I've recently been pondering this topic lately and wondering: has computer technology, at this point, started making human life worse?
In the typical narrative about humanity, our species developed technology in a linear progression intended to reduce the burden of labor and to generally make human life easier. With the postwar computer revolution, humanity had invented an entire new kind of technology based around the computer, a device that was capable of performing mathematical calculations far faster than any human being. Eventually, these computers were trained to perform a wide variety of tasks, from interlinking the whole world socially through the internet, to being the decision-center for autonomous robots.
However, the development of the computer has raised several key concerns over the past few decades. It turns out the tool is a great device for espionage on individual humans and groups, reducing human privacy to nil. Social Media and many internet sites, intended to bring people together and to serve as a reliable source of news and information, have become hubs for infighting, misinformation, and conspiracy theories. It has presented new anxieties for workers around the world as computers come to replace jobs, leaving potentially millions out of work. And for those who do work, it has made that work inescapable; to be a good employee, you are expected to check your email and be on-call at any given moment, even far outside of work hours.
'90s movies like Terminator and The Matrix warned us about the problems advanced computers could bring to humanity, and although they might delivered this message in a ham-fisted way, did they have a prescient point? Has technology developed to a point where it is harming human prosperity and happiness?
And yes, I understand the irony of appealing to people online through internet when asking this question criticizing computer technology.