The evolution of the human being as a thinking entity has shown the development of capacities to obtain more and better satisfiers. These are achieved, to a large extent, through the development of technology; understood as the set of instrumental rules that prescribes a rational course of action to achieve a previously determined goal and that must be evaluated based on its usefulness and practical effectiveness.
From this point of view, technological development is focused on the production, elaboration and / or realization of goods or services that society demands in its evolutionary process and that makes it dependent on it.
In this sense, the following question arises: Is technology a factor of social dependency?
Technology has always been a factor that has allowed us to develop, by the simple fact that we are immersed in it. We are an intrinsic part of it, which logically makes us dependent on its development.
Thanks to technological development, we have managed to establish a society that has sophisticated its free and leisure time, has generated alternatives for progress, increasingly promoting personal development, but has also been a limitation of the recreational activities of society; In other words, it has been the main cause of the brutalization of a large part of the youth who live enslaved to the internet, electronic devices (cell phones and laptops), interactive games and social networks, to the point of becoming totally dependent entities.
Technology makes its appearance since the early days of agriculture since it was gradually modifying its nature.
Later, the Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer period was characterized by the emergence of primitive lithic tools; and in the Neolithic age the wheel and the agricultural rudiments that represented the basis of modern industrial technology emerged.
The first permanent settlements led to the use of materials such as copper and bronze, which set the tone for the development of the metallurgical industry.
Technological development has not always gone through beneficial evolutionary processes for society. In the Middle Ages this process presented a stagnation, due to the antagonistic position of the church with respect to scientific progress; However, the use of iron stands out, as it is a more resistant material and thus the technology served the first purposes of war or torture.
The appearance of technology had its peak during the industrial revolution between the second half of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century in the United Kingdom first and in Europe later; the economy based on manual labor was replaced by one dominated by industry and manufacturing; the revolution developed the textile industries and the development of iron processes, highlighting the invention of the steam engine.
The production and development of new machinery facilitated manufacturing and consequently increased production.
In the 19th century there were technological advances in construction, transportation and communications, thus leading to the second industrial revolution that saw a rapid development of technology related to chemistry, electricity, oil and steel.
For the 20th century, we are entering the stage of automation. In this, technology developed rapidly. Research, especially in the field of medicine, contributed to the dizzying scientific advance, leading to artificial intelligence and the information age, making us more dependent on technology.
All of the above clearly illustrates that technology has fostered well-being, comfort and growth in society's living conditions. From the invention of stone tools used by hunter gatherers, to the invention of the Internet. All stages have been aimed at satisfying the needs of man, in order to make their lives more and more practical.
Unfortunately, every positive aspect has its counterpart. In technology this is getting worse, due to consumerism, derived from marketing.
Many sociologists have created social theories concerning social and cultural evolution, such as the Father of Ethnology, Lewis H. Morgan in his Ancient Society, or Researches in the Lines of Human Progress from Savagery through Barbarism to Civilization where he exposes the successive periods of humanity - savagery, barbarism, civilization; Or else, the American Leslie White who in 1959 published his theory The evolution of culture: the development of civilization to the fall to Rome in which he exposes three components of culture: technological, sociological and ideological and by means of which he maintains that the total of all the cultural activity of mankind was evolving thanks to these three factors.
Gerhard Lenski, American sociologist known for his contributions to the sociology of religion, social inequity and especially for his theory of sociocultural evolution, by which it is established that the process of social change is the result of the incorporation of cultural elements, mainly technology.
It is in this sense that thinkers have always considered technological progress the main factor in the development of civilizations.
On the other hand, the Nobel Prize for Literature Albert Camus in his work "Neither victims nor executioners", states the following:
"The seventeenth century was of mathematics, the eighteenth century that of physical sciences, the nineteenth century that of biology and our twentieth century is the century of fear."
The argument that Camus makes when saying this is that, in these times, technology has had such a boom, so much development that today many fear that science and technology will destroy the world, since each time the whims of society they are bigger and of no use if their products do not respond to the needs of consumers.
Now, when we become consumers we become dependent as we get used to a more practical life in which everything is solved, doing the work today more methodically and consequently monotonous and disappointing.
The driving force, the guiding axis of technological development, is therefore man; But there are very few who influence their knowledge that have helped technological advances. The vast majority of us use the technology generated by the few, to make our lives a space of comfort, transforming ourselves into consumer entities and dependent on technological development. This is the true negative side of technology and that is the cause of social brutality.
Consequently, the question posed by Von Neumann in a Fortune magazine article "Can we survive technology?" Applies.
Science has reached the point of influencing the mentality of humanity. Today's society is not captive to past or present conditions, but is oriented to the future. Science is not simply one of the various elements that comprise the productive forces, but has become a key factor for social development, increasingly affecting the various factors of life.
Technology is created by man in order to satisfy a need and this need is the cause of the evolution of technology, since our needs are increasingly complex and we need to create an object that can fill the void, making our absolute dependent lives.
The pace of technology could lead to the destruction of the planet, but it all depends on how it is used and how it is used.
In conclusion, in these times where everything depends on science and technology, the answer to our initial question "Is technology a factor of social dependency?"; we place it in an ambiguity, where the poles, the objective and the subjective, are concatenated to balance their effects, but which are inevitably prone to breaking. If the trend is positive, its evolution will be beneficial. If it is negative, it could lead to our destruction.
The conceivable thing is to raise a premise: Humanity must learn to handle technology and not allow it to handle us.
Literature consulted
- Camus, Albert. Neither victims nor executioners. Resource Center for Nonviolence. Santa Cruz, California. 1986.Lenski Gerhard. Ecological-evolutionary Theory, Principles and Applications. Paperback. 2005 Leslie A. White. Evolution and Revolution in Anthropology. University of Nebraska. Press 2004, Lewis H. Morgan. The primitive society. Foreword by Carmelo Lisón Tolosana, second edition, Editorial Ayuso, Madrid, 1971.
