Is it really that surprising?

At the start of this video, I was truly anxious about my future; the statistics presented are astonishing. One of the most surprising statistics was that technology is advancing so fast that by the 3^rd year of college, half of what tech students learned their 1^st year is irrelevant. Same is true with medicine; due to advances in pharmaceutics and surgery techniques, as well as robotic contraptions and other technological advances. This is crazy! It’s no surprise that medical students are constantly stressed: in addition to working in a stressful environment and competing against their peers, they also have to worry about competition from robots while maintaining current skills to match the new developments.

As I progressed through the video, however, I thought about if there was any need to be concerned. During the first decade of the 20^th century, significant inventions included color photography, vacuum cleaners, crayons, and instant coffee. Did people in the early 1900s completely lose their minds over inventions such as crayons? During the first decade of the 21^st century, notable inventions include hybrid cars, YouTube, multiple forms of birth control, date-rape drug detectors, iPods, and Segways. There is an incredible difference between the two centuries, and many of our contemporaries are unable to accept some of these advances.

When asked what this all means, I would have to say nothing. Change happens, as is evident in nearly every aspect of modern life. Upon the increased popularity of day care centers, people became concerned that this would negatively impact the family system. Although there is some truth to this statement, the overall benefits of having another working parent to contribute to the family income as well as increased socialization for the child potentially outweigh the negative aspects.

Society adapts to changing times, as seen by the different values shown by the various inventions. Society often has no control over technological discoveries. I see no end to the rapid growth of technology that infiltrates daily life, unless the entire world collectively decides to stop making any technological advancements and revert to a simpler time. This is a highly unlikely possibility, as countries currently compete to see who can make bigger, better nuclear weapons or smaller, faster computers. Is anyone truly surprised that people in India are striving for more educated children? Or that Americans are attempting to improve their social lives by adding most of the 2 million members of MySpace? It is human nature to make something "better", even if it is already of high quality. So while many people continue to crusade against modern technology for fear of it corrupting otherwise “good” humans, I believe we would benefit from taking a step back from the stress and appreciating the good intentions of the geniuses who are making these outrageous advances in modern technology.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmwZ96_Gos

http://inventors.about.com/od/timelines/a/ModernInvention.htm