<p>Technology has become man's new best friend. It has allowed him to become a slave of electricity, an addict of his instant messenging and iPod... Yet, some would argue that such leisure is worth the sacrifices. But easier is not better. Easier to enslave and easier to kill does not make for a better world.</p>
<p>In the early 19th century, slavery was an obsolete institution. In the past, it had been considered a necessary evil -- profitable, albeit just "slightly" immoral. But even that view was falling out of fashion. Although only short-staple cotton would grow on the southern mainland, even the most highly skilled slave could prepare a pound of it per day. But with the advent of Eli Whitney's cotton gin, which automated the cotton cleaning process, slaver suddenly became unbearably profitable. The number of slaves skyrocketed from several thousand to a couple million. And despite President Jefferson's policy of assimilation towards Native Americans, Jackson pushed his adgenda for removal. Why? The Trail of Tears was worth the innumerable acres made availible for cotton cultivation. The cotton gin certainly made life easier, but it did not mean that the slaves, who lost their freedom, or the Native Americans, who lost their homeland, had a better life.</p>
<p>JUst a century later, history again shows us that technology does not always improve mainkind. Because of developments like the machine gun, the number of casualties during the first world war outnumbered that of every human conflict in the word from the French Revolution over 120 years before. Consider the Franco-Prussian war, the Russian Revolution...the list just goes on and on. But technology's effects did not end there. Mainy politicians at Versailles equated the large casualties to German hostility, not technology. They placed a highly punitive clause and impossible reparations. The former sparked German nationalism, and the latter caused the most devastating economic crisis Europe had ever seen -- when a family's life savings were not enough to buy a single loaf of bread. These conditions allowed the rise of Hitler. Yes, certainly killing became a lot easier, but the price to pay was not firgiven for another 50 years.</p>
<p>Some may argue that these are rather extreme examples, but those in fact are the true identities of technology: iPods causing hearing loss, "Monster Mom" pushing her daughter's friend to suicide over an instant messenger. Certainly technology helps us as well. The cotton gin allowed the American aeconomy to thrive, and machine guns helped the ALlied forces to win with American support. But in the end, not all technology is worth it. Lives are not always better for the technology.</p>
<p>Wow...in retrospect that was a crappy essay. Anyways, I had a third example (Kurt Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle," because technology causes all the poor people to lose their jobs. Their lives are completely automated and controlled by a machine....etc.) Will it hurt me that I was only able to use history examples?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>