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Joseph Landolf
Fender
English IV Honors (1st)
October 3, 2016
Metal vs. Man Outline
1. Introduction
a. Hook Sentence
b. Explanation of my view on technology
c. Thesis Statement
2. Technology against Humanity (Mental)
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.

Nature Deficit Disorder

Stats for average technology use of teens
Idea of Artificial Intelligence Overlords
Long-term effect
Interview responses regarding the mental effect of technology

3. Technology against Humanity (Physical)

a. 75,000,000 people killed in WWII
b. List of wartime inventions with the sole purpose to kill
c. Armageddon clock
4. Technology against Humanity (The Case of Iron Man)
a. Brief overview of who/what Iron Man is
b. How comics portray cultural ideals
c. Explain what the merging of Stark and his armor through
nanotechnology represents culturally
d. Examples of how humanity has been shown to rely on technologies
e. What all that means for the future of the human race
5. Technology against Nature
a. Mass use of resources (loss of habitats leading to extinction
[Endangered Species Act])

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b. Large amount of energy used due to vast number of technologies

causes a heat production which contributes to global climate change.
6. Technology against Technology
a. Moores Law
b. Self-replicating technology and physical boundaries for technology
c. Human error causes glitches
7. Conclusion
a. Restate thesis
b. End with a statement making the reader question their own views
on technology

Joseph Landolf
Fender
English IV Honors (1st)
October 3, 2016
Metal vs. Man
Society will soon reach a crucial breaking point that will not be avoidable; once that point
it is reached, society will fail and collapse. This statement may seem over exaggerated and
extraneous but it is an ever approaching reality due to humanity's dependence on all of its
mechanical aspects. Many have the view that technology has advanced the human race to a

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golden, or maybe more appropriately named, cobalt age of life. Without looking at the big
picture of society as a whole this is a well placed viewpoint. Those who take time to think about
the situation recognize technology, as a whole, is not only an immense hazard to humanity
mentally and physically, but it also is hazardous to nature, and itself.
Nature Deficit Disorder is a phrase used to explain the current disconnect between the
current teenage generation and the world around them. This term, coined by Richard Louv in his
book The Last Child in the Woods (2005) sparked a movement to push children to go outside and
connect more with nature. In todays society, humanity has grown so accustomed to sitting in
front of a television, looking at cell phones, or playing on a computer in their downtime that they
have lost the benefits of being outdoors. It has been proven in numerous studies that children that
have spent more time outside, away from technology, have not only more energy to do activities
but a positive and mentally better outlook on life. This movement to get children outdoors is
helpful, but it is not going to fix the problem society faces, especially with teenagers. On
average, a person will spend eight hours and forty-one minutes on an electronic device
throughout the day. That is half the time the average person will stay awake. This horrifying
statistic is getting worse as new and better technology is being created, sucking an already
immersed generation farther into the black hole of technology. In his article The Negative Effects
of Technology on Society, Lee Siegel suggests that, "It does not matter if your home is a noisy
urban walk-up or a quaint cottage on a secluded bluff. If you have a screen and can pick up a
signal, your mind is still in the same placeless place."
There is another phrase that has raised fear in the hearts of people across the world,
techno-geddon. Techno-geddon is the idea that with technology advancing so quickly that it will
become, and in many cases already has, more intellectually advanced than its creators and, in its

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superiority, realize it is capable of enslaving the human race causing a global civil war. This idea
has two main different sides, those who argue that advancing technology will destroy the human
race for all eternity and there are those who argue that advanced technology will solve the
worlds problems allowing us to live in a perfect, utopian society. The mere fact that people are
worried about this situation shows a growing fear of technology. Technology was not meant to be
feared and yet it has taken a toll on the mental capabilities of those it has a hold on, and in some
cases quite severely.
Not only does technology have hugely negative effects on the mental aspect of our lives
but it also has a horrifying effect on our physical beings. Machines are and were built for
efficiency. This efficiency lead to the to the death of seventy-five million people within the span
of nearly 6 years, starting on September 1, 1939 and ending on May 9, 1945. This mass killing
by way of technology goes by the name of World War II. Tanks, aircraft carriers, semi-automatic
and assault rifles, long-range aircraft bombers, chemical bombs, and the atomic bomb were all
machines of death. Created for the sole purpose of killing as many of the enemy as possible these
advances in technology opened a new battlefield that unfortunately became widely accepted and
utilized. As the war ended technological weapons still were made with terrifying implications if
used. Three minutes to midnight; many people are unaware of what that phrase represents. Every
year the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists makes an evaluation on the current state of the world and
just how close we are to a potential doomsday. The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists attribute their
evaluation on the time it would take to end the world based on, unchecked climate change,
global nuclear weapons modernizations, and outsized nuclear weapons arsenals. Some may
argue that the leaders of the world would never let anything get that far out of hand but a single
rash decision to press the theoretical red launch button would set off a nuclear war that will

