emma l essay, Lecture notes of Information and Computer Technology

Download emma l essay and more Lecture notes Information and Computer Technology in PDF only on Docsity! Emma 12/4/13 Fahrenheit 451 Essay Technology has become such a ubiquitous entity that it's hard to believe it wasn't always around. Today, technology is used for everything, from entertainment to communication, and as some would argue...control? In his fictitious novel Fahrenheit 451, published just as technology was beginning to make its appearance in people's everyday lives, author Ray Bradbury foresaw a future where technology is omnipotent, and anything or anyone that defies it is ostracized. This grim vision of a technological takeover has the likely potential to come to fruition- however, it is ultimately up to mankind whether or not it does. Evidence supporting the reality of Bradbury's fears is found everywhere. One of the themes in Fahrenheit 451 is a dependency on technology. People who are viewed as 'normal' in the society are those like Mildred Montag, who inquires to her husband: "How long you figure before we save up and get the fourth wall torn out and a fourth wall-TV put in? It's only two- thousand dollars" (Bradbury 20). Mildred, with her three televisions, is addicted to technology, and is a representation for the average Fahrenheit-citizen. A dependency like Mildred's on different forms of modern technology has developed in the world today. According to a study conducted by the University of Melbourne in which 173 college students were tested for "problematic Internet and gambling behaviors," "About 5 percent of the students showed signs of gambling problems, but 10 percent of the students posted scores high enough to put them in the at-risk category for Internet 'addiction'" (Parker-Pope 1). This slowly-developing obsession with technologies doesn't come without a price, either. Not only does it detract "...from our time with family and friends in the real world..." but it also "...can cause us to become more impatient, impulsive, forgetful and even more narcissistic" (Parker-Pope 1). There are even more adverse ramifications that result from dependence on technology; one of these is the widespread invasion of privacy. Another epidemic foreseen by Bradbury was the current universality of technology. It has provided people with an easy way to access one another's personal information and track their activities. In Fahrenheit 451, this is represented by the Mechanical Hound. Today, it is seen in organizations as large as the government. In a recent case, a man named Edward Snowden was imprisoned on account of leaking Nation Security Agency data. In his searches, he uncovered "...a massive effort by the U.S National Security Agency to track cell phone calls and monitor the e-mail and Internet traffic of virtually all Americans" (Star and Yan 1). This startling discovery demonstrates how the widespread use of the technology has given the government the ability to spy on millions of innocent people. As Snowden puts it, "Even if you're not doing anything wrong you're being watched and recorded." The government isn't the only one using technology to its advantage. The police are using millions in federal grants towards advanced surveillance systems. In Oakland, California, data will be gathered in the new system, "...data about the everyday movements and habits of law- abiding residents..." (Sengupta 1). According to Oakland city council member Libby Shaaf, the new technology would allow law enforcement to "paint a pretty detailed picture of someone's personal life, someone who may be innocent" (Sengupta 2). There has been much justified discontent over these systems and their sinister capabilities.