Philosophy and Technology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Philosophy and Technology - Essay Example Given any circumstance he would avoid confrontation and any kind of collision with an opposing party. War or aggression is the last thing on the mind of a pacifist. The author through the above statement is trying to convey that if a person who possesses the characteristics of a pacifist is made to work in a bomb factory he would still come up with a new idea to make a bomb. No matter how opposed a person might be towards the concept of waging a war, if the mind is put to work on a task that needs to be done, the task takes precedence against the principles. The chief duty is to design a bomb, and no matter how opposed the principles of the person concerned are, he would eventually end up innovating and creating a new type of bomb. According to the author technology has shaped the human mind and has been much of a latent threat to the very existence of mankind as much as it has been a boon. The author through his interpretation of the human psychology and the constant struggle betwee n the opposing forces of principle/conscience and duty has tried to convey that the human mind and its intrinsic qualities are overpowered by practicality and the reality of life. In this case the reality is the surrounding, the environment, and the opportunity to design a new type of a bomb. Human beings are thinkers, innovators and are prone to ideate. A constant undercurrent of the urge to experiment and innovate prevails on the human mind. The human psyche by nature is inclined to improvise and invent things from what it sees around it and in this example provided by the writer, he may go against his pacifism to design a new bomb within weeks. Even if this means going against his very fundamentals he would still be drawn to live a life of intellectual prosperity and independence. We live in an age where man’s lust for power and technological superiority overshadows basic principles of humanity and life. Man’s greed for machines and mechanisation is to such an exten t that he would let the machines take over and in turn be reduces to a defunct and cold vestige of sorts. In our age mechanisation and scientific leapfrogging has finally triumphed to an extent that we can actually feel the tendency of the machine to make physically and intellectually challenging human life impossible. (Orwell 193) Building and developing on the central theme of intellectual proliferation, am individual if confined to a secluded environment with a nature work that is opposed to him, he would eventually begin to put his mind over the job and end up doing the task. All the steam in the world could not, like the virgin build Chartres The second phrase is by Mont Saint Michel and Chartres. It exalts the triumph of technology and its ushering through the Industrial Revolution in the Western World. The power of the mother is represented through the phrase given above. It talks about the benefit of technology to the western world and the power of the Lady who ultimately se cures â€Å"†¦the place of woman in the Church to be the guardian of the primacy of the contemplative over the active, of persons over ideas, and of family over economy† (Mary Victrix 1) According to the author the power of technology is immense. Technology is compared to the power of the Lady, Virgin Mary. It was her power, influence and inspiration that led to the construction of the cathedral in Chartres, France. Mary Victrix 1). Technology is viewed