Do we need to stop our progress in technology and advancement?

We have been evolving rapidly in technology and advancement for the past few decades. Technologies such as cell phones, tablets, and laptops have modified how we live our lives. As we go further into this time period, our demand for technology will grow even more rapidly. It means that it will eventually run out of room to evolve. In this article, I will talk about whether we need to stop our progress in advancement and technology, and how much progress would be considered overbought.

The pace of our technological evolution

The speed of our technological advancement is growing faster and faster every year. As you can see, we are at a very fast-growing pace compared to any other generation yet.

The other option is that we never reach that overbought point and somehow advance without even worrying about its consequences. If this happens, there is a chance for our species to continue surviving and prospering through the advancement in technology.

So why is the pace of our technological advancement growing so fast? Well, there are many reasons for this: We have gotten better at innovation, more money is put into research and development, and our demand for tech has increased as well. But does it have room to grow even faster? Yes. But should it?

How fast are we advancing?

To measure how far our current advancement has progressed, let’s compare the speed of our technological advances with the past. The progress made in the last few decades outnumbers the overall progress made throughout the past few centuries. So according to this trend, advancements are getting faster much faster than they have in previous years. And if we think about it, we are now living in a world that is very different from what it was just 10 years ago. This means that our present rate of advancement will be even higher still in the future.

Technology advancement: The overbought point

So in all this talk about how fast our advancement is growing, it could actually be considered too fast. I believe that our advancements are growing too fast for us to handle. Advances in technology have a negative side effect: They can make us lazy. For example, most of the students in 3rd grade today have never heard of an encyclopedia.

But back then, you would need to get off your couch and walk down to the library just to get information on a subject. Now, what happens when we have robots doing our work and giving us information on almost anything? We become less active and less healthy.

In short term, it might be fine, but mid-term or long term, it might all but destroy our lifestyle.

I believe there is a point where we can no longer advance in technology. The overbought point will be reached when our advancement becomes too fast, and we end up falling behind. But this time, it won’t be because we have run out of money or resources, but because our rate of advancement has become so fast that we are actually stagnating because of it.

That’s why I chose the title: “Do We Need To Stop Our Progress In Technology And Advancement?” I believe that there is a point where our advancement should slow down and become more sustainable to the pace of evolution that Earth can handle.

Have we reached the overbought point?

Well, that is a hard question and one I cannot answer. But I will try to answer it with my own opinion. Have we reached the overbought point? I will give a boring answer, sorry. The answer is that we are close to reaching the overbought point of technological advancement. When I say close, I mean we might reach that point as soon as 5-10 years from now.

Technology is like an elastic band that is being stretched to its maximum potential. And in the next few years, our maximum potential will reach its breaking point. When that happens, we will then have to start over in the future.

At first, I was pretty against this idea of stopping advancement because I thought that all our advancements were making us better and more efficient. But, then I realized that everything has its negatives and we need to keep a balanced view on both the negatives and positives of our developments in technology. So will we have to stop our technological advancement? Maybe, but only time will tell.

The future

Until and unless technology is making things easy, it’s fine. But at the point of time when that ease causes bigger problems for us, we would need to stop our advancements. But will we? We, humans, love comfort, more than we should. Once we reach that overbought point, it will be so difficult, if not impossible to stop advancement. Maybe if we were smarter, we wouldn’t have gotten to the overbought point in the first place.

Our technology and advancement is growing faster than we can handle and in my opinion, that is a bad thing.

The other option is that we never reach that overbought point and somehow advance without even worrying about its consequences. If this happens, there is a chance for our species to continue surviving and prospering through advancement in technology. But looking at our current development, I highly doubt this will happen because we humans tend to not think about the long-term effects of our actions.

Here are some near and far-future technologies, which would mean overbought levels of technology, and would harm us with their comfort:

A pill that makes you smarter

What’s wrong with being smarter? I can tell you, once we reach a point where everyone is smart, then no one is smart anymore. Our minds need to progress by learning from mistakes, not by taking a pill to avoid those mistakes. With no room for growth or growth from ourselves, then we are stagnating. At this point in time, each person is an individual — everyone should remain an individual until the end of time.

Robotics

Robotics will make life easier and safer. But robots are not easy and they are not safe. Robots are just tools for us, in the same way, that our cars are tools for transportation – of course, we love having them, but we also love driving without them.

This is the reason why I believe that robotics should be used as a tool to help us reach our maximum potential, not as a replacement for us. Humans should have control over the machines around them and not the other way around.

Relaxing robots for your every need

Again, robots are not easy and they are not safe. We should not expect robots to be our servants and help us around the house when we can’t even keep a regular housekeeper. Why do you think we spend money on medical insurance? Robots are not healthy, they are just tools made to do work that we either don’t want to do or don’t have time to do.

Flying Cars

Too much comfort is bad for us. Humans tend to not evolve thinking long term, mainly because we are lazy. If you have never seen the movie “War of the Worlds” then you should watch it now, because this is how we are heading. We will create all of this technology, but we will never think about what will happen later on. And that thinking is what could save us from our own inventions.

Virtual reality

Virtual reality is a great tool for ourselves and for the future. That might sound like a contradiction, but it really isn’t. Virtual reality isn’t just for video games, it will also be used to help people with any disabilities, from autism to other impairments. But when we reach that overbought point, there will be too much VR everyone will want to live in that virtual world. If you think about it if VR can simulate what is real then why should we ever leave our houses or our worlds?

But more than its positive aspects, Virtual Reality is also a really easy and lazy way to live. If your life is full of problems and you cannot take it anymore, then jump into the virtual world, right? Virtual reality is just a world that we can control, that we can bend to our will. I believe there should be more challenges in life than just being happy all the time while living in a virtual world.

Increased lifespan

I think this one is pretty self-explanatory. We should not need to increase our lifespans to 100 years old just because we find it boring after 80 or 90 years old. This would be like saying that if you play soccer for 10 years then you would want to play until you are 80 years old…it’s not going to happen. As humans, we have to accept the fact that sometimes life is boring and not always filled with happiness and joy. And that’s what makes us human.

Read: What if we discovered the algorithm of thought?

Our technology and advancement are growing faster than we can handle, and in my opinion, that is a bad thing. But it might not be until we emerge into a new part of history that we realize that we have gone too far with our progress.

So to answer this question: “Are We Reaching The Overbought Point Of Advancement?”, I believe that if humanity does not take time out from their constant need for technology and advancement, then yes, they are going overbought with technology.

Bottom line

So what do you think? Would you like to stop technology and advancement or would you be willing to go beyond the point that we have already reached? If so, what are the things that should be stopped, or left alone until their time has come? Let me know in the comment section below! I’d love to hear from you, and if you found this article interesting, do share it with your friends on social media!