How dangerous is Technology?

At some point, should we stop devoloping new technologies?

“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.” -Albert Einstein

I believe we all know this quote, but I’ll take this little opportunity to change it a bit, Sorry Albert… But I believe we already crossed that line, and we’re so close to the next point in which technology will lead to our DOOM! I believe we are a hair away from making technology the reason behind the Extinction of mankind. And I’ll be explaining this point of view in this article.

First of all, what is the definition of technology?
“Technology (“science of craft”, from Greek τέχνη, techne, “art, skill, cunning of hand”; and -λογία, -logia [2]) is the collection of techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services or in the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation. Technology can be the knowledge of techniques, processes, and the like, or it can be embedded in machines to allow for operation without detailed knowledge of their workings.”

Now let’s talk problems. (Excuse the attitude) We’ll start by talking about problems that won’t lead to our EXTINCTION (sorry again):

The Total Loss Of Privacy:
Google knows everything you’ve ever searched, has an advertisement profile of you, knows all the apps you use, has all your YouTube history and knows where you have been.
Facebook has reams and reams of data on you; it stores everything from your stickers to your login location and conversations. They can even activate your webcam and microphone. And many other ways to lose privacy to technology.
Having a totally machine based workforce:
Advancements in technology have always posed the risk of creating machines that do the jobs of humans. Manufacturing jobs in particular are often one of the most at risk areas. And this may cause the employability of many. Many jobs are already dying because of technology and people aren’t finding sources of income since technology is getting the job done.
The death of human interaction:
Even sitting in a coffee no longer feels the same, while you’re reading this article, if you happen to be in a public space, just take a look around, and I can assure you that the majority of people you’re seeing are on their phones, probably scrolling through Instagram or Facebook. (But you can keep reading since it’s for an “Intellectual purpose”), (Please).
The Over-Reliance on Technology:
While technology undoubtedly has the ability to advance us as humans, becoming over-reliant on it may actually reduce our intelligence. (Check the movie “Idiocracy” it explains the subject well, plus, it’s kind of funny.) Since today, everything is made easy, even talking to some girl you like, using Facebook will bring down many barriers. But makes it harder to do it in real life, and this is the case of many other things we do.

Even though these problems seem very serious, now we will be talking about things that may lead to our EXTINCTION! (Okay, I’ll stop…).

Technology is advancing to the point that it’s becoming dangerous, since we humans have a problem, we don’t know when to stop. We keep looking for ways to make life easier even if it may cost us our lives. The example I’ll be talking about might seem cool, and something we might wish for to happen, and that alone is a big problem, I’ll be talking about robots surpassing the human capacity, and sadly, we’re so close to getting there. Artificial Intelligence. AI robots today are just software that collects data from the internet and uses it to answer your questions, till now, there’s no real threat. But big companies are Investing and looking for ways to integrate quantic physics with AI, this means that robots will be able to create possibilities, Our computers already surpassed us in terms of finding information faster, and if you give it enough data about the subject it will give you the right solution, way faster than a human. But with the integration of quantic physics, Robots will be able to imagine stuff, create stuff and even improve itself. And the possibilities here are endless, since they’ll be smarter and stronger, the movies we watch about robots taking over earth might actually happen, and big companies and scientists are aware of this. Still, it doesn’t stop them. Why? Simply because it brings them money, and the damage that will be done, won’t happen right away, it’s more likely to happen for the next generation. We are no longer using technology just to make our lives easier, but to make money out of it.

Hope this article was helpful; I’ll be providing a link for a Ted Talk to explain the matter in case you want to know more about it. And I’ll be ending this with a little advice, Use technology, don’t let it use you.

Until next time, Goodbye.

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/
The Tedx Talk: