Summary Of Is Modern Technology Killing Us By Ray Kurzweil

Technological Improvement:

Promising a Future of Doom or Life?

Modern technology will affect human life in the coming future, for better or for worse. Ray Kurzweil is a futurist, a scientist who specializes in predictions about the future. In his essay “Promise and Peril”, he proposes possible advantages and disadvantages of technological improvement in the world, and mentions greatness of technology that not only benefits human life, but also the dangers of its existence. Considering the pros and cons, Kurzweil takes a stance that future technology will benefit humanity. On the other hand, the environmental journalist Erica Etelson, in her article “Is Modern Technology Killing US?”, argues that most inventions have unintended consequences that are piling up, causing harm and creating dangers of existential magnitude. Even though each author takes different stances toward the topic, they agree that the future should be handled carefully and that there are risks to consider. Compare to the opinion based argument from Etelson, Kurzweil has more convincing argument throughout his essay.

She argues that the fact technology has enabled the human population to grow to 7 billion doesn’t necessarily mean that it can sustain forever, and that to assume that it will, without examining its vulnerabilities, is reckless. She has a belief that “humans are quick to celebrate unproven technologies and slow, oh so dangerously slow, to critically examine their safety and utility” (Etelson 1). She refuses to believe that humans are able to handle the technological improvement, instead from her point of view, she argues that the problems and dangers will keep piling on and one day will no longer be able to be handled. This is a strong case for Etelson, however lack of evidence and support for this statement makes it hard to believe in what she says. How could she know that humans are slow in examining the safety and