SU B2 Reading: Technology Friend or Foe?

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Think about all the technology around you. Is it making a positive impact on your life? Does is have the opposite effect?

Technology: FRIEND or FOE?

SU B2READING

Review Below

What is Technology?

Comparative Phrases

Future Tenses

Buzz Words

Watch Me

house space garden bedrooms tiny

coffee happy tired sugar skinny food

boat beach sun swim water wave surf

Using ADJ.

Key Words

When one thing decreases, the other also decreases.

When one thing increases, the other decreases.

When one thing increases, the other also increases.

COMPARATIVE PHRASES

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Future Perfect Continuous

I will have been inventing something amazing..

Future Perfect

I will have invented something amazing..

future Continuous

I will be inventing something amazing.

Future Simple

I will invent something amazing..

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Future in the past

I was/were going to invent something amazing....

Future Review

Transmit

Discovery

Devices

Technology

Invention

Breakthrough

Scientific

These words will appear in the text frequently, make sure you know them! Flip Me!

Buzz Words

Inventor

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An application of knowledge to better a function.

To send information, ideas, objects from one place to another.

An electronic piece of equipment.

an important finding or advancement.

the device or product created by experiment

relating to science

the act of finding something previously unknown or hidden

These words will appear in the text frequently, make sure you know them! Flip Me Back!

Buzz Words

a person who creates some new

Remember that technology doesn´t just mean devices. Watch the video and think about some advancement seen during your lifetime.

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Did this technology exist 10 years ago?

YES

Apple´s SIRI

YES

The Siri Voice Command was only an idea in 2009, and finally installed as a feature in 2011.

NO!

Instagram

YES

Instagram was created by two friends in 2010 and then later sold to Facebook.

YES!

Restaurant Delivery Apps

YES

Postmates was the first restaurant delivery service via app and it was created in 2011. It wasn´t until 2013, until it´s first competitor came on the scene.

NO!

YES

Yes, it would have been 1 year old ten years ago - it was created in only 2009.

YES!

Keyless Cars

YES

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Restart

Keyless Cars were actually first developed in the mid 1990s however, not made popular until many years later.

YES!

USe Me

Technology: Friend or foe

Humans have invented for ages. From the first tool to the internet, technology has never stopped developing; it seems that it will always continue evolving. Around 450,000 patent applications for completely new inventions or modifications of existing items are filed every year in the US alone.

Ideas that stimulated science fiction writers or filmmakers from past decades are now part of our lives. In his book From the Earth to the Moon, Jules Verne (1828-1905) described projectiles that could carry passengers to the moon. One hundred and four years later, his idea became reality when Apollo 11 landed humans on the moon in 1969

The purpose of new inventions is usually to make our lives easier and better. Some have produced a revolution in human life. They are so important that we cannot do without them anymore. Some examples are tools, such as the compass, the wheel, the printing press, the telephone, and the light bulb; medical breakthroughs like penicillin, or high-tech information systems like computers and the Internet. "Just think for a second about the wheel," says physicist Hans Degenstein, "What could have happened if it had not been invented? Large scale trade would have never taken place, so there would have been no need for fast travel, engines, cars, planes, computers... The wheel is simply one of the greatest achievements of mankind.

However, technological advances can be controversial. According to a survey conducted in the US in 2004, Americans expect the next 50 years to be a period of many changes, scientifically speaking. Whereas 59% of participants think that technological changes will have a positive impact, 30% are not very optimistic and think that these changes will make our world worse.

To be more precise, let´s have a look at some more of the 2004 survey results. On the subject of altering DNA to produce smarter, healthier, or more athletic children, 66% of survey respondents think it is not a good idea. 65% of participants think that having robots as the primary caregivers for elderly people would represent a change for the worse. Also 53% of survey respondents disagree with the idea of people wearing implants or other devices that would constantly show them inforation about the world.

This is true to a certain extent. Many people acquire sophisticated devices that are designed for communication, but these people actually lose real communication and interaction because they overuse those gadgets. These devices might even be a source of problems in relationships and families.

The negative views on technology do not apply only to inventions that are to come, but also to things that we use in our daily lives. Marianne Smith, a high school teacher, shares her opinion about cell phones. "They are functional devices; I can´t deny it. But teenagers have turned something trivial into something they can´t live without and that has made them forget about real life.

On the other hand, technology can strengthen the bonds that exist between individuals or even among communities. Ryan Patterson and Kelvin Doe have proved the point creatively.

Kelvin, from Sierra Leone, in West Africa, made a radio and a generator to power it using homemade batteries and material found in the trash. Then, he used the radio and generator to create his community´s first radio station. Kelvin´s radio station was a superb way to entertain the neighborhood. Kelvin knows that inventions can create a better world. "That is my aim, to promote innovation in Sierra Leone among young people," he says.

Ryan invented a sign language translator glove that senses hand movements and transmits the information wirelessly to a computer or a small screen. This is extraordinarily useful for deaf people who want to carry out social transactions or interact with people who do not know sign language.

Ryan is sure that in order to implement an idea, you need passion. He states, "I try to come up with an idea of something that would be fun to do. You need that motivation of enjoying a project to get to the end. If you have enough persistence, you can make almost anything physical happen.

Sometimes people imagine inventors as old people in white lab coats, but very young people can invent incredible things too. Ryan was 17 years old when he invented the sign language translator, and Kelvin was only 10 when he built the radio transmitter. There is no doubt that teenagers and kids have the potential and intelligence to change the world.

With such passionate inventors in the world, yound and old, what inventions can we expect to look at in astonishment over the next few years? According to the survey mentioned before, 39% of Americans think that teleportation will be possible within the next 50 years and 33% expect humans to have built colonies on other planets.

Space colonization still seems a bit distant, but there are some everyday options that we would like to see in the near future. Personal 3D Printers could bring both creative and practical applications into homes. Ultra-resistant smart phones would be tremendous gadgets. There should be a major investment to develop a device that purifies water, especially for people who live in poverty. And car companies should upgrade their products to offer solar-powered cars.

Technology should not be our enemy. What other useful inventions would you like to see? Have you considered inventing them yourself? Remember, as Ryan Patterson said, all you need is passion, motivation and persistence.

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Negative Impact

Postive Impact

DNA Altering

Smart Phones

Tracking Chips

Virtual Reality Googles

Teleportation

Self Driven Cars

Automatized Registers

Robot Operated

Smart Watches

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DRAG THE ELEMENTS BASED ON YOUR OPINION

Questions I have

Facts Learned

Opinion I have

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Take a moment to reflect on today´s lesson. Feel free to simply record your thoughts in your notebook or use your Drive Journal.

3.2.1 Challenge

SU B2 Reading: Technology Friend or Foe?

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