Dyson expresses a deep optimism about humans’ ability to use technological innovation to increase social justice. Exactly how does Dyson answer pessimistic doubts that technological innovations frequently serve to increase social oppression and inequality? What is your assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of Dyson’s response to that pessimistic perspective? Freeman Dyson answers the pessimistic doubts that technological innovations serve to increase social oppression and inequality by discussing the difference in technology between the rich and the poor.
He explains how technology is a contributing factor in creating social injustice and endorses his deduction. He explains this through a combination of history, personal stories, and technological and ethical creativity. Dyson addresses his pessimistic doubts with examples from history. He starts by explaining that the technology of printing led to the Protestant Reformation because it gave them the ability to spread the word through print. With this invention, people throughout Europe were able to have books and educate themselves as well as their fellow man.
The biggest part of the technology of printing was being able to mass produce the Bible. The first two to think of it in the respect of justice were Luther and Shakespeare and the printed book allowed for ordinary citizens to finally acquire books. The practicality of technology led the way for social justice during the next two centuries. Public services such as clean water, sewage treatment, antibiotics and vaccines helped to bring the gap between rich and poor closer. Dyson also makes mention of how synthetic materials have introduced fake furs, brilliant colors and silk. So where does the social oppression exactly begin?
The Essay on Technology Stress Technological Change
The problem of stress has become a major issue in our time, yet our life conditions are less stressful than those of our ancestors. How often do we have to flee from a wild animal, or face constant physical threats from the environment as did early man in whom the stress response first emerged? The answer is never, or at worst most infrequently. Conditions in contemporary society are less ...
With each new technology, there comes a greater distance between the rich and the poor. For example, at the onset of a new device, we have a tendency to hold on to it in a selfish way, making it only available to those who can afford to have it. Much like a new toy that you didn’t want your friends to play with because of our self centered ways. Once we are through playing with it and the new wears off, we are more apt to allow others to have it, as long as there is something newer to replace it. Dyson addresses the pessimistic doubts that technology innovations frequently serve to increase social oppression and inequality.
He discussed the difference in technology between the rich and the poor. He explains the effects of technology as it is contributed in a practical way to social justice. Dyson supports his conclusion though a combination of historical reflection, personal anecdotes, and the exercise of technological and moral imagination (Winston and Edelbach).
Dyson begins to address the pessimistic doubts with historical examples. In the fourteenth century the new technology of printing transformed the face of Europe. Among people throughout Europe books and education was spread.
Printing paved the way for the Protestant Reformation in Northern Europe. That was made possible by the printing of the Bible. Technology was also used in practical ways throughout the next centuries. Public health technology through clean water supplies, sewage treatment, vaccination, and antibiotics. Public health technology was used to protect the rich from contagion and sickness for the poor if it was available. Technology of synthetic material was once a way to determine the rich from the poor. That was until the nineteenth century that synthetic materials assisted to obliterate the difference between the rich and the poor.
The Essay on Technology Human Life Century
Ours is an age of complexity, contradiction and challenge. At the beginning of the 21 st century, although we have the technology unmatched in human experience, it is said that humanity has made little real progress over the past century. Admittedly, scientific technological advances have produced tremendous improvement in the quality of human life. However, they also have negative consequences as ...
Brilliant colors, furs, and silks were only affordable for the rich. Fine clothes were considered an insignia of wealth and a privilege to be worn. By the twentieth century, artificial dyestuff was created. Artificial furs, silks, and other cheap synthetic fabrics were made so that middle class women could afford to buy them. This was a measure of social justice in modern societies that the children of the rich now dress down. The children of the rich do this to imitate the style of the majority both in class and in behavior.
