Issue Essay 1-
The statement "as people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate," while containing a nugget of potential truth, is far too sweeping in its assertion to be truthful. In this essay, I will argue that a reliance on technology will not handicap the average human's ability to reason for themselves.
Reliance on technology to solve problems is in no way a phenomenon unique to the current age. Since ancient times humans have looked to the world around them to provide easy, replicatable solutions to common problems. Though we might not view it as such today, the invention of the library could be considered a technological break through. So could the invention of the Dewy Decimal System, which allowed library users to quickly and efficiently find the information they were after. This ability to quickly find information they were after didn't inhibit a human's ability to think for themselves. On the contrary, it freed up their cognitive abilities from the tedious, time intensive task of finding facts and allowed them to focus on how to properly and efficiently find utilize that information.
While technology used by the vast majority of people to solve problems that would otherwise be unsolvable, it is important to remember that it took a person to design that technology in the first place. Machines cannot be relied upon to solve problems outside the scope of their design, and therefore a person had to think out the solution to each problem technology is used to solve. As time goes on and the world changes, new problems will arise that require new solutions. There is no guarantee that the current technologies will be sufficient to address them, and so new technologies will need to be designed. This single truism is enough to ensure that the human ability to think will never be totally replaced by technology.
Though technology can be used to speed up monotonous tasks that require a great amount of time and calculation, people who use a technology professionally need to understand exactly what a steps a computer is taking. Technology, such as a computer, is a tool, unable to think for itself, and therefore must be used correctly to ensure a correct and consistent results. To not completely understand a computer's steps could cause it to be misused with dire consequences, such as plane crashes and building collapses.
While it is true that technology used to solve a problem may inhibit a human's ability to solve that specific problems, it will not replace or degrade humans' ability to think critically for themselves. Rather, the technology will free up mental space to focus on new, unsolved problems and create new, useful technologies.
(less)Issue Essay 1-
The statement "as people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate," while containing a nugget of potential truth, is far too sweeping in its assertion to be truthful. In this essay, I will argue
(...more)
