Virtue and Villainy of Technological Progress

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Virtue and Villainy of Technological Progress
The invention of technology has had a significant effect on people’s lives. In this century, inventions such as computers offer more convenience to the people by making work easier and connecting people across the globe. The use of technology has also led to a breakthrough in various fields such as medicine and astronomy. For instance, technology has enabled human beings to venture into space and explore the unknown. Further, the use of technology has led to scientists being able to deliver cures for illnesses and develop machines that perform complicated tests and surgeries. Our reliance on technology has enabled it to penetrate through every aspect of our society. Its presence is so elusive that its effects have become difficult to avoid. Owing to the effects of technology, it can be said that our perception of the world and surroundings is guided by the knowledge we acquire either from these technologies or our senses. However, our senses only offer us what appears to be true, which can be far from the universal truth. The effects of technology on our perceptions and understandings is, therefore, an important discussion. The paper seeks to determine the villainy and virtue of technological progress by discussing the views of Klosterman.
Klosterman perceives technology as something that is inevitable and one that can encourage villains to carry out their activities. For instance, Dotcom, a German hacker was able to create a website for pirating music. Klosterman states, “Megaupload was a place to steal music. There was no mystery about this; if you knew what Megaupload was, you knew it was a pirating service.” This development would not have been made possible without the presence of technology. Moreover, Assange was also able to publish private information concerning the activities of the United States government online for everyone to access without the consent of the U.S government. According to Klosterman, “A very confident Australian (Assange) who’s fixated on the problematic politics of one country (the United States) has created a way to publish information about that country that would have previously remained hidden (sometimes for valid reasons and sometimes due to corruption).” This practice of sharing unauthorized information to the public was also made possible through the internet, another means by which technology can encourage ill behavior and villainy. Nonetheless, the individuals described by Klosterman are driven by different emotions and ideas. Dotcom, for example, earned a lot of money from his villainy activities despite claiming that his actions were geared towards making the content on the internet free for all. Klosterman states, “There’s a person literally named “Kim Dotcom”? And this person is a 350-pound, egocentric German multimillionaire who never went to college? And he got famous for being a computer hacker who refers to himself as Dr. Evil?” This shows that Dotcom was driven by the need to make money, whereas Assange’s actions were driven by emotions. Assange leaked the information because he felt that every individual has a right ...