As people rely more and more on technology to solve problems, the ability of humans to think for themselves will surely deteriorate.Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the statement and explain your reasoning for the position you take.

While it is tempting to observe the proliferation of readily accessible knowledge that technology provides and infer from that a corrosion of our critical faculties, this is not supported under careful scrutiny. Undoubtedly there is truth to this proposition, but on balance it does not hold. The position I take on the matter is that while there are certainly negative consequences to our increasing reliance on technologoy to solve problems this is overshadowed greatly by the benefits of technology. These negative effects will be discussed first, and these include shortening attention spans, reduced adversity in education and daily life, and encouraging complacency. However, this is disproportionately outweighed by the ability of technology to massively widen access to education (challenging the core of the statement), as well as the colossal benefits to society technology has brought.

Firstly, increased reliance on technology to solve problems can have specific individual problems for society. Consider the spread of smart phone ownership among young people. Individuals who are intrinsically vulnerable to developing unhealthy habits and disorders later in life are exposed to instantaneous answers and information, which is often unverified, and involves no struggle whatsoever. This absence of adversity in the pursuit of infromation can encourage complaceny later in life. When they are grown and facing pressing problems in education or professional life they will simply lack the resilience to conduct the necessary research. This inculcated complaceny can and will have outsized impacts. Those who are not willing to persevere in important circumstances such as school or college research projects, or difficult math problems will likely not make an effort in other aspects of their life. This will ripple throughout society and affect the public at large.

Secondly, while there are harms posed to the individual, one cannot help but marvel at the intense increase in access to education that technology has brought about. There has been a digital rennaissance in learning. One can merely search for instructional videos on complex and esoteric topics and by rewarded with simple and straightforward adumbarations of topics they may struggle with in other walks of life. Further, technology has enabled the rapid spread of education, and is catalysed the global fight against illiteracy. The bonding of widespread smartphone ownership in underdeveloped and impoverished countries with online education resources helps traditionally underrepresented minorities gain education they have a moral, ethical and legal right to. As such, while there are pressing issues at the individual level that merit national action, one cannot question the positive impact technology has had on helping foster and develop the critical thinking faculties of individuals across the world.

Lastly, this forecasted deterioration of critical thinking must be weighed against the intense benefits technology has brought throughout history. Our reliance on technology to solve problems has driven global growth and transformed our species from disparate subsistence farming collectives to organised societies who have harnessed intense resources-for better or worse. The gift of technology has been translated into greater global peace, dramatic increase in life expectancy, better socio-economic standing and a flourishing of human culture. Our history as a species is the story of our ability to manipulate objects to perform technical tasks. Our greatest creation and our greatest benefit has been the advent of technology. While we may certainly reach a point in history where the proliferation of smart devices designed to encourage expenditure and develop addictive tendencies pose a threat (some may argue this is the present state of technology), we must cognisant of the monumental, positive impact of technology. Statements that seek to overlook these benefits and focus on supposed detriments at the individual level do not hold true.

This response has sought to outline how the above statement is specious, and that while it does not err entirely in its gloomly forecast, it fails to hold true on account of not balancing these predicted impacts against the wider benefits of technology. The position I have taken has sought to balance these somewhat legitimate fears with the benefits to education technology has brought (challenging directly the central premise of the statement) as well as the much wider historical benefits. In doing so, this position has argued that there certainly are potential dangers to our critical faculties at the individual level, but at the global and societal level the benefits far outweigh this drawback.