Coexisting with the Third Technological Revolution

Since the introduction of the internet in the ‘90s the world is undergoing one of the biggest technological revolutions since the industrial revolution. With the internet came cell phones, iPods and many other technologies that help us connect to the exterior world with better ease, or simply help us out on our daily chores. Nobody in the 18th century wanted to go back to horses after the invention of the steam engine, so it’s no surprise that in the 21st century we all can’t help relying on technology.

Technology is like wine; it’s good for you only if taken in small doses. According to a survey on NPR.Org nearly all Americans have had access to a computer; 92% of Americans under 60 have used the Internet, and 81% use a computer at home or for work. As technology has undeniably become part of our lives, these figures are a positive response to the changes occurring to our society. However there are two sides to the issue; another survey on NPR.Org shows that at least 58% of Americans say computers have led people to spend less time with their families and friends. It is true that many people’s dependence to these innovations has cast technology in bad light. However, just like alcohol, the blame is not on the object of dependence but on the consumer to make good use of it.

The technological revolution has made a radical change in our present society, and I believe it has been a positive impact. Technology was meant to assist and simplify our lives; therefore, if used in moderation, individuals can learn to serenely balance their lives with the help of technology.

The Techno-Communism

In the current society today if you are not texting, posting, blogging, or tweeting you are pretty much an outcast. But is the mobile world destroying today's youth?
As technologies improve everyday more people are getting addicted to their gadgets. People just can't put down their phones and not text or Facebook for even a minute. The new technologies keep us busy and occupied for hours but they also detracts us from other things such as homework or a job. Personally I find myself distracted from my job and homework constantly as emails and text are showing up every minute. I constantly see teachers getting on to students for texting in class and some even enforce strict rules just to make people pay attention in class.
Many technologies have good and bad effects. Video games are loved by kids and hated by most parents. Although they keep kids entertained, build hand-eye coordination, and teach them teamwork they also consume hours of time and become a dangerous addiction. Parents are finding their kids playing games for hours into the night and even refusing regular food just so they don't disappoint their teammates.
Video games, social networking, and cell phones are connecting today's society but potentially ruining family morals. We are always connected and constantly meeting new and interesting people but spending half your free time telling others what you are doing every minute of the day just isn't what the youth needs today.

During the course of writing this blog I conducted an experiment. I answered 22 text messages, checked my email and eBay 9 times, and checked Facebook and my PayPal account twice. I think I among many others are technology addicts with no hope.

Technology Makes Us Smarter

There is no doubt that society as a whole is dependent on technology, but is this a good or bad thing? Many of us are constantly connected to something, whether it be the internet, an Ipod, a cell phone, or television. I know I wouldn’t know what to do without my precious technology. I wake up in the morning to my cell phone, get ready to my Ipod, and depend on my computer and the Internet for school. It’s great that we have this technology, but is it good to depend on it? Yes. I think our dependence on technology has actually had a positive impact on society by making us smarter.

In his book, Everything Bad is Good for You, Steven Johnson discusses the idea of the Sleeper Curve. Basically, The Sleeper Curve is Johnson’s theory on how technology is making us smarter. He first takes a look at video games and the effects of that technology on kids. Video games are getting much more complex. Kids get bored with PacMan and instead want games that are more interactive. Many claim that this dependence children have on video games will make them become loners, or not know how to interact socially, but according to Johnson, studies are showing that the gaming population is actually more social, confident, and more comfortable solving problems creatively. The same concept applies to other technology as well.

We have to be smart enough to keep up with all the new advances in technology that we rely upon so heavily. We have to know how to use the newest IPod touch. Our dependence on technology is causing us to learn how to adapt to things faster and as a result, we are smarter. This is good for us.

So I ask again: Is our dependence on technology bad for us? No. We rely on it and we recognize that fact. It’s this dependence on technology that’s causing us to expand our knowledge and create all these new gadgets to play with. In his book, Upgrade Me, Brian Clegg talks about how we have been adapting everything to fit our needs for centuries. Everything humans depended on in the past was changed to better fit our needs. I think it’s the same with technology. We have adapted clothing to fit our every need and that’s all we’re doing with newer technologies. It’s a good thing.

Really an Addiction?

It’s not unusual today to hear about kids getting in trouble in class for text messaging . Or for sending instant messages through the computer. And when Christmas rolls around, parents are lined up to buy their kids the newest video games and electronic gadgets.

Face it; we are a society that is dependent on technology. Adults are well aware of the crucial role technology plays in our every day lives. However, if we are so dependent on it now, what will it be like for our children? More importantly, is what they are walking into an addiction?

According to a survey done by Disney, 81 percent of parents set up an email account for their kids, 59 percent have allowed their children to send IMs and 48 percent started letting their kids use a cell phone at age 5 or under.

Eight and a half hours a day – the average time a young person spends around digital technology. Dr Gary Small, author of “iBrain: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind” says that the constant exposure to such technology as videogames and blackberries not only alters a person’s life, but their brain as well. While it can produce a positive effect on the brain and useful computer networking skills, it also can possibly worsen attention, contribute to slothfulness, decrease social skills and ultimately – evolve into an addiction.

