<p>Do changes that make our lives easier not necessarily make them better?</p>
<pre><code> The twentieth century bore the age of technology. Science evolved from its miniscule origins and revolutionary, blasphemous discoveries blossomed from every corner of the globe. The initial goals of these technologies were to facilitate human lifestyle - such as transportation and communication. However, technology soon degenerated into a superfluity; an unnecessary addition to our lives that did not necessarily better, but hurt them. The belief that technology and changes in life often have negative effects is best asserted by Thoreau’s Walden, and the danger of nuclear power, as well as the unsanitary environment of 19th century Industrial Britain.
Henry David Thoreau, a nineteenth century author, once voyaged to the woods, where he resided for years in solitude, cultivating his mind and writing a number of novels. During this period, Thoreau authored his novel Walden, which attacks industrial greed of the time. Railroad tycoons of the nineteenth century dominated American industry and politics and laid transcontinental rails, disrupting ecosystems and indigenous tribes. In his novel, Thoreau attacks the railroad tycoons and industrial America, exhorting the public to not allow the "railraod to ride upon" them, but for them to "ride upon the railroad." Theoreau, disgusted by the American dependence on the railraod for transportation and the exploitation of Irish and Chinese for its construction, advises the public to jerk free of the overpowering gravity of the railroad, which at the time was an affordable convenience expediting transcontinental travel.
The negative effects of technology can also be seen in the effects of Industrialization in England. Technology, like the steamboat, textile factories, coal power plants indeed facilitated life for the thousands at the cost of sanitation. The country grew into a trashy isle, dispensing pollution to every sound and river.
Another instance in which a system designed to benefit and simplify our lives has backfired tragically can be sen in the advent of nuclear power. Created in the mid-twentieth century and revised later on, nuclear power has posed a threat to both human life and the world's ecosystems. Explosions like the Ukrainian Chernobyl debacle and more recently, the exploding nuclear plant in [Fooocooo]ushima, Japan, have raised concerns about the efficacy and need for nuclear power. Nuclear power, originally designed to produce more power for more people has instead become a hazardous institution.
As exemplified by Henry Thoreau’s view on Industrial America, the effects of English Industrialization, and nuclear plant failures, it is evident that technology, or any other conduit for facilitating human lifestyle, often has negative effects.
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