#2 When Technology Helps Us Become more Human

My general mindset of people is that we are not bad people, but rather, self centered individuals. In my experience, people do things to benefit themselves: not to help others. However, this does lead to some people doing some awful things.

However, after perusing the internet, looking at technological articles, I came across the article on the Time website called When Technology Helps Us Become More Human by Faine Greenwood. It starts with a story about PhD candidate Patrick Meir, whose girlfriend happened to be in Haiti during an earthquake. Distraught, Meir collaborated with others to create a crisis map to provide information of the disaster and help allow survivors of the earthquake communicate with the outside world. After the earthquake, Meir founded the Digital Humanitarian Network, an organization that acts “…as a middle-man between volunteer and technical networks, and the digital networks of volunteers who can assist them when disaster strikes” (Greenwood, time.com).

The article is from the website time.com, part of Time,one of America’s leading weekly news magazine. It can be assumed that the quality of the content is at least satisfactory. Faine Greenwood is also a field analyst in the International Security Program at New America, so he is someone with professional skills.

The article talked about how technology can be used to provide good information to humanitarian organizations to effectively aid survivors. Meir suggests that technology can help us become more human, by “…combining the human desire to help with technological tools that can enhance human abilities” (Greenwood, time.com). The article suggests that technology will make the world a better place, going along the Utopia opinion (wisely using technology). The use of technology will revolutionize how we will go about providing relief, giving us the context and tools to effectively combat any disaster. Satellites, social networks, and drones can be used to aid, providing readily information that can be utilized easily. Individuals who are affected by disasters can be rest assured they will be helped. This use of technology could also be branched into homeless and poor people, who are hard to track without technology.

This article reminds me of the class video/reading Cognitive Surplus, by Clay Shirky. Shirky argues that because of technology, people have more leisure time (known as Cognitive surplus), and this allows people to naturally become more helpful. He says “The harnessing of cognitive surplus allows people to behave in increasingly generous, public, and social ways…Our new tools haven’t caused those behaviors, but allowed them” (Shirky 63). I would think Meir would agree with Shirky, saying that “… it’s a story about humanity and what it means to be human”(Greenwood, time.com).

Work Cited

Greenwood, Faine. “When Technology Helps Us Become More Human.” Time. Time, 29 Mar. 2015. Web. 15 Oct. 2016.

Shirky, Clay. Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age. New York: Penguin, 2010. Print.