Modernity is a term that is often associated with progress, but this association can be misleading. There have always been many different opinions or points of view about modernity and if this great change in all of the aspects of life are good and bad for society. One of the main aspects of modernity is technology, and already at the time in which modernity was commencing, there were conflicting opinions about if technology was progress or not and is so, how. . Some believed that technology was nothing but a way to make society better and more advanced. Others doubted what the effect of technology would be on society and if it would be beneficial or not. Several saw the advantages for some classes and but disadvantages for the others. Finally some believed that it was nothing but hurtful to society and a step back in the progress of man kind.
Some thinkers believed that modernity was to progress, and progress lead to perfection. At the turning point in history in which modernity was starting to take its role in society, many people believed that the only way to go from then on was progress, and that this would lead to the perfection of organization and the human mind. One of the people that believed that modernity was a clear path to perfection was Jean Antoine Nicholas de Condorcet. and he made his point stating , “The advantages that must result from the state of improvement, of which I have proved we may almost entertain the certain hope, can have no limit but the absolute perfection of the human species.” (Source 1) This was a very optimistic but logic interpretation of the events that were going on in society. People had been searching for perfection for centuries and Condorcet observed the progress and change that was occurring in society and concluded that the goal was progressively being achieved.
Although Condorcet had a very clear opinion about what was happening and what would happen, this reasoning still left people like Walt Whitman with questions. Whitman shared some of the positive ideas that Condorcet had about modernity, but also questioned the future. Whitman clearly saw the power the human had achieved with this great technological boom, but didn’t know how society would use this power. With these words Walt Whitman gave examples of all of the technological advances such as “With the steamship, the electric telegraph, the newspaper, the wholesale engines of war, With these and the world-spreading factories, he interlinks geography, all lands.”(Source 3) But at the same time, he makes his doubtful thoughts about like “ No one knows what will happen next, such portents fill the days and nights;”. (Source 3)These two phrases that Whitman uses in his poem, let us know that he saw both positive and negative sides to technology and its role.
At the time, thinkers also had a third opinion. This opinion shared the positive aspects seen by Condorcet and Whitman, but disagreed both with the unclear future, and the assurance of perfection. To Olive Schreiner, the affects of technology on society, were clear, and to him there was both a positive and a negative side. Schreiner believed that the huge role technology was taking at the time in society would noticeably improve the life of some and deteriorate the one of others. She believed that the powerful and the richer class on the society scale would benefit from all of the advantages. And people on the lower spectrum of society, meaning the working class, would end-up slaved behind technology. Schreiner argued that “ The changes which have taken place during the last centuries, and which we sum up under the compendious term “modern civilization”, have tended to rob woman, not merely in part but almost wholly of the more valuable of her ancient domain of productive and social labor.” (Source 6) Schreiner gave a clear example of one of the parts of society that would not benefit from the new role of technology in society which to him, along with the lower class, were women. So, Schriener’s point differentiated from Whitman’s and from Condorcet’s, but clearly shared one opinion with them, which was that there was a positive part to technology and the modern world.
Finally, there were some people, like Gandhi that believed that modernity and the humongous role that technology played in society was nothing but a step back in human progress. Gandhi, strongly believed that this great change would only serve to hurt the society they lived and that “Everything will be done by machinery. Formerly, when people wanted to fight with one and another, they measured between them their body strength; now it is possible to take away thousands of lives by one man working behind a gun from a hill… They are obliged to work at the risk of their lives, at most dangerous occupations, for the sake of millionaires.”,(Source 5 ) using these words, Gandhi made his opinion come across. He did this by comparing the past society and the future one, or the one he saw evolving and trying to prove its differences. Another person that agreed with Gandhi and believed that Technology would end up taking over the human mind and enrichment was Fritz Lang. And we can see Lang’s opinion in the third still shot from the film Metropolis, in which he shows men working in a factory, all looking the same, and waiting for a “master clock”, as a symbol of the power of technology to change machines.(Source 8 ) By this monotone technological image, Fritz Lang makes the reader believe that he believes the same thing as Gandhi. Not only Gandhi and Fritz Lang share this opinion about technology, José Ortega y Gasset also does. Although he is not as pessimistic as Gandhi is in his views about modernity, he does share the opinion that technology is not a good advance for the human species. He said: “ He finds himself surrounded by marvelous instruments, healing medicines, watchful governments, comfortable privileges. On the other hand, he is ignorant how difficult it is to invent those medicines and those instruments and to assure their production in the future;”(Source 9), and with these words, Ortega y Gasset makes us understand that he believed the technological power that was rising at the time would be harmful to the human, because although surrounded by magnificent things, he would not know their functioning or their history. So this fourth and final view, demonstrates how at the time, there were also people that believed that technology would be harmful to society.
Progress isn’t the same as Modernity, although many times they are associated to one and other. Technology is an example, being on of the most important aspects of modernity, at the time in history when the change was coming about, not everyone believed technology was progress for their societies. The disagreements at the time were that some did think it would lead to human perfection, others doubted on what the human species would do with all the power they now held. And others, believed it was only beneficial to parts of the society, and others believed it was just harmful and a step back in the progress of man kind. From this study from the past we can learn that societies are constantly changing, and that it changed a lot when the modern era struck in. But societies don’t necessarily change towards progress, at least not from everyone’s point of view. And technology is a perfect example of how the future isn’t always brighter for all societies..
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