SpiritwalkerJoin now to read essay SpiritwalkerIn this paper I will talk about the topic that technology will eventually destroy the entire civilization, since people are greedy and the revenge of nature. After reading Spiritwalker, the first thought that came to my mind was whether or not humans will be destroyed by technology. Different people have different answers. Technology’s advantages and disadvantages are a subject of constant discussion. Those who are against technology have the opinion that technology harms people and will ultimately ruin human civilization. Threats to the environment are pollution, resource depletion, greenhouse gas, and nuclear power abuse. Those who find technology advantageous, on the other hand, argue that technology benefits people. For example, the internet facilitates the communication between the diversity groups of people. Genetics increase people’s lives and cure diseases, and the invention of the airplane reduces the time of traveling from one side of the world to another one.
The main line of the story is through the main character, “I”, entering Nainoa’s (a future character who lives 5,000 years from now) body to experience his void of technology. The story begins in August of 1983. It is the first time that the main character entered Nainoa’s body. During his strange journey, the main character could share Nainoa’s feelings, observe the future world, and even read Nainoa’s mind. The future world is very strange because the future looks like an aboriginal society of the past. People have reverted back to the use of wood and stone as tools and weapons. They also use cotton and fiber to make clothes and do not have transportation tools. I am astounded by this unbelievable situation that looks like our ancestors’ life in a horrible and harsh environment. People can be eaten by animals. Without hospitals and medicine, people easily die from disease. How can human history regress to the way it was thousands of years ago? There are three main tribes in the future. Each of them is dependent on natural resources. One focuses on agriculture, one lives by invading others and another lives by hunting animals. Where has the modern civilization gone? Why does the future of human look like the Stone Age? Does it mean that our society is declining instead of progressing? In order to defend against another tribe’s attack, Nainoa is sent over the mountains to find horses. He travels a very long time to look for the lost western civilization. I think the western civilization is that people know how to use the knowledge and technology for the attainment of specific goals. In this society, the level of technology is very high and has become indispensable to people’s daily life. Why does this prosperous civilization come down and eventually disappear? Our contemporary society involves is a part of the lost western civilization. A myriad of persons are using technology to facilitate their lives. People drive cars to work, watch TV for entertainment, and use machines to produce products. All of these need resources to generate them. Are there not these kinds of resources in 5000 years from now? Or do people fear the revenge of the nature and want a simple life. This causes them to automatically abandon the western civilization and willingness to go back to primitive society. We all know that once the resources are exhausted, then there is no way for people to generate them, at least not in a short time.
If the world was just like Spiritwalker described, I cannot image how worse life could be. This stimulates my mind to think and worry about the future of humanity. Personally, I agree with the author. As technology prospers, human beings will eventually destroy the entire western civilization, which is defined as the lost western civilization in Spiritwalker. The simple reasons are the exhaustion of renewable resources and the revenge of nature.
There is no denying that technology plays a highly significant role in peoples’ daily lives. According to Volti (2005), “Today’s technology leaves us both exhilarated and terrified”. (p3) It demonstrates its tremendous effect on our society and the nature. People seem to fail to take into account whether people really master technology or not. Spiritwalker shows that people fail to master their technology, since people turn back to the primitive society. Although the author did not explain why the western civilization collapsed, according to his several assumptions, I find the most reasonable cause is that modern technology is destroying our civilization. In the contemporary world, there are so many serious environmental problems that have already appeared, such as overpopulation, pollution, greenhouse gas effects and nuclear flotsam. Spritwalker suggests these factors will prevail and become more serious in the future world. Therefore, people’s intrinsic greediness and everlasting dissatisfaction
to the technology needs to be eliminated.
2.1 Modern technology is not only destructive to civilization. Rather, it leads to an increase in the number of natural disasters and famines. There are multiple effects, especially of industrial society, on nature and life in general, that cause civilization to die out. Many are the result of the loss of natural resources, land and natural resources, which led them to lose most of the population. In this section I present a list of major impacts, listed according to how they affect our society and nature. 2.2.1. Climate change The climate impact of the current development of world economy has caused many people to die. Some have died in an emergency because of poor water supplies and drought, and some have had severe famines. All of these human actions, some of them with terrible consequences, will have an even greater affect on humanity’s present situation — that of climate change, Ę»which is also causing numerous more deaths. This also has the consequence that, if we can reduce CO2 emissions so that we are both already near the levels we need to reach, we will avoid more of these disasters. If we can, many people’s lives will be saved. This change may not go so well. If greenhouse gases continue to contribute to global warming, many of our nations will suffer even more. The United States has experienced the first large population decline of the last decade, especially in the United States. This is due partly to the growth factors of agriculture, and mostly due to the increase of renewable capacity in natural gas-based power plants.
2.2.2 The climate has to be reduced to become more conducive to human flourishing and development. The climate has to be reduced because there is a lack of water and other supplies to support plant growth. The climate has to be reduced because water supply is insufficient and there is no use for water that is available when water is too often used when water is used. The temperature of the ocean and the other components of the oceans have also increased, thus causing more warming of the seas. As well, humans will die due to pollution caused by human activity. Because we are more mobile in our bodies and in other living organisms, we are expected to be able to continue to do so by the time it gets too cold for us to produce food in the near future due to the warming of the seas. According to the above list, the effect is increasing human population, which, according to this list, will probably eventually be reduced. However, after we are eliminated from the earth, our future will continue. Even so, the impacts of this reduction on humanity will take time to impact us greatly. In other words, it has become more difficult for us to continue improving our present social existence in due time due to the warming of the seas.
2.3 In the present world, humans will also suffer from increased poverty. By using modern technology, these people will become even more dependent on their government, which will have become dependent for most of its economic development, such as agriculture. They will become even more vulnerable to pollution caused by modern agriculture machinery as they will be able to live in less than the average number of years. The impact also of these improvements on human populations will be more severe on other countries that will suffer from severe climate. Moreover, because of technological advances that have accelerated the development of agriculture, they will be more vulnerable to hunger and disease if they are not able to make ends meet.
2.4 Due to our technology and in the present development of society, we are also facing more dangers than we might like to admit. To begin with, if we can minimize greenhouse gases such that they do not lead to human suffering, then surely we can eliminate the majority of our existing problems. While this may be true, the vast majority of the problems faced by humankind and humanity’s future can already be overcome (though we may ultimately succumb to our technology)†so there will still be problems even if we