Will Further Information Technology Enrich Our Society?

Technology has both good and bad aspects. We should consider both sides carefully and choose the technology that will most enrich our society. Most people in the world believe that information technology will only have a positive affect on society but today I would like to discuss whether or not further information technology will truly enrich society.

Bob:

I actually think that further information technology will make people unhappy. Just like with the Internet, the more information we have, the more passive we become. The more passive we become, the more likely we are to lose our individuality and our ability to think for ourselves. The less our individuality becomes, the less chance we have to develop a genuine interest in the outside world. That will lead to more and more people experiencing depression!

Maria:

I think that society and the happiness of its members will improve even as information technology makes further advances. There are two reasons for this. One is that even if the communications capacity increases, if the image resolution increases, our individual burden caused by information will decrease because we will be able to recognize and absorb information more naturally. In other words, it is important to create information technology that suits the characteristics of our brains. The other reason is that our literacy will improve. When humans first started using fire, our ancestors probably received a lot of burns but today we are controlling something much more powerful than fire. In a similar manner, in future we will be able to use information without losing our independence.

Kevin:

I am also concerned that information technology will make our society worse. I do not know the answer to the question ‘What makes people happy.’ However, I think it is possible to discuss what makes people unhappy. The philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer taught that unhappiness is caused by suffering and boredom. He also said that life is like a pendulum that swings repeatedly between suffering and boredom. Perhaps one truth is that to avoid unhappiness we should live between suffering and boredom by following the moderate virtue. I believe that when independence is lost in the previous statement, people will not be able to endure boredom and will become unhappy.

Masaki:

I believe that information technology will lead humanity in a better direction. I think that a good society is a diverse society where people with different abilities and jobs respect each other. The size of the society that people can form is proportional to the size of this diversity. Mutual understanding is essential in order to expand diversity, and for mutual understanding, we need to recognize things as they are. As information that is natural to us is transmitted through communications technology, we are freed from the constraints of physical distance and can perceive a greater variety of beings as they are.