Who will emerge the victor?
In the world of movies technology always seem to triumph over Man. At least this is probably what the scriptwriters and the directors have willed this so. In real-life however, we are taught that Man has the power to dominate and conquer Nature that has now been demythologized into just mere resources for Man to manipulate and shape into things to serve Man's diverse technological interest.
Indeed History has shown that this is true. Witness the epic journeys to cross the North Pole, to climb Mount Everest, to navigate the globe, to step foot on the Moon, to battle diseases and calamities, to crack the genetic code and finally to reinvent Man in his own image. In truth all these would not have happened without technology being successfully harnessed in the service of Man.
The question is can Man really win over Technology which has now replaced Nature? To start with we will need to understand the real meaning of the term "Technology". If we were to look at the political meaning of technology we can appreciate the difficulty for us to give a positive answer to the question posed at the beginning of the paragraph.
Some of the attempts at defining a political meaning for technology include: Is technology a means to liberate human beings? Is it an extension of Man's nature to dominate the Earth? Is the drive to achieve technological superiority humanly possible? Or is it finally a rejection of our true humanity? (Carl Mitcham and Robert Mackey, 1983)
Contrast these with the various definitions that convey a philosophical problem to many: technology has been identified with inventions; some have conceived of it as applied sciences; others have referred to it as a set of means by which Man uses the forces and laws of nature; and it is used for economic purposes and even justified as a kind of secular religiosity.
In a metaphysical sense, if one were to follow the argument above to its ultimate end, Man's quest to enslave nature and now technology will lead one day to, as described by C. S. Lewis, "the abolition of Man". (Mitcham and Mackey, 1983) A return to the basic is called for here if Man seek to restore his place in Nature. This entails going back to the roots of spirituality.
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