THE NEW TECHNOLOGICAL WORLD

For the last 25 years technology has changed humanity’s life as result of a series of inventions. One of them has been the personal computer. When it was launched to the market in 1984 nobody could imagine how useful it would be. Another invention has been the mobile phone, the evolution of the telegraph. And possibly the most revolutionary invention in communication has been the Internet.

In the past nobody could imagine the scope of the changes that technological advances were going to bring to contemporary life. People often use computers for many things, for instance, I’m writing this article in a notebook. I do calculations with an electronic calculator, drive my car with a GPS, take photos with a digital camera, change channels of TV using a remote control, play music on an iPod, check e-mails on a smart phone. Each of these devices has a computer inside. Moreover, these products have been manufactured by computers.

The world has turned into a more intense, faster and more complex place. Tele-communications have made possible for people to be in touch. Twenty years ago if you wanted to call a person in another continent you had to call the phone operator and be patient. Today, everyone has a mobile phone in the pocket and by just pressing a button they can make a video call in real time. However, this could be positive or not because men and women use theirs mobile phones more than enough and communications aren’t face to face any longer.

According to Nikolas Negroponte the physical book will be dead in 5 years time. If the Internet didn’t exist, this wouldn’t be possible. The Net has affected human relationships in different ways. People can meet other people through the Facebook, Twitter and other social networks, people can send money to other people by electronic transfers, and people can see movies, watch TV or listen to music. Besides, music industry has also been changed by the Net. Musicians are spending more time in live shows because they aren’t selling CDs.

These technological advances are modifying human’s life in order to improve or deteriorate it. But there is even something more critical to consider; our most powerful 21st-century technologies like robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech are threatening species. The big challenge is to realize in time about some necessary changes in the course of technological uses to really make technology improve our life.

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