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statistically last three minutes long. Societies have survived this long without destroying the
world but as new leaders come into power, new enemies are made.
Culturally, it is not typically thought of that we have a strong dependence on technology.
Not many people will stop to think about just how often they spend surrounded by technology
that makes their life easier. There are in the world many ways to see just how a culture thinks and
acts and that is through magazines, movies, and books/comics. In each of these a writer/director
enhances different ideals to appeal to a targeted audience. A good portion of the time that
audience is young adults, the next generation. One comic book has particularly caught the
attention of tens of thousands of teenagers; Iron Man: Armored Adventures. In these action filled
comics a rich, genius man named Tony Stark goes through the world fighting evil where it
surfaces. They way he fights crime is the most intriguing part. After a nearly deadly explosion
embedded shrapnel slowly sliding closer to his heart Stark, with some help, created a magnetic
chestplate to keep himself safe (later turned into a electromagnetic reactor). Stark soon creates a
full body suit that he uses to fly around and save the world. Starks dependence on a mechanical
suit embodies the dependence that society has on technology. In a sense, technology is what
keeps society alive, much like the magnetic suit for Stark. As new inventions are made it raises
issues that makes people think how they interact with each other and as well as the technologies
around them. Maybe the future for the human race involves minds being implanted into robotic
bodies, or everyone immersed in a virtual reality simulation.
Practically everyone can understand a brief list of effects that technology can have on
them or the people around them, but not everyone thinks about how it affects nature and wildlife.
Plastics (made from alloys), steel, gold, platinum, copper, cobalt, tin, lead, aluminum,
magnesium, silicon, and zinc are all materials that must be mined from the earth to make the

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most basic of computer systems. Higher performance personal computers typically require
increased quantities of metals that are more recherch or exotic than gold or platinum. An
alarming amount of companies that mine for these materials do so without regard for the
environmental issues that will be caused in the long-term.
The first major effect that the creation of technology has ties into the mining of materials.
In order to excavate a metal out of the earth a site first has to be cleared so as to move transports
and people to the site. This clearing of land directly causes a loss of habitable areas for particular
species. If a species that was lost was a keystone species then an entire ecosystem could collapse
and there would be no way for society to have it recover. The Endangered Species Act, signed in
1973, attempted to protect species that could possibly be killed or become extinct as a result of
things like this unrestricted mining, but not every company feels as though they have to obey the
regulations. The loss of species and habitat is an instant change to an ecosystem but the aftermath
of drilling can cause even worse issues. Mining is known to cause the creation of sinkholes from
unfilled gaps underground, erosion, and the tainting of soil, groundwater and surface water by
chemicals from mining processes. All of these issues can have numerous, uncontrollable effects
on the environment.
Another environmental effect that technology can have on the environment is a current
flow of heat being released by every device that is ever in use (and sometimes even while not in
use). At some point a person will experience their phone feeling very hot to the touch or their
laptop causing an uncomfortable temperature rise on their laps. This experience demonstrates the
fact that while it may be a miniscule amount, every device gives off some amount of energy as
heat. When that small number of watts released as heat is multiplied by an estimated five to ten
billion devices in use it grows to a number that should be setting off a lot of red flags for a lot of

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different organizations. This immense heat production causes two issues; one is explained by
Sadi Carnot, a French scientist in 1824, and the other by three words many people have based
their lives and careers on, global climate change.
In 1824 Sadi Carnot had a discovery that soon came to be known to the scientific world
as the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is the section of physical science that
is based around the connections between heat, energy, and the things that produce them. The
Second Law of Thermodynamics states that whenever a form of energy is used for something a
lesser quality of energy, typically in the form of heat is released. There is no system in existence
that can produce a higher quality energy from one of a lower quality or an equal quality.. Now
without taking an environmental science course most people have never heard of this nor do they
care what it means, but if they were to stop and think about it they would realized that society is
slowly turning to a crisis situation. If energy is constantly being downgraded then there has to be
a point at which we no longer have enough usable energy sources. It is projected that fossil fuels
like oil, natural gas, and coal will not last the world through the next century. In order to prevent
this catastrophe big businesses will need to take the first steps in harvesting renewable energy
such as solar or wind energy. It is highly unlikely that big businesses will want to make such an
expensive change and will ultimately cause a collapse in society.
During the next century, as society burns its remaining fossil fuels to run its factories, its
cars, and its furnaces, the immense heat will continually flow into the Earths atmosphere. As the
heat rises and disperses itself throughout the entirety of the atmosphere is raises the global
temperature just a small amount. That small amount can have an enormous impact on the
northern and southern poles, fragile ecosystems around the Earth, and the wildlife that lives
within them. This theory of a global climate change has become fact as scientist are observing

