1

SECOND TRIMESTER 2013/2014

GSM5170 Management
Information System
Technology and Daily Life: Are we becoming
less human?


Lecturer: Dr. Haliyana Khalid







Name




Student ID

Tan Chwee Guan PBS1311217







2
The technology today is not as before. Before most of the devices are manual.
On contrary, with the invention of artificial intelligence (AI), devices nowadays are
automatic. Therefore, technology has a huge impact on our daily life. It is very much
affect the way we think. However, I think it is making us less creative and lack of sense
and feelings. However, I do not agree on human are becoming less human or less
intelligent with the technological advancement.

With the advancement of technology, the bond between human may be
weakened. As the interactions are lessen, people mostly communicate with each other
face to face only on unavoidable matters. For example, when you are asking for help.
Hence, human become selfish. However, being selfish does not mean human are less
human; selfish is also one of the human traits!

Moreover, if you think that human now are like robots, well I do not agree with
that too. "A man is man and a robot is a robot. Man cannot be a robot and robot cannot
be a man. Man may sometimes act like a robot, but he is not a robot. It is true that man
is becoming more robotic but he always thinks like a man by his own. Man may forget
about morals for sometimes but one day or the other he realizes that he is a human
being, whereas a robot never" (Srirangam, 2000).

Most of the studies on human nowadays tried to compare what we are today
with what our ancestor are before in order to prove that we are less human and less
intelligent today. "I do not think it is fair to compare people from today to people a
hundred years ago because times are different but that does not mean one generation
is smarter than the other" (Debate.org., 2013).

According to Srirangam (2000), "it is not that human beings forgot the human
nature but the thing is that the human beings are using their intelligence to invent more
and more things as per their necessity, it is true that necessity is the mother of
invention, but the only unfortunate thing is, man is using his brain to invent automated
things rather than the things which are non-robotic, for example, now man is able to
3
create new seeds or modify the seeds (genetically modified) given by the nature and
making them artificial". This clearly shown that there is still human nature and human
are still intelligent beings, the only thing that is different from before is the truth that
human nature has changed.

Some claim that human are getting less intelligent as people nowadays are not
independent in thinking. To be less thinking is to be less human. Nevertheless, I cannot
agree with the claim. There are many studies now that resulted a theory that people are
becoming less intelligent. However, "the theory isn't without critics, with one scientist
contacted by LiveScience suggesting that rather than losing our smarts, humans have
just diversified them with various types of intelligence today" (LiveScience, 2012).

There are also studies that showed that human intelligent genes in this era is
different than ages before. "But just because humans have more mutations in their
intelligence genes doesn't mean we are becoming less brainy as a species, said
psychologist Thomas Hills of the University of Warwick, who was not involved in the
study. Instead, removing the pressure for everyone to be a superb hunter or gatherer
may have allowed us to evolve a more diverse population with different types of smarts,
he said" (Hills, Crabtree, and Ghose, 2012).

Moreover, "humanity is not becoming less intelligent. Technology makes all of us
in the world smarter and able to do our jobs more efficiently. We would have to be
intelligent to be able to use these devices. I think humanity is getting smarter as the
world around them becomes more intelligent" (Debate.org., 2013). Just take a look
around us, if human are getting stupider then why we are surrounded by information
technology.

Many claims that people now are not focused and never use their brain
becoming more dependent on information technology. The devices and infrastructures
are there, why blame someone who cleverly utilizes things beside him or her. According
to John and Brandon (2013), "of course, there are a counter-arguments. After all, when
4
we search for facts on Bing or Google, we are gaining knowledge and, potentially,
increasing our intelligence. Wallaert, for one, isn't concerned about the short-term
implications, and no expert we ask suggests we should not use these tools. What is
disconcerting, though, is the idea that in some far distant society we may not retain as
much tacit knowledge, relying instead on what computers tell us to be true".

Although I have been disagreeing human are less human and less intelligent with
the technology advancement, I do agree that people nowadays are less creative. In my
opinion, this is the impact from over relying on the information technology. People
become lazy to think to solve a problem. According to Sohn (2013), "the findings,
published in Creativity Research Journal, add to growing evidence that creativity is
declining among U.S. students who are schooled to score well on standardized tests
instead of thinking outside the box".

Other than that, I totally agree that human are now lack of sense and feelings. As
I said earlier that human are becoming more selfish, I think the cause for it is due to the
fact that people only interact with each other directly face to face on unavoidable
matters. It is easy to see that most of the people only plays with their smartphone at the
gathering. It is also true for couple these days that go out for a date. Everyone is
enjoying themselves but not enjoying together. The meaning togetherness today is left
with sitting around doing something individually.

Another reason for me to agree that human are now lack of sense and feelings is
because now the daily working life for most of us are just routine work. Even if we do
not repeat it today, the flow of working is still a cycle. The work are all following the
standard operation procedure (SOP). No thinking, sense or feeling is needed. The
situation become worse with the Corporate Governance that is practiced today.

In conclusion, I think that with the technology advances, human are not less
human or less intelligent. Human are just less creative and lack of sense and feelings.
What human do in this day and age are more to themselves. People try to erase their
5
emotion for empathy or sympathy towards others to ease themselves or to avoid
trouble as they have enough problem already. Hence, I think that Human Governance
should be practiced. When people are able bring back their old human nature, that is
when you will see that we will have a brighter future.

REFERENCES

Debate.org. (2013). Is humanity becoming less intelligent? Retrieved 01 June, 2014,
from
http://www.debate.org/opinions/is-humanity-becoming-less-intelligent

LiveScience (2012). Are Humans Becoming Less Intelligent? Retrieved 01 June, 2014,
from
http://www.livescience.com/24713-humans-losing-intelligence.html

Hills, T., Crabtree, G., and Ghose, T. (2012). Study claims human are becoming less
intelligent. Retrieved 01 June, 2014, from
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/study-claims-humans-are-becoming-less-intelligent/

John and Brandon. (2013). Is technology making us less human? Retrieved 01 June,
2014, from
http://www.techradar.com/news/world-of-tech/future-tech/is-technology-making-us-
less-human--1171002

Sohn, E. (2013). Are Kids Today Less Creative? Retrieved 01 June, 2014 from
http://news.discovery.com/human/are-kids-today-less-creative-131121.htm

Srirangam, M. K. (2000). Are we becoming less human and more robotic? Retrieved 01
June, 2014, from
http://www.civilserviceindia.com/subject/Essay/are_we_becoming_less_human_and_
more_robotic4.html