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Kayla Cartagena Professor Lago Eng 1100-27 18 September 2013 Transformation of Humanity Technology. Everyone seems to have their own personal definition of this word. This one word and its thousands of definitions are rapidly taking over our entire civilization. The transformation of humanity is happening right before our eyes and most dont even know it. Scary, some say it might be. Our brains are changing, being manipulated, and are reconfiguring. the brainand the mind to which it gives rise is forever a work in progress (Carr 38). The question world remain, is technology truly transforming truly transforming humanity and do we have some sort of control over it? Authors such as Nicholas Carr and Robert Jastrow both believe that technology and more specifically for Carr, the internet, is and will always continue to change how we think and live our lives on a daily basis. Technology is one of the most aspect in mine as well as thousands of others lives. Without, we could not function in the way that we do. The provided convenience that technology serves us makes us completely dependent on it. Some would say that this will eventually lead to a downfall. Nevertheless, the only thing that should be feared when it comes to technology, is whether or not it will change us for the better and lead to a prosperous future or change us for the worse, leading us to a terrible collapse of life as we know it.

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Computer intelligence is growing by leaps and bounds, with no natural limit in sight (Jastrow 208). Do computers really have no natural limit? If so, the idea of humanity going changing and transforming will be a process that will never finish. Computer intelligence is able to do so much more for us that others in history had to do on their own. We are not forced to think as hard anymore because of the convenience of computer intelligence. We are still in control but the capabilities of computers are increasing at a fantastic rate, while human intelligence is changing slowly, if at all (Jastrow 207). If we are still in control as Jastrow says, then as a civilization, technology will not able to flip the roles and take control over us. Artificial intelligence is a concern of our world because we dont know everything about it or its fullest capabilities. Then again, many people in this time period are solely dependent on technology for every task that they do. I believe that some might not even be able to function without it. Being so reliant on technology could eventually lead to the loss of control that Jatrow believed we still had in 1978. Thirty five years later, technology and more importantly, the internet, is taking over humanity like a wild fire. There is nothing we can do to stop it because we as a whole thrive from it. Nicholas Carrs novel, The ShallowsWhat the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, opens the discussion of how the internet and technology may be forever changing the way we think and process information daily and the control it may or may not have over us. It is so much our servant that it would be churlish to notice that is also our master (Carr 4). Now thinking about that statement, I began to reflect on how important the internet is to me. I rely on it for almost everything and it never disappoints, always provides me the answers that I seek. The second part of the statement, notice that it is also our master shed a light into my

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thinking. I have never really thought about the internet having so much control that it became my master. Then I think to myself how and when did I let it take over me? Could I have stopped it? Do I need to change so that it doesnt control me? There are so many questions but very few answers. Im left blank but one thing I am sure about is the way I depend on computer intelligence and technology is completely different from how people in our history lived their lives. We are transforming, an even scarier thought, I am transforming and not even realizing it.