GRE Issue Task review

[Marwan Shalaby]

Issue Task: Technology, while apparently aimed to simplify our lives, only makes our lives more complicated.

 

The world is in an incessant state of change, boundaries are being shattered, information is more accessible, and scientific breakthroughs Technology has immensly facilitated human lives in so many different aspects.

To begin with, technology assisted humanity in the medical field, with new machines, and appartus to detect and heal several disease. Using advanced equipment, of course next to the extensive studies done by medical groups we, as human beings, were able to counter spreading diseases like Ebola in a very short period of time by discovering a trial drug after several weeks. While, back in the day, such spreading diseases would kill thousands if not millions of people in the areas infected, for example Malaria, The Plague and many other diseases. Moreover, thanks to the current medical technology, if we did not find a clear cut cure to a certain disease, we have preventative measures that we can follow in order to avoid the infection, or even to contain it in a certain geographical area.

Technology has also been indispensable in the field of education, for both the teachers and the students. Worldwide, even in deveopling countries, online systems for schools and universities are found where students can download all studying materials and teachers can upload grades, additional material and feedback. This has absolutely helped both ends of the educational process, the student and the professor, to make learning faster and more efficient, as students are not resitricted anymore by the location. All the student needs is a computer, which is not hard to find these days, and internet connection to access as many resources as they need.
In addition to implementation in educational institutions, technology has revolutionised the distant-learning process using MOOCS, which are certified online courses given through several websites given by professors in reputable universities. These courses are of huge help to all the students who did not get the chance to be part of worldwide top universities like MIT or Harvard to get a glimpse of the edcuational system there. It is also a way to broaden the students' horizon worldwide.

In a globalised world, technology and social networking is epitomy of the unbound connection between many countries. Diplomatic relations between nations are sometimes established on twitter accounts where presidents and prime ministers make offiial statements to condemn international events, and sometimes reconciliate with other countries. Social Media has become a integrated part of our life, and it is now used a political tool to apply pressure on governments, or to share our opinions and debate so many worldy issues. This hs definitely simplified a very important process which is access to objective knowledge. Through social media and the internet we have infinite amount of resources to check the news and see debates about issues of great importance happening in every corner of the world.

However, there is a point that no one can easily overlook, which the effect of technological manifestion in the form of social media in our daily lives. Humans, specially teenagers, have become highly dependant on technology everywhere, which caused very negative repercussions like lack of human interaction, because now it is prefered to connect to others through Facebook or Whatsapp, which is obviously a virtual method. Also, the everchanging technology has made us heavy consumerists, always looking for the gadget with the newest features, regardless of whether or not we need it. 

[Marwan Shalaby]

Argument task: SuperCorp recently moved its headquarters to Corporateville. The recent surge in the number of homeowners in Corporateville proves that Corporateville is a superior place to live than Middlesburg, the home of SuperCorp's current headquarters. Moreover, Middleburg is a predominately urban area and according to an employee survey, SuperCorp has determined that its workers prefer to live in an area that is not urban. Finally, Corporateville has lower taxes than Middlesburg, making it not only a safer place to work but also a cheaper one. Therefore, Supercorp clearly made the best decision.

 

he argument was trying to prove that Supercorp has made the the best decision in moving its headquarters to Corporateville. However, the argument is flawed due to several reasons and assumptions.

Firstly, the argument assumes a positive correaltion between the superiority of a place and the number of homeowners, which definitely undermines the argument, because owning houses does not necessarily mean having a better income. In a lot of places around the world, in order to own a big house, one needs to take loans from banks that are sometimes too big