1. Technology and Ethics
Jeremy Rifkin from the passage from "The Age of Simulation" contends that the Television is the cause of and solution to all of life's problems in modern society. He claims that we as a nation sit in front of the TV endlessly in order to fulfill some aspect of out life that we are not getting in a regular environment. Which is in part due to the fact that Television is in and plays such a substantial role in our lives.
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He shows how all of the essential social needs can be and are to often met through this lifeless medium. How we reach stimulation that would otherwise be given through genuine human contact is now impersonal. We are making what was once personal now impersonal.
Some would argue that this is not the case while the facts still remain, that we as a culture are spending more and more time in front of the television, we are spending it with friends and family and this shared experience be it in the same room or different houses give us the opportunity to communicate and share the same common feelings. As well discuss the issues that arose on the night before's shows. The water-cooler chat has been in this country filled with the same topics across the country.
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This trend also seems to have bridged the economic gap; the rich are still watching the same Joe Millionaire as the poor. We now have a common theme in this country a starting ground that which communication between two people that previously would not have anything to talk about now have a common interest or at least no matter what your education level is you can hold the same conversation about what happened on Big Brother 4 last night.
Some would also argue that we as a society have deteriorated so far due to other circumstances that the backwoods country culture of old has been lost due to fear. Therefore we have been forced to look for our stimulation elsewhere. Television then has filled a gap in our being that needed to be filled.