Sunday, July 29, 2012
Opening Ceremonies Spoiler Alert
While watching the opening ceremonies of the Olympics on Friday night, I realized that one particular act could easily be tied into a few books on the summer reading list, The Shallows and Brave New World. I found it exciting and interesting how the technological revolution was displayed because I felt it accurately summed up the value our culture places on the Internet and technology. The newscasters of NBC mentioned that the scene was included as a tribute to Tim Berners-Lee, the man credited with inventing the world wide web. I felt this public display of gratitude toward the inventor at this global event displayed how important and far reaching the Internet is in not only our country, but around the world. The characters did a magnificent job in displaying what the technology-dependent child and teenager has come to look like, for the skit started out with a young boy playing a video game, completely oblivious to everything that was taking place around him, and the main plot followed two teens dancing their way through the decades while they developed a relationship via text message, a common way for high school relationships to begin. This made me realize that the negative effects of technology that Carr mentioned are not only a problem in the United States, but they are reaching out globally. If our entire world is praising technology in that way and a great majority of people are oblivious to the down side of the Internet, then is the transformation to a Brave New World that hard to imagine? I don't believe we will ever get to that point any time in the near future, or any time at all, but what are the dangers of our ignorance and willingness to praise and revere technology and its inventors?
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I was also watching the opening ceremonies last Friday night and saw the tribute to Tim Berners-Lee. The Olympics are a world-wide event where nations come together to celebrate the common bridge of sports. What these nations also have in common, apparently, was the appreciation of the Internet as seen in Friday's performance. While the Internet is extremely helpful to modern communication, the downsides are apparent. The problem is, do our people see the downsides at all?
ReplyDeleteI believe that the people around the world do, in fact, acknowledge the downsides of the Internet. However, the problem is not that they don't acknowledge the downsides, it is the fact that they don't do anything to stop the negative effects of the Internet. Cutting back the usage of the Internet is difficult for anyone, including myself. With a combination of easy access and a wide variety of things to do on the Internet, it is a hard task to stay away. However, if we do have the will power to limit our usage of the Internet, I think we can avoid the ultimate transformation to the society of Brave New World. If we continue to just purely acknowledge but not act upon the negative effects of the Internet, a society that is prone to dangers such as an extreme dependence on the Internet can be seen.
I spoke to someone today about about such ideas, like controversies over technology and society, just to see how a sort of random person would react. They pretty much told me that "they don't really care."
ReplyDeleteThese are the people, intellectuals whom are and concerned over such issues, are up against. The each day children are born into a world only knowing of technology and how its controls so much and also gives so much. It's reach to the point that those of us that are concerned and want to change are alienated. Technology is not only part of the society but is permanently indented upon generations and generations.
i believe that instead of going against technology, we must find a way to control it, for we ARE the creators of technology. we MUST not let it control us.
I found myself extremely infuriated with the opening ceremony, particularly over the tribute to Tim Berners-Lee. I was left wondering why the tribute took up so much time, instead of presenting the world with Britain's rich history and accomplishments? Why was the world wide web so important that there had to be a long and tedious tribute to it? In the end, I believe the tribute was a perfect example of how technology and social media has taken over not just America, but other countries globally.
ReplyDeleteAgreed! Yes the world wide web has been a grand innovation that has changed the face of this society globally but why must the longest performance be a tribute towards the world wide web? Britain definitely has a lot more stories and tributes to give to its history rather than some Tim Berners-Lee tribute. I was extremely angry with how the beginning was incredibly nice, showing the stages of how Britain changed, but then was changed to all the extreme technical changes. Britain has a lot more to share, just saying. If only we had the will power to limit the usage of the internet, but it is so much harder than I thought. My plan was to leave facebook for a year and of course within a month I was back on. There is nothing all that appealing about it now yet I still find myself looking through people's profiles like I am some stalker. Though it is difficult I shall atempt again this year! As Bianca says, "we MUST not let it control us"
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