POST 3: INDIVIDUAL WORK ON 'THE IDEA OF PROGRESS' VIEWED THROUGH HIGH TECH PRODUCTS

                This is a photo published in the British newspaper called The Daily Mail. It was part of an article on the man in this picture: Nigel Ackland.

This article was published on the 5th of November 2012, so it's a rather recent article. It's about this man who lost his arm in an accident and who was given the most sophisticated bionic arm ever made.

       It's been referred to as Terminator-like and is made out of carbon fibre, aluminium and alloy knuckles. It's operated by the movements in his upper arm, apparently by sending the same signal from his brain that he used to send to his normal human arm, he can control this mechanical arm.

            

         This bionic arm is the new Bebionic Myoelectric hand. it moves exactly like a real hand, it can even type on a keyboard. 
       In the photograph shown above, we can see Mr. Ackland holding an egg, so representing fragility. This meaning that this bionic arm so extremely sophisticated that it can hold very fragile things such as eggs. 

       

      Nigel Ackland is one of the seven lucky people who were given this mechanical hand as part of a four-month trial.
      This arm actually costs 25,000 pounds to buy and is worth every penny. Of course it's a serious tragedy if you loose your arm, but this mechanical arm is the closest thing to a real arm, and can help you return to your normal, handicap-free life. For example, you can dress yourself easily and do pretty much anything a regular arm can do.

           This is a good example of the good side of technology. Thanks to the serious progress that has been made in the development of technology, things that were once impossible, can now come true. Thanks to the high quality of technology nowadays, Mr. Ackland can live a normal life with his family.
           This article has no real purpose to advertise this product but more to inform people on the advances being made in the technological world. It searches to show how mechanical arms have improved and are becoming of higher quality.
       It is hard to show the intention of this article and of this photo, seeing as it's main goal really is just to inform, there is no advertisement or influence, making us like technology. It just shows us how technology helped one man, no different than you or me, to live a better life.
       
          There is a real presence of the notion of progress in this article. Although it's not a cartoon or video with a clever and funny joke in it, it shows how new technology can also be seen as a positive thing, instead of always criticising how brainwashed everyone is because of the domination of technology in our everyday lives. 

        I chose this document because I believe that it reflects the good side of technology. It creates quite an impact, because it kind of makes you think of robots, and creating artificial human beings... This bionic hand, that resembles the one in Terminator, makes you wonder if one day they will be able to create a robot, capable of doing anything and everything a human can do. There have already been many people who have attempted to create robot, but they've never quite been as sophisticated as humans, they can only do a few things. But, with the example of this bionic arm, I think one day, someone will be able to create a robot capable of anything...Should we be afraid? Excited? Worried? NO one can tell what the future will bring.