The idea that we live around or raised by technology was a question asked in this weeks lesson.
The question of technology and our lives is actually presented in our art. And the idea of Utopian or Dystopia society is represented in our art or works of fiction. Even though the work presented in videos on sites like Youtube or Vimeo were actually thought provoking in where they viewed technology, its the mainstream art that we've lived with that explore these ideas and live in them.
In The Jetsons we live in a world above the clouds. The representation of our lives is easy and carefree. A simple life where we float instead of walk, manual labour is reduced to pushing buttons and letting machines work for themselves and robots have personalities and faces to communicate with. It's a typical Utopia. And the only person who can't get around in that world is the older generation that doesn't know how to operate the technology around him.
On the very far side of the spectrum is the idea of a Dystopia. Films tend to explore this grey area with horror, but its action movies that tend to go deep into how terrible technology can make the world. In The Matrix our lives are reduced to becoming the batteries for the machines we made. Turning the slave on its master is the pinnacle of dystopia laced in fear. On the other side of the slave/master world, Terminator lives in a world where the war against the machines has begun and the machines have taken towards taking over the earth.
The clear middle ground society is definitely at work in more European ideas of a mainstream future. In Elysium and Dr. Who, technology is constantly evolving, but with the benefits of both you're included into what makes this advancement terrible and wonderful all at once.
Personally, after the articles and other forms of media representing technology and its future, I can clearly say that technology isn't inherently an unethical plague on humanity nor is it a panacea. The ethics of technology belong to the humans controlling it. Debating over whether or not the gun is good is nothing compared to the question of whether humans are good or bad. The gun is capable of sending projectiles into the air, but its the human touch that uses the technology to maim or kill others.
