Is technology a means of social control?

Reading Kingsley Dennis's article "Opening Oandora's box: How technologies of communication and cognition may be shifting towards a 'Psycho-Civilized Society' one thing came to mind which is none other than social control, Dennis notes that the use of wireless technologies have been developed to target an individuals biological body, with specific focus upon the neuronal functioning of the brain. This is a scary concept to take in there is no doubt that we will reach a point in our lives where technology will dominate every sense of our being from chips placed into our skins to track our every trace or even the new passports which now have chips placed in them. One has to stop and think if this is another ploy for the government to control the world we live in. Such as the example given in Dennis's article the "Active Denial System" which is a non-lethal energy weapon which sends direct pulses into target subjects. This causes a painful burning sensation designed specifically for crowd control. To have the most powerful tool in our body (the brain) controlled means we lose all functions of freedom of choice we are left to depend on technology alone. Dennis notes that Technology will be so advanced that it can even detect if a driver is getting tired through the eyes alone or the wireless-brain technology that goes beyond the sphere of gaming and has been developed to stop people from over-gaming it works by sending acoustic sound wave signals to the brain which tells gamers to stop playing. If all these concepts noted by Dennis comes true and technology reaches a stage where it can control our subconcious than there is no doubt that technolgy will subsequently be used to control the consumer society. If technology can be used to stop people from playing, buying or doing any particular behaviour in general than it can consequently also be used to do the opposite.

So should we as a society support the advancement of technology?.....is technological advancement a positive driving force in the world we live in? ... either way there is no way to know but to wait and find out...

Psycho-Civilised Society

Kingsley Dennis' unexpectedly immersive reading on the future of psychological technology highlighted several reasons why what he calls a "psycho-civilised society" is frightening and abhorrent.

At the end of the day a shift towards scarier forms of technology is unavoidable and to be expected. When the first working television system was demonstrated in 1928 no one would have expected the next generation of gigantic plasma screens and LCD televisions, creating images so clear that it is almost unbelievable.

Evolution is an important part of humanity. We ourselves, (depending on your beliefs) evolved from hairier, less intelligent life forms into intellectually and physically gifted individuals. With the evolution of our intellect came the creation of technology, which we can see now is also evolving. To deny the evolutionary aspect of technology is to deny your iPod, television, Xbox 360 and iPhone. Four things that for some people are the very essence of day to day life.

Dennis paints a slightly bleak picture of 'neuro-technology' and the possibilities that it may hold for human beings in the not too distant future. Attention is even paid to current and past attempts at manipulating the biology of the human body through technology. However thorough Dennis' explanations are though, one can't help but feel as though Dennis is providing frequent nudges, of negativity throughout each explanation to force his interpretation of this research on the reader.

In my opinion, it was bound to happen, and it is. But articles such as Dennis' only serve to render a sense of false alarm amongst techno-phobics and Luddites. This new biologically threatening technology is not being forced upon people and it is very unlikely that projects such as the Active Denial System will be let loose on innocent civilians, at least not in developed countries... Research into the area of technology's possibilities in the realm of the biological is harmless and could very well provide the information needed to combat potential threats, if any arise.