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Thou Shalt Not Commit the following Logical Fallacies!

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Thou Shalt Not Commit the following Logical Fallacies!

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For use in Evaluating Arguments for their Soundness.

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A04 IS BAE TOO ;)

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Ms Liang 💕

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TS: Advancements in technology do not increase our hopes for a better world, but instead it causes over-reliance, where people are so used to a life with technology that some cannot live without it.

Explanation: With the added convenience that technology brings to our lives, be it in terms of ease of completing daily tasks more efficiently, we would tend to utilize technology in every possible situation since it helps to improve our everyday lives. However, because of how much we use it, it is human nature to become too dependent on it, to the point that technology would be ingrained in our daily habits, making it indispensable. This over-reliant behavior puts us at risk of being incompetent because should technology fail us one day, we would be inequipped with the right tools and skills to handle various tasks. This lack of skill can be attributed to being so used to having technology to do everything for us that we take it for granted.

Comments for Areas for Improvement (AFIs)

TS:

1. CONTEXTUALISATION: To clarify specific understanding of question terms in bold, by specifying the type(s) of advanced technolog(ies) being addressed in your point.

RELEVANCE TO QN FOCUS: This technology must promise optimism for 'a better world' (in what aspect(s)?), and then be disproven why it fails to fulfil our expectations or hopes of it delivering that outcome.

ARGUMENT:

2. Commits 'FALSE CAUSE' FALLACY + analysed advancements in technology in terms of pros and cons - not what question is asking. (Con: technology can encourage a culture of dependence on its uses such that we are rendered helpless or ineffectual without it). - RELEVANCE

N.B. Advancements in technology do not cause an over-reliance on it. How technology is used (the extent of its use and application) is determined by individuals, and most pertinently, by the contexts in which they live in today. For developed countries, and increasingly in developing countries too, technology is integrated into almost all aspects of day to day operations. Its use cannot be easily refuted and discarded, upon weighing the benefits of efficiency, productivity, and convenience that its advancement yields. Thus, it is unfair to claim that technological developments have caused us to be over-reliant on it, when humans are the ones who have decided and bestowed on technology its centrality in our lives, and furthermore entrench its place by fervently pursuing its research and development to further fine-tune its capabilities to our uses.

ILLUSTRATION OF TS VIA EXAMPLES:

No recent, contemporary examples (last 5 years) of technological advancements that promise optimism (which it may or may not successfully deliver on).

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I agree with the notion that technology does indeed increases the hope of attaining a better world for humans as communication technology has vastly improved the accessibility and conveinience for humans to interact with one another through social media platforms even thought they are continents apart. People are able to communicate with each other more frequently and efficiently through social media platforms without the need to pay for long-distance calls to other countries and they can even interact with their acquaintances abroad as if they were having a face-to-face conversation in real life . According to statistics collected, Skype is used for over 3 billion minutes a day and it is being used by over 300 million users. This exponential number of users and time spent on Skype potray that communication technology has vastly improved our lives as more people are able to communicate with one another much more easily and it is very accessible to the whole world as all you need is internet connection to communicate with people abroad without worrying about cost as it is free. Since the internet is largely accessible across the globe, communication platforms like Skype provide individuals accessible technologies to further improve communication with people around the world thus improving their lives in the process.

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Among the thundering vanguard is a group of worried individuals,some of them doom struck Cassandras, some machine hating Luddites and a few who fit in neither group as they take in the rapid rise of super intelligent machines which threaten to render us obsolete as they take over our jobs.In fact, machines have already succeeded us in many areas such as factory workers, stock traders, data processors and even news reporters. Our hopes for a better world are dwindling as we enter the age of possibility. Machines are becoming increasingly smarter and better which inevitably puts masses of people at the risk of retrenchment and unemployment. Profit driven companies would much rather channel their finances into employing and maintaining sophisticated machines which are far more efficient and less likely to err than a normal human being. A 2013 Oxford study proves that almost half of those currently employed in the United States are at a risk of being put out of work by automation in the next decade or two. Man has created machines and surely, there must be a destruct button, if not, machines are then definitely bound to take over which could culminate in mass unemployment and chaos. Therefore, the harms brought about by advancements in technology far outweigh the benefits which is why I repudiate the notion that our hopes for a better world have increased with the advancements in technology.

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Although advancements in technology makes life more convenient for people, it did not increase our hopes for a better world due to people being overly dependent on technology, reducing the efforts of people to carry out daily activities on their own.

As technology is advanced, daily activities that used to be done physically and requires effort from people have now been made easier which cause people to just depend on the technology and not their own ability. This may cause people to feel loss if technology fails.

Online grocery shopping is now available which means people do not need to step out of their homes to get the essentials they need. Eveything can be done through the screen of their devices and the items will be delivered to right at their doorstep. This requires minimal effort.

Such advancements in technology enables people to think that they do not have to put in the effort and use their own ability, inevitable making them lazier. This may lead to negative effects if the technology fails as people who are overly dependent on technology would have lost the ability of critical thinking and are less efficient in carrying out daily activities on their own.

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TS:  Even though advancement in medical technology has brought about better health care services and treatment to the public , the process of delivering this medical technology has brought about detrimental harm towards the health of the poor in developing countries because they are being illegally trial tested , due to the lack of legislation safety protection.

Explanation:  Researchers in developed countries often manipulates the lack of safety protection law and lack of information of the poor in developing countries , to first trial test their potential advances in medical technology , most commonly drug related advancement , on the poor in developing countries.

