Technology and Civilization written by Irfan Suryana

Yogyakarta, 23 November 2015



By using technology everything is easier than ever. We can do anything rapidly. For example we can travel around the world without taking much time because there is plane and if we want to know about heritage in the world such as Eskimo’s culture, we do not have to go there, we can only click “google” in our mobile phone and we can easily know about Eskimo’s culture. Those examples can happen because of improvement of technology. Wow, how lucky we can live in this world like this. Well, there are three points that we should know regarding technology and civilization. First is about the relation between technology and human. Second is about the Earth’s future.
             First is about the relation between technology and human. As long as human live in this world. They will optimize their life and make it so easy. Therefore many inventions they make. And those inventions require many sophisticated tools. Frankly, if there is new technology it means knowledge that human have is developing as well. According to B.J. Habibie there are eight transformations that become priority of technological advances such as plane, maritime, transportation, electronics and communication, energy, engineer, mechanical agriculture, and security. Those things are very important for human. They will help human to make their jobs easier ever. How about electronic and communication? Well, let me to convince you about this matter.  Nowadays, we cannot deny that advancement of communication happens. Besides, it brings positive sides it also brings the negative sides. There are some theories which explain about the impact of that advancement. For instance, Blumler and Katz in 1974 state a theory that is called Uses and Gratification theory or UGT. It is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy specific needs and it is an audience-centered approach to understanding mass communication. Blumler and Katz’s Uses and Gratification theory suggests that media users play an active role in choosing and using the media. UGT assumes that the user has alternate choices to satisfy their needs. We all know about computer, right? Computer assists us to finish our works such us making letter and so forth. Besides that, computer can be operated by children. What do they do with that thing? I am sure most of all they just play games rather than look for new information, Why does it happen? Because according to psychology in that age, children are very curious with new things and want to explore and games provide all that things. Many bad impacts can be found from playing game such as users can be addicted persons, antisocial, and so on. Brenner states that heavy internet user shows the indication of being addicted and antisocial. It does not only happen to the children but also people like us. Sometimes we are willing to pay virtual games online such as gambling, fantasy sport league, and so forth. We can conclude that technology and citizen cannot be separated and they connect with each other and it is a part of globalization.
Second is about the Earth’s future. We are afraid that our world will end because of the technology that scientists make. For example there are h-bomb or hydrogen bomb, nanotechnology, artificial super-intelligence, and genetically modified organisms. Those technologies can threaten human, even the world. If the world ends, of course the civilization will end as well, such as historical places, inventions, and antiquities. This world depends on us. We have to maintain our Earth perfectly. It is true that knowledge and invention must develop but we have to think the impact of that invention to our Earth. It brings good or bad impact. However, the scientists make new invention because there is a reason why they make it but, of course, there are some limitations.
So, we can conclude that there are a lot of benefits of technology, for example some technologies can assist human to finish our all works. It can assist to promote something such as new thing, place, product, and so forth. However, technology can influence civilization. There are many evidences that behavior of people can change because of technology such as they become antisocial persons. We have to know which ones technologies that those are very important for us and we have to maintain the Earth. We do not use technology that threatens the Earth because it will omit the civilization itself.

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