Midterm Question #1 - Ethics and Technology

In Langdon Winner's "Technologies as Forms of Life," he discusses the way that the philosophies of technology today have not been thoroughly discussed or evaluated nearly enough. Because of the world's nonchalantness on the subject, and our views that innovations made daily are for the bettering of the world, we have therefore become blind to it's hold on our lives. Winner describes this phenomenon as "technological somnambulism." More specifically, he says that we are "sleepwalking" with our technologies and devices because we have just accepted the facts and, for whatever reason, decided not to question them. A good example that he gives in the essay, is from the perspective of a teacher. A student comes to the teacher and explains that he cannot turn in the typed paper the day it is due because "it crashed." Immediately, the teacher knows what he is referring to: the student's computer. This is an example of the way that there is a whole other world of technology that we have come to accept into our daily lives. The computer crashing is something that has happened to the teacher before, and it happens to everyone. Every day, computers fail us, digital banking fails us, phone calls are dropped. It is now an excuse for something going wrong, justifiably, but it has not always been this way. The teacher and student accept the terms of using computers and sometimes their failures. This is a way the form of life has changed. I would say that I agree with Winner for the most part. In this generation, it is easy to agree that technology is a huge part of our lives and the way we communicate with our peers. Seeing as I have only lived twenty years, I can not compare this decade to the one fifty years ago, and see the different ways in which society communicates, because I have not lived it. I think it is very important for us, as a generation, to take a step back and ask ourselves,  do we really want a machine in our living room, that can listen and record everything we are saying? This machine is called the Echo, from Amazon. In one device, you can simply speak and it will do your command, such as tell you the weather, look up information, and play music for you. Technology like this opens doors to many others that we, as a generation, have not agreed to; but are with which are simply complying. Not that I am suggesting a boycott of such technology, I merely think it is an important thing to discuss intentions and whether or not our future families want this technology around in our homes and around our children. Technologies, such as drones, which have been said to start delivering packages for Amazon soon, make me slightly uncomfortable. Drones can be hacked, fail, and "crash", just like the computer in the story above, but on a much grander scale. Drones have been used in the American military, without much notice to the public. I think it is important for us to discuss whether or not certain technologies are worth the risk that they present when they are hacked or crashed.