Evidence : In Hyperabad, India in 2003, eight test subjects died during the testing of the anti-clotting drug Streptokinase. The worst part, though, was that the subjects did not even know that they were part of a trial. This example clearly demonstrates that pharmaceutical companies established in developed countries have acted under cloak and dagger, not telling the public about the negative connotations that test subjects have suffered. They exploited the poor in developing countries by using their lack of information and poor legislation safety protection laws to cut cost in experimentation or to test the validity of their supposedly advancement in medical technology.

Link : Ultimately , while advancement in medical technology has led to better health care service and treatments , the process of crafting this medical advancement has lead to the sufferings of the poor in developing countries. As this is due to pharmaceutical companies trying to cut experimentation costs or to test the validity of their advancement , hence resulting in drug trial tests on the poor before releasing to the market ,  manipulating the poor's lack of information or lack of safety protection , essentially harming their  health.

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TS: I disagree with the notion that "our hopes for a better world have increased with advancements in technology". With the rapid advancement of technology, many might expect mankind to reap great benefits. However,when we take a deeper look into the impact of technology on the world, it actually does more harm than good.

ETS: Technology has not been able to solve widespread issues of disease and famine, as well as major environmental problems and global warming. This is especially evident in the field of data collection and Intel. Our technology has indeed evolved, to a point where it might no longer be kept under control by us humans. This may in turn become serious threats to our survival as a species.

Illustration: Take for example, spy drones and surveillance technology. We have spend many resources into the development of extremely capable and smart machines that help us track, locate and gather data about people and places. The military had also utilised these drones for warfare. They can be controlled from a remote area far away while the user stays under the cover of safety. However, such intelligent systems will eventually malfunction, or even get too "intelligent for their own good".

Elaboration of example: These drones and data gathering devices do not have feelings and cannot feel or make decisions like a human can. They are programmed to follow orders from its user and from this perspective, it may seem that these machines are indeed useful, but what happens when they do not do like they're built to? There are incidents of US surveillance/attack drones killing or injuring innocent civilians on war torn areas in the middle east, causing much outrage and issues for the US military. Also, not many people have evaluated the power these drones have. There is a possibility that they might turn on us humans and damage our allies instead or our enemies, and in some cases, destroy the trust nations have for each other. We should keep an eye on such technology to ensure that it's usage will not do us harm.

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TS: Our hopes for a better world have indeed increased with advancements in technology as progress in medical and food technology have propelled the quality of life worldwide to higher standards, particularly in developing countries.

Explanation: Issues such as droughts, famine and epidemics are common in developing countries, especially in those which also face widespread poverty where providing sustenance for all citizens may be challenging. Moreover, their population growth eclipses that of already developed countries, making the need for attention to the medical and food sectors ever more prominent. Consequently, developments in technology pertaining to these fundamental necessities help to address such issues and hence improve the lives of the people in developing countries.

Illustration: Consider the LifeStraw, a portable device that filters contaminated water, making it potable for the user. Lightweight, compact, durable and effective at achieving its objective of providing drinkable water in places devoid of it, it is one of the many revolutionary ideas brought to life as a solution to the equally numerous problems that plague developing countries. With a maximum filtering limit of 1000 liters of water, each LifeStraw filter is sufficient to last a single person an entire year.

Elaboration: The LifeStraw's filter technology has helped to alleviate the difficulties that developing countries face in procuring drinkable water for their citizens. They have also been deployed in emergency situations for countries whose water supplies have been depleted by natural disasters. Furthermore, their use is not strictly limited to developing countries alone - adventurers commonly use the LifeStraw when traversing the unknown away from civilization. Thus, the various benefits brought about by the creation of the LifeStraw have definitely served to give us hope for a better world.

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I agree with the notion that the hopes for a better world have increased with advancements in technology. This is due to the scientific and technological advances in the medical area where it could save lives and help many others in need, hence improving the general population’s quality of life since people are healthy and not in pain. One such example is the MitochondriaDNA transfer through In-Vitro Fertilisation which aims to prevent certain genetic diseases being passed on to children, in this case, Mitochondrial disease. Mitochondrial diseases strikes in childhood and gets steadily worse, it badly affects the parts of the body that need the most energy, such as the heart and brain, and also lead to other severe medical problems like Parkinson’s Disease. There are currently no cure for Mitochondrial diseases. Thus, through this procedure of replacing a small amount of faulty DNA in a mother’s egg with healthy DNA from another woman, it eliminates this disease entirely for the child and the child’s future generation. Hence, this improves the child’s quality of life with the absence of this serious disease and the other medical issues it may bring, increasing the hopes for a better world where people can live healthily in the absence of such diseases.

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TS:  However advancements in technology does not necessarily lead to wholesome improvement of our quality of living due to the fact that, in majority of first world countries, recent progressing technology have shown to be a threat to a person's health and safety.
ETS: Therefore the assumption that technology has improved our quality of living is contradicted as it has actually added onto danger and infringed on our safety.
Exp: For example smartphones, which is a very common device in first world societies and hence owned by a significant and major proportion of people in these societies, have had a trend of exploding while the user is using the device, resulting in major injuries and in extreme cases, death.
EE: As such with smartphones being one of technology's recent progressions being a source of mortality, it serves to show that advancement in technology can have negative effects on our quality of life and hence does not necessarily mean it has increased our chances of a better world

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- Topic Sentence (can be from either side of the argument)
- Explanation of TS
- Illustration (Example)
- Brief Explanation & Elaboration of Example (Implications, Significance)