ISSUE88

TOPIC: ISSUE88 - "Technologies not only influence but actually determine social customs and ethics."
WORDS: 459 TIME: 01:00:26 DATE: 2008-3-14 14:43:38

The speaker proclaims that technologies are vital in forming both social customs and ethics in the present as well as the past. I concede that social customs are more or less influenced by modern technologies; however, basic human ethics has nothing to do with how developed technologies are. In effect, people's traditional conception about ethics is largely determined by the environment where they grow up--i.e., a person's parents, teachers and friends play a key role during the procedure of he or she forms his or her own Weltanschauung.

Admittedly, developed technologies today are affecting people's social customs to some extent. For example, the appearance of automobile last century conspicuously changes the way people walk. Without convenient traveling tools, multitude had to spent plenty of time in walking from point A to point B; by contrast, populace would find that traveling is an activity filled with entertainment under the help of automobile and navigation system built in auto. Another obvious change that modern technologies have brought to society is involved with the way in which the masses communicate. In the former eras, people could merely exchange information through mail, which may consume several days; however, the E-Mail invented today allows two person to communicate much more efficient: what they need to do is just to type on a keyboard and click the "Send" button. In short, in the areas of social customs, modern technologies have influenced much.

However, in the areas of ethics, technology does not play as well as it does in social customs. The reason for this is simple: ethics can only be influenced by the heart and mind of human, instead of technique. Technologies are no more than substantial matter created by folk's wisdom, and it is human ourselves that determine our ethnics. Both history and contemporary are replete with examples of ethics determined by humans. Consider, for instance, the up-to-date technique of clone once caused controversy among populace. The key crux lies in whether human should clone human. Supposing that a person who is identical to another exists in this world, innumerous trouble of ethics will arise. For instance, parents can not distinguish between these two persons; friends may be confused with talking to them and the copy of original person may be abetted to commit a crime. Fortunately, these bad sequences do not take place, because scientists strictly conform to the confines of ethics.

In sum, although technologies might influence social customs to some extend, people's spirits are not determined by any technique. Instead, only human can shape our common ethics through thousands of years. This is a law that all the matter in the world would obey. As a result, human should carefully conform to priceless ethics and make our single earth work better.