13570 Culture
TOEFL Essay Topic:
Culture vs. Technology
by Jeenn Lee Hsieh
谢振礼 ielts360toefl@hotmail.com
Essay Topic:
TOEFL > Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? "With the development of modern science and technology, some aspects of traditional culture are being lost, so some people think that traditional cultures will be replaced by modern science and technology. " Use specific reasons and examples (based on your knowledge or experience) to support your answer.
IELTS>"It is inevitable that as technology develops traditional cultures will be lost. Technology and tradition are incompatible--you cannot have both together." To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your knowledge or experience to support your opinion.
Example Answer by Jeenn Lee Hsieh 谢振礼:
Modern technology is mixing and changing traditional cultures instead of wiping them out. The rise of communication technology in particular has lessened barriers to a set of ideas, beliefs, behaviors and other shared values that as a whole can distinguish one category of people from another. However, what seems to make this transformation seem inevitable is the collective human mind that is more willing to fit the requirements of technology than to fit the requirements of culture.
Seemingly, the old is constantly making way for the new, meaning new kinds of culture as traditions may be losing ground to technology as science. Traditional cultures everywhere, however, continue to shape local people's day-to-day living patterns despite the globalization of languages, arts, thought, spirituality, social activities, music, television, interaction and what not. From country to country and from people to people, core values like religion and ideology still remain as alive as ever. In fact, technology is not actually replacing cultures beyond borders but is adding a technological aspect to culture. The impact of new technological devices, such as computer, and along with it the Internet and the cell phone, can therefore be compatible with cultural evolution. In some cases some traditions are disappearing not so much because of things like Google, Yahoo and iPhones, as of the melting pot which the world always was, only even more so now, thanks to communication and transportation technology.
Especially apparent in industrialized and developing countries, traditional culture appears as if married to up-to-date technology. After all, what can be said of a culture so enamored with technology? There are too many benefits brought about by technology to be ignored in daily lives, no matter what culture. Therefore, to separate technology from culture is next to impossible since one fits the other. This love affair does not imply triumph of technology over traditional cultures. Ironically, so powerful and wide-spreading is technology that it has turned itself into a sub-culture.
To conclude, every technological breakthrough can be viewed as a cultural event in history, although today it may seem that technology is more dramatically influential than culture. The issue is of course not to distinguish one culture from another in an increasingly small world like a global village. It is rather to share attitudes, goals, practices and other cultural values while cultivating an international mind. (Essay created by Jeenn Lee Hsieh 谢振礼 ielts360toefl@hotmail.com pigai zuowen)
