Chinese residents have already embraced the cashless society system, surrendering their privacy and freedom for convenience. Some believe the government’s motive behind getting Chinese residents into accepting a cashless society is sinister: a move which allows the government to have full control of the people’s funds stored in banks.

China’s Social Credit System as a Case Study

The state of China has started harnessing the power of technology to use big data to change the way it governs its citizens. The Social Credit System (SCS), initially introduced in 2014, is a ranking system that will be used to monitor the behavior of its Chinese residents and rank them according to ‘social credit’.

At the moment, the system is still under construction but the government plans to have a fully operational system by 2020. The SCS, will leverage public and private data on the citizen’s social and financial behavior and use such data to evaluate their behavior and then reward or punish them according to government-approved conduct — pretty scary, especially if you look at China’s (and frankly many governments’) views on what is acceptable and non-acceptable behavior.

While this system may seem like a bad dream, it’s already a reality in China. Already, individuals are being prevented from buying airline and plane tickets because of bad social scores. Others get barred from accessing certain dating websites, and others prohibited from social gatherings. Infractions such as smoking in a non-smoking zone, lousy driving, posting news online which some party deems as being ‘fake’ (which often times isn’t), among others, are attracting heavy punishments from the government.

Some penalties include:

• Travel restrictions.
• Delayed internet speeds.
• Banned from the best schools.
• Barring an individual from getting hired.
• Publicly shaming citizens as bad citizens.
• Banning from the best hotels.

Meanwhile, those who the government sees as good citizens according to their social credit score get rewarded with discounted prices and other perks. The current situation in China is comparable to an episode in the Black Mirror series known as “Nosedive” where a similar rating system gets portrayed as actress Bryce Dallas Howard plays Lacie, a woman seeking to board an airplane.

Lacie gets barred from boarding a plane because of her low rating, and her rates are further lowered down by other passengers at the airport with airport security lowering her rate a full point down. While for some people this seems like a dystopian nightmare, others support it and are even suggesting that it be implemented in the US.

Other Concerns of High Technology

High technology has brought about myriads of benefits for society such as providing better health monitoring devices and systems, better scanning equipment, better minimal invasive surgical tools, among others. However, there are also some detracting factors that come with advanced technology, other than those discussed.

For example, the ability to manipulate things on the microscopic and atomic levels opens doors for biological weapons the likes of which the world has never seen, and even introduce unknown or hidden health risks in the food we eat and water we drink.

5G wifi is thought to be the next big thing, even though some have expressed their concerns over potential health effects this could have. For Instance, 5G is said to increase the levels of RF radiation in the atmosphere especially in locations closer to their antennas. It’s stated that 5G companies will deploy small antenna towers all over neighbourhoods, closer to users, and potentially increasing chances of cancer — but at least we’d have faster internet than 4G …

Another problem can be people glued to their smartphones and being oblivious to what’s going on around them. Handheld devices are having an ill-effect on children and teenagers such as social media games that encourage them to commit suicide, and being constantly judged by peer pressure from their online communities.

For instance, the BlueWhale Challenge, a mobile phone game, led to the death of 130 teens through suicide acts. Furthermore, videogames are introducing young people to violence and sex, and even to the point of being used to help in child abduction, blackmail, and more.

There can be some benefits to these devices, and games can be made to have positive effects as well, but the negative effects are often overlooked, and being a very young industry, there are still many unknowns about potential side effects.

In another example, it’s thought that AI will at some point surpass human understanding, and who knows what will happen at that point. And that’s aside from it’s potential to take away jobs. Again, AI can have useful applications, but at what expense to the future?

Meanwhile, Virtual Reality, on the other hand, is leading kids onto the road and up trees to chase Pokemon. Moreover, there are concerns that virtual reality may replace real life for some people. Subsequently, this will lead to more individuals becoming socially isolated which in turn will facilitate low self-esteem, feelings of insignificance and worthlessness, and even to the extreme case of self-destructive acts.

This isn’t to say virtual reality is altogether bad, it can also have good uses. For example, it could be used to help better understand an emergency or dangerous situation remotely, and there are even medical and rehabilitative applications for the technology.

Conclusion

Taking into consideration the growing development of technology and its use in society such as China’s SCS, the future doesn’t look too good. It genuinely appears that human freedom is becoming increasingly blurred or an illusion the more we progress into the digital era. This is a good reminder for you as the reader to stay cautious, remain as human as possible, and not to allow technology to take up the most important parts of your life, like relationships. That’s not to say that technology is bad, it can be very good and have useful applications — in fact I quite like technology — but it all depends on who is using it for what.

Thank you for reading Cyberius’ blog

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