Society/Politics Essay practice 1

This is essay number one – this is difficult and took me longer than the allotted 30 minutes. Quotes are from the official GAMSAT preparation guide from ACER.
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Technology is the science of arranging life so that one need not experience it – Anonymous

The machine does not isolate from man the great problems of nature but plunges him more deeply into them – Saint-Exupery

If there is technological advance without social advance, there is, almost automatically, an increase in human misery – Michael Harrington

The new electronic interdependence recreates the world in the image of a global village – Marshall McLuhan

Only science can hope to keep technology in some sort of moral order – E.Z Frieberg
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Critical comment/review task in response to one or more of the quotes
Criteria: Quality of ideas, organisation and presentation of argument, effectiveness of expression
Attitude or viewpoint will not be judged.
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Just as true happiness cannot be purchased neither can it be synthesised through technological advance. Indeed as Michael Harrington points out, without some meaningful guidance to technological advance provided by a society that has at least kept pace with the threats and opportunities provided by new technologies, misery will ensue. These essay will discuss two underlying reasons why this is so. These reasons relate to the motivation behind a technological advance and an understanding of the broad implications of its application.

The motivation behind specific technological advances necessarily determines in what field the advance has been made and to whom the benefits of the advance will accrue. Social advances have generally accorded with the French national motto of liberté, egalité, fraternité, or, increases in freedoms, equality or social cohesion – reflecting the evolution of the social conscience. Where society has momentum in these directions, technological advance will be more likely to serve such principles. Thus creating as least an opportunity for improvement to the human condition. Where the momentum of social change is towards socially fractured, individualistic, or even fear driven reforms and behaviours, technological advance is likely to be motivated by private gain or antagonistic ends and will be less likely to promote happiness and at greater risk of contributing to misery.

Understanding the implications, at the broadest level, of adopting new technology is the second vital role that social progress plays. Awareness of the potential uses of new technology will guide its development, dissemination and adoption. Social advances such as those outlined above will improve the chances of these technologies being used to enhance social welfare. The discovery of nuclear energy and its potential uses highlights a society lacking the insight and conscience to foresee and break the chain of events that led to the development of nuclear weapons and their use. The result, as Saint-Exupery says, did ‘not isolate from man the great problems of nature but plunge[d] him more deeply into them’.

So if social advance at least equal to technological advance may prevent an automatic increase in misery, how is society to know whether its advances are sufficient? The answer is that it can’t. At best society must thoughtfully and imaginatively reflect upon the two considerations outlined above – what is driving the change and what impact will it have? Bearing in mind the noble aims of liberté, egalité, fraternité.