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the melting of the polar ice caps at an alarming rate of 12.2-15.2 percent yearly. Now that it has
been proven to be real, the question that is raised is what to do about it. As for the devices, most
governments do not hold the authority to force their people to use less electronics to save the
Earth. The change has to be a decision for each and every individual on the planet.
As we change our lifestyles around new technologies it always seems that the next, better
model is being released. Technology is constantly changing at an exponential rate. This rate is
known as a concept called Moores Law. This law, first observed in 1965 by the co-founder of
the Intel Corps., Gordon Moore, states that the number of transistors per square inch on a
microprocessor chip had doubled each year since the integrated circuit had been invented, later
revised to every eighteen months to two years. Most people can deduce the meaning of this
statement even without any background knowledge regarding transistors or integrated circuits.
The realization that technology is growing smaller and smaller as time progresses seems like an
amazing concept to most. The idea that one day, instead of cell phones we will have microscopic
chips implanted into our heads that can perform all the processes a computer can is astonishing.
However, there will come a point at which technology reaches its physical boundaries.
Transistors, according to Moores Law, will one day become the size of an atom, the smallest
they can possibly be without major advances in quantum mechanics. While the size of the
technology decreases, the ability of it to self-replicate grows. Nanomedical technologies, tiny
particles with the ability to replicate into two exact copies of themselves, have already begun to
be used to deliver specific drugs to certain cells, enhance MRI scans, and test for toxicity in
certain environments. This growing technology will decrease the need for human interaction in
certain professions. With all these rapid changes the world will have become accustomed to the

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daily advances in technology but once is suddenly stops due to boundaries, society will suddenly
stop as well. Technology is slowly going to destroy itself due to its exponential growth.
At this moment in time society has not entirely implemented advanced technologies, such
as nanotechnology, into a daily use. In most cases technologies must be created with some form
of human interaction. Whether it being a direct contact with the materials and assembly, or a
system of coding created by a computer technician humans have always played a part in the
creation of machines. One concept follows every single appliance ever made with human
interaction, the concept of human error. Most people, if asked to multiply four-hundred and
seventy three by thirteen in their head would come up with an answer that is not six thousand one
hundred and forty-nine. A computer however, would almost one hundred percent of the time,
produce the correct answer, unless there was a calculation error made by its creator. Hundreds of
thousands of glitches occur daily in computer, cell phone, and calculator systems throughout the
day. These glitches dont raise much concern because they can be easily fixed. Issues do arise
when these glitches occur in places such as the International Space Station, traffic lights, or
Googles new self-driving cars. In these rare cases with newer technology, not only can it cause
an extraordinary inconvenience, in most situations, will put the lives of other humans in
jeopardy. Neal E. Boudette describes a very interesting situation regarding the abilities of selfdriving cars, In the midst of busy traffic, a ball bounces into the road, pursued by two running
children. If a self-driving cars only options are to hit the children or veer right and strike a
telephone pole, potentially injuring or killing the cars occupants, what does it do? Should its
computer give priority to the pedestrians or the passengers? There is no way to protect
ourselves from our own mistakes, no matter how drastic they may become. For some, the only
solution is to remove the faulty technology and continue their lives. This is definitely easier said

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than done. When lives are in danger society really needs to study their processes. Such a large
portion of life is dictated by technology and as it is repeatedly causing harm to the very people
who use it, there is nothing society can do besides sit back and hope a major glitch doesn't
happen.
Technology is a danger. Humanity has ignored the warnings of those who say technology
is dangerous and in return, they will one day regret it. These metallic monsters destroy nature,
corrupt humanity in several ways, and then turn on themselves in destructive ways. Change is no
longer an opinion. Without a dramatic shift in society regarding the use of machines there will be
no cure, no solution, and no escape to the destruction that will ensue.

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Works Cited
Kelly, Kevin. "4 Arguments Against Technology." Harvard Business Review. N.p., 2014.
Web. 29 Sept. 2016.
"Moore's law." The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia. New York: Columbia
University Press, 2016.Student Resources in Context. Web. 29 Sept. 2016
Hogan, Jon. "The comic book as symbolic environment: the case of Iron Man." ETC.: A
Review of General Semantics 66.2 (2009): 199+. Student Resources in Context. Web. 29 Sept.
2016.
"Negative Effects of Technology On Society [opinion]." Africa News Service 28 Apr.
2015. Student Resources in Context. Web. 30 Sept. 2016.
Davies, Madlen. "Average Person Now Spends More Time on Their Phone and Laptop
than SLEEPING, Study Claims." Daily Mail. Daily Mail, 11 Mar. 2015. Web. 2 Oct. 2016.
Bronson, Rachel. "Doomsday Clock." Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientists, 26 Jan. 2016. Web. 2 Oct. 2016.
Dunbar, Brian. "NASA Finds Thickest Parts of Arctic Ice Cap Melting Faster." NASA.
NASA, 29 Feb. 2012. Web. 19 Oct. 2016.
Boudette, Neal E. "5 Things That Give Self-Driving Cars Headaches." The New York
Times. The New York Times, 05 June 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016.