Can it be stopped? I doubt it. It looks as though we are breeding generations of intelligent but potentially socially awkward, detached, obese members of society. But perhaps the addiction can be curbed. Parents need to encourage creativity and outdoor play. Families need to spend more time together, and books need to be read once more.

Technology can do almost everything; it connects you, gives you answers, and does your budget. It can almost even think for you. When our children are running this country, what if it finally does?

Assignment due Wednesday, April 1

Are we too dependent on technology? Now that the Internet is back up, you can do lots of research to answer this question.

Creation vs Evolution

Creation is the religious belief of how people came about on the earth. Evolution is the scientific theory that people evolved from other species. It is up to the own individual mind to believe either one, yet should we teach both in the class room? Creation is a religious belief, therefore it is taught in church. Evolution is a scientific theory, therefore it should be taught in the class room. Science is not religion. Evolution is also part of history as well as creation, but creation is religious history. Everything boils down to religion verses reason. For creation, we believe that God created the earth and man. For evolution, Charles Darwin gave us a theory of how we evolved from another creature. We teach other scientific theories, so children should be taught the evolution theory. Whether or not they believe this theory is left up to themselves. I believe it is unethical to force religious beliefs upon anyone, but I think it is also wise to teach children the difference between theory and religion. This way they can learn to think for themselves. It is not a matter of what is right or wrong, but it is a matter of faith and what the individual believes. Neither one of these beliefs have been proven with evidence, therefore we can only reside to our own faith as to how we got to where we are.

Science vs. God?

For many years now there has been the debate about what should be taught in public schools.  Evolution vs. Creation, no matter what you believe in there is no doubt that there is a time and place for everything, even the bible agrees with this, which brings up the question, are public schools the place the be teaching religion?  My answer is no.  Evolution is a scientific theory and should be taught as such is a science classroom setting.  Privet schools are allowed a certain amount of slack in many of the rules that public school need to follow and if a parent truly has a problem with exposing their child to a well rounded education than they can find a school that supports their belief and send their child there.  I believe, however, that one of the purpose of school is to expose students to different ideas and conventions that they wouldn't necessarily encounter elsewhere.  In some cases the theory of evolution is one of those ideas.   I think it is very important for people and children specifically to be exposed to many different ideas and thought processes.  I really do believe that this helps them learn to reason and think for them selves, which is what every parent wants, an independent, free thinking child that doesn't jump of the bridge just because Joe did.  If you believe in creation there are plenty of opportunities for you to explain this belief to your child, but religion does not need to be taught in a public school.

Belief or Science

In schools all across America, contraversie between teaching evolution or creationism in the classroom has occuard all to often. Just in the past few years the Kansas Board of Education reinsated evolution, the Big Bang theroy and plate tectonics to the curriculum after being removed just over a year before. But why where they removed? Was it do to their historical evidence or is it their present day relevance in everyday life. I have lived through a couple of earthquakes and I'm gonna have to say plate tectonics had every thing to do with it, not the creator of the earth. Evolution has been a credited science since the late 1800s and yet today it is still not tought to the fullest in classrooms. Something that has been proven over many years is still not seen as truth by much of the nation. Yet creationisum which basicly states something one divine creator made what we see today. Where is the proff in that. Have you ever talked to or seen this divine creator. As of now religious history can be tought in classrooms but not religion its self. I'm fine with that decision. I just don't see why evolution can't be taught as well. Give the child the choice, its their life.

Theory vs. Religion

Evolution vs. Creation has two sides that can be argued effectively both ways, but Evolution in the classroom always wins. Evolution is a scientific theory discovered first in 600 B.C. Charles Darwin began to observe the relationships of plants and animals around the world. Darwin’s theory states species can change and develop into other species overtime.
Genesis 1:1 says “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth”. Creation is not said to be a scientific theory but creation is a religion of Christianity. Because Christianity is a religion, does not that mean when it’s taught in public schools we are violating the Constitution? Yes, we are violating the “separation of church and state”. When Thomas Jefferson made the Constitution, he was protecting Christians from being persecuted for their religion. This also means religions can’t be brought into public schools. Evolution is a theory because it’s still not proved. Christianity should not be brought into schools because we don’t earn Islam or Atheism or any other religion. Children should know about Evolution to be well rounded students. Religions will still be taught in churches and Evolution will still be taught in schools. Then there is no violation of the Constitution.

Disagreeing with Genesis

Since the 1980s, the United States has passed laws promoting the theory of creationism and intelligent design in public education as an alternative to the theory of evolutionism, or presenting the flaws of the latter. The debate on whether creationism and evolution should be taught in public education has generated extremely separate opinions within the country. I support the education of evolutionism in public schools, and I strongly disagree in teaching creationism as an alternative to Darwin’s theory.

The theory of creationism and intelligent design establishes the Christian God as creator of the universe, while evolutionism offers a scientific explanation and the concept of natural selection. The appeal to include both theories in public education is understandable, as creationism is a firm belief for many Christians, and teaching the two theories allows students to understand separate viewpoints. However I disagree with this position of the discussion, as it presents various flaws.

The mistake within this debate is the confusion of belief with fact. Among the supporters of creationism and intelligent design in public schools was President George W. Bush; on an article on the New York Times Bush said "I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought." The inconsistency of this side of the debate lays exactly in how they view the two theories; unlike creationism, which is a mere belief as it has no testimony or evidence, evolutionism is not a school of thought or an opinion, it is a scientifically proven theory on which humankind's progress is based on.

I believe the only theory to be taught at public schools should be evolutionism, as it is the only theory with scientific proof. Another issue with creationism is the Christian God’s role as the creator; including creationism in public education would not be democratic, as not all the population in the United States embraces the Christian religion, and it would be unfair to impose a single religion’s belief on the entire nation.

Crevolution

The die-hard Christians are screaming Creation in schools, while others scream Evolution. The never ending argument of a simple issue doesn't seem to want to end. Should we teach an alternate theory of man or stick to the science?

I personally think that the answer is absolutely not. I have multiple reasons for this somewhat harsh statement. When I went to high school I had science all four years. Anything from Physical Science to AP Biology. All those classes had a something in common, they were all science. That's what Evolution is, pure science.

School is meant for teaching basic subject like math and science, and not for bible class. Religion isn't a subject its a choice. If you want to learn religion you should go to Sunday School but you shouldn't have to hear it five days a week.

People don't seem to realize that religion varies from person to person but scientific fact is same from here to China. When I send my children to school I want them to know the science behind this planet. If some parents prefer theirs to be taught a different theory then there is a class every Sunday morning and Wednesday night.

It's all About Faith.

We’ve all heard the commotion that religion has caused in our school systems in past years. Moments of silence have been stamped out. The pledge is now deemed a form of worship. Religion has no place in the classroom, does it?

If you answered no, then you fail to see the reality that religion is already in the classroom -a religion based on the belief of science.

Science is an amazing and wonderful thing when it comes to understanding how this earth works. However, when it comes to the origins of this world, creation should be taught in the classroom as another explanation for life.

Science and creation both take faith to understand the origin of life. While science can prove many things by observing and testing them, it cannot prove things of the distant past beyond a doubt. They must gather many articles of evidence that are carefully pieced together like a puzzle. Yet pieces are always missing. And so, a theory is created..

However, it is always changing and nothing is proof positive.

Creationists view things from a different perspective generally, and accept that some things are beyond our explanation. The evidence to them is in nature and mankind itself.

Science often tends to leave out the fine print. What it masquerades as truth is just an educated guess. Mankind didn’t witness the birth of this universe. When it comes down to it, there are only two presuppositions one can have – a belief that life is just chance or, that God created all and science is merely commentary.

Faith. They both require faith. For that reason, they should both be taught in school. The understanding and conscious decision of what to believe should be left up to the student. Let them be the one to choose who is greater – man, or God?

Evolution is Science

It's a battle that has been going on for years and there is no end is in sight. This is the battle of evolution versus creation. By the words of the Constitution, we are not supposed to teach the theory of creationism in public schools. The theory of evolution is considered science, so it is okay to include it in the curriculum (according to the government). This is not to say I oppose the theory of creation, but I believe that public schools should stick to the facts of science and continue to teach evolution in schools.

According to his article in Time Magazine entitled "Dumping on Darwin", Michael D. Lemonick, states that nearly half of all adults in the United States reject the Darwinian theory of evolution, and favor the story of creation presented in the Old Testament book of Genesis. This poses an important question. Is half the population opposing the theory because they truly disagree with it, or because they are not well informed? Some adults cannot give a detailed description as to what the Darwinian Theory entails. For this reason, I believe students should learn the facts of evolution if for no other reason than to be informed on the scientific aspect, since that’s what we’re in school to learn.

I do not think Evolution should be taught as a fact, but rather for exactly what it is, a theory. It is important to realize that there are flaws in the theory, gaps that cannot be filled in, and occurrences that cannot be fully explained. For example, Michael Behe, a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University argues that many of the human organs are too complex to be a product of evolution. However, there is also a strong argument against this from the scientific community stating that there is sufficient evidence to throw out this claim. Many animals have very sophisticated organ systems and ours could very easily have evolved from this. There is no doubt that humans have evolved in smaller ways over the last century, so why couldn’t they evolve in this manner over thousands of years?

In 1995 the Alabama board of Education started requiring all biology text books in public schools to include an insert. It states, “the word ‘evolution’ may refer to many types of change”, and it goes on to say, “evolution also refers to
the unproven belief that random, undirected forces produce a world of living things."

I think this is a great point to include because it suggests that there is another theory out there, but no overtly religious statements are made. It sticks to the science and the facts and that is just what we need.

Assignment due Wednesday, March 18th

For your fourth blog, you're going to step into the debate on evolution vs. creationism. The specific question you are to answer is whether evolution or creationism (or both or neither) should be taught in public schools. Before writing your blog, make sure you arm yourself with enough information so that you can understand the arguments on either side. Remember that no matter how passionate you are about your opinion, the other side will also have some legitimate points to make.