Can we Progress too far?

The thought occurs that our everyday life is run and kept stable not by our own efforts, but by the efforts of technology. We make meals using gas heated stoves, microwaves, we are transported by cars, buses, motorbikes, we entertain ouselves by watching tv, going on the internet and so on.

If the general public did not have the comfort of a world run by our own technological machines, what would we do then?
A small number of us would be able to cope with the surrounding changes, while the rest would either not survive or impede other people.

It makes me think that our lives that we live right now, are the most dangerous of all settings. Even just over 100 years ago, our technolgy was replacable by our own common sense, raw materials and basic teamwork, however I don't see that around anymore

How far can we go before our lives are utterly and completely dependent on machines? Before our own technology ruins our health and basic living capabilities?

 

well its easier with technology
as in we get better food, more materials, etc
the main downside i see is nuclear weapons
if one is launched we can all die and this world can end as we know it
the strong and fast development of killing weapons is the real downside that can destroy this world

 

Eventually our lives would be like the people from Wall-E. Being fat and on a portable car-chair with a virtual screen in front of our face.

Aside from the fact that it takes us closer to our horrible doom via some super nuclear weapon, technology is also damaging the people these days. It's helping up keep up with your schedule, ease out works loads and etc...but since we are becoming way too dependent on technology itself, many of us are finding that we can't seem to live without it. Look at the teens today. Without a computer or cell phone, they DIE. Apparently without word processors, students can't do homework...and now apparently can't spell—since it only take a click or two to fix the error on the screen.

In the end, we'll either be like the people from Wall-E, or dead thanks to the super-awesome-scary weapons.

 

We already have progressed too far.

Our world cannot sustain the current human population.

If humans don't check themselves within a generation or two, the world will no longer be able to sustain our current way of life.

Then we all turn into Mad Max characters!

 

I do believe technology is heading too far. It seems we all want to keep pushing the limit, study what else science can possibly accomplish, keep moving forward and forward, inventing things constantly, and work on other projects that will "benefit our lives more". The thing is, the more we do this, the more capable we can create the reached means of being able to destroy ourselves. Not only by a nuclear weapon, but by the every day things in life. Before you know it, all we really have to do at the end is sit and let all the robotic creations do what we are suppose to do. Help us clean, help us make food, help us drive, help us fix objects, etc. We are becoming too dependent, and in the process, incredibly lazy. For example, the beautiful dish washer. Never have to prune my hands again, or actually force my muscles to clean the dishes naturally. Imagine more in the future? The meaning of hard work will be lost sooner or later, and while life will be much easier and simpler, I don't like it to be that way. I do think there is some taste in challenges and obstacles, and it helps you grow and learn. Without it, all we will have left is to drink beer and soda, watch TV shows or go to the updated computer of this year, and gorge ourselves with food, and, basically, do nothing.

Of course, not that technology is all bad. I mean, there is some good that can come of it. Yet, those every things, like the flying car, won't really affect us entirely in our hardships. We still have to drive it, in other words. Improvement to some aspects isn't bad either. I just wouldn't really appreciate that we have every little thing available to us that would manually and automatically do the jobs that were meant to be done by our own hands. And, while it's great that we are finding cures as well, for this reason of fighting nature, we are becoming overpopulated, and soon, the Earth won't be able to supply us with all our needs. I heard that it's predicted that in 20 or so years, we would use up the Earth's water.

 

Wow...You guys are being conservative...
Usually I find at least one argument of the other side that I have to admit makes a bit of sense, but in this discussion they all sound equally ridiculous... Oh, and here's why.

The effort we used to produce and maintain our needs is now spent on manufacturing and maintaining the devices that provide these now.

That small number can grow considerably larger if we can overcome the same fears you're now expressing.

Technology doesn't replace our common sense, raw materials and basic teamwork. It reflects them. It takes common sense, materials and teamwork to invent and craft technology.

Have you noticed how our health and basic living capabilities have improved considerably since we have become more dependent on machines? Just how many human mistakes and shortcomings have been bypassed by them?

With an increasing population comes the need to bust some more heads than you could manage with swords and axes. Weaponry has always existed. Progress cannot be blamed for destructive purposes. If anything, bash weaponry as a whole and not the degree of advance behind it.

People seem to forget that when an ability is no longer harnessed, it's because the need for that ability has perished long before it.
Here's an idea: let's take those evil evil cell phones and revert to smoke signals and pigeons. Let's delete the entire internet and let all of those useful possibilities, from information to entertainment to communication, let's leave them to rot. Sounds mighty fun.
Same with word processors. If we have a piece of convenient technology, what reason do we have not to use it? Why is laziness so bad when there's nothing else to do? What do you do when your house is clean: make a mess and start all over? No, let's focus our attention on what's still left to improve instead of clinging to old habits just in case those evil evil machines slurp away all our energy.

Quality over quantity, my dear. Why live longer when you can live better?
I say we try to incorporate as many people as we can in our welfare asap, and I really don't give two shits about that sucking the life out of the planet a little faster.

Actually, there is always room to improve and always something new to think about. By prefering physical labor over technology, you're really no less of a sloth. For you see, standing still in the ongoing race that is progress and prosperity, instead of putting your brain to work , is as much a form of laziness as anyone else's. Got too much time on your hands and looking for a challenge? Then do research, think of something that will improve more lives still, or think of yourself and expand your social life for all I care. Technology doesn't make you lazy unless you want to be so. There we go, another misconception cleared!


No, we cannot progress too far. We always progress as much as we want to. It's still our choice. We decide in which direction we go. We have decided that convenience has become key in our lives. We buy dishwashers and cell phones. If an idea doesn't break through, it's because we disallow it.
I'll go as far as saying that "progressing too far" is more or less an oxymoron.

 

Have any of you watched the remake of "the time machine"? In it, basically, a few decades after the present day, nuclear explosions meant to tunnel out a lunar habitat screw up the orbit and the moon breaks up and falls down on Earth. That, IMO, is going too far. Doing something that would seem like a good idea, but with horrible, unintended side affects. Same with genetic engineering. If we're not careful with it, yes, we may one day live in a perfect society with no genetic abnormalities, but then we'll also lose all diversity in the species, and lose whatever evolutionary advantage we once had.

So basically, progress, in general, is a good thing, but with any new technology, all possible consequences must be carefully analyzed, or we will go too far.

 

Technology is not the main problem here it is the people who use it.
Technology is not going too far, instead people are depending more and more on technology.
Even if we developed WMDs we should not worry about them, remember WE are the people who kill not the machines. As long as the world manages to stay in peace technology could progress as long as it wants.

 

In my opinion, there is never a real 'limit' to progressing.
People get smarter and smarter everyday, and there is nothing stopping them except they're imagination to keep going. Thre is no stopping the world's turning, and spinning.
I still find this to be like WALL-E, where our technology is so ahead of us, that we practically sit on our asses and watch the world tremble, from our human race not helping it stop it.
If there is something put in front of us, we mostly try to solve it. Like cavemen, where they were stuck in darkness, until they found the gift of fire, where they took to advantage, making food burn, or burning themselves.
It's more of a life learning obsessity. We must learn something to keep going. It's our nature.