TECHNOLOGY

Greg Raupp and Melissa Malloy

Technology

As long as there are technological advancements, there will always need to be better technology produced to keep it working, or to make improvements. || The development of new technologies often indicates intelligence within the developer. ||= 2. Dependence As we continue to develop new technologies, our society is becoming more dependent on the new innovations, thus being less "self"-sufficient. || Daily functions such as heating food and commutes are made easier by technology. ||= 3. Addiction Technology can be debilitating to personal life. A few examples: cell phones (texting), internet (facebook), etc. have taken over our generations' personal time. || Technological advances in the field of medicine have allowed for improved living conditions for those affected by maladies requiring surgery or prosthetics. ||= 4. Costly Plainly put, technology requires money - lots of money. While new innovations might make life easier, it will never be developed or used if the proper funds are not available. || Advances such as the telescope and scale allow us to closer study areas of science and math. ||= 5. Uncertainty Advances expose new opinions and theories to science. In most cases, this is a cyclic process because new innovations bring forth unanswered quesitons, which require people to study the unknown...ultimately producing more advancements, and so on. || Improvements in technology have allowed humans to advance their leisure time from activities like bear-baiting and attending executions to those of watching television and paintballing. ||= 6. Dangerous While technology is notorious for being better or safer - new cars for example - there is certainly great risk that comes with never-before-seen technolgies, not to mention the risk associated with making the new technololgy. || Technology has the power to inspire and awe those who witness its developments. ||= 7. Wonder Too much curiosity in technology can take over a persons life. It can potentially cause a person to become out of touch with reality or be too focused on what is missing rather than what we can be done with what we already have. ||
 * = Positive ||= Negative ||
 * < 1. Progress Technology is often associated with the betterment of society and improvement of humanity. ||= 1. Obsolescence
 * = 2. Intelligence
 * = 3. Task Simplification
 * = 4. Healthy
 * = 5. Discovery
 * = 6. Fun
 * = 7. Wonder

An example of technology being used in a positive connotation occurs on pages 17 and 18. This is the occasion on which Jose Arcadio Buendia and his sons visit the grand tent brought by the gypsies to Macondo, inside of which a giant guards the splendor of ice. “Jose Arcadio Buendia paid them and put his hand on the ice and held it there for several minutes as his heart filled with fear and jubilation at the contact with mystery.” Later he is “Intoxicated by the evidence of the miracle.” The words intoxicated, jubilation, and mystery all carry the tone of being awesome and magical. In the final paragraph of page two the wonders of technology are exhibited again, this time by Melquiades and the telescope. “Science has eliminated distance.” People paid five reales to take part in this exhibition of technology and experience the wonder of being able to look “into the telescope and see the gypsy woman an arm’s length away.” This wonder that is experienced by Jose Arcadio Buendia is a positive feeling—at first. However in the long run his brush with the technology of the gypsies may not be so beneficial.

This not-so-beneficial aspect of technology can be seen immediately in the very beginning of the novel. On page four, it is explained that Jose Arcadio Buendia "spent the long months of the rainy season shut up in a small room...so that no one would disturb his experiments." It goes on on to say that Jose "completely abandoned his domestic obligations" to study his new gypsy science. This motif is consistant throughout the entire novel - Jose spends every wake moment studying Melquiades in the back room, and once he can no longer study in the gypsy shrine, Jose Arcadio Buendia's descendants pick it up. This creates a problem - starting on page four - that carries throughout because there is minimal focus on the problems of Macondo, but rather focus on the world; where Melquiades has been, where the new gadgets have come from, how they were made, etc. This addiction to new technologies really starts to create problems when this thirst for knowlege and innovation leads Macondo to make connections with the outside world. We see the issues start when the passage to the ocean is developed and continues on until the colonizers swarm in and bring along with them the problems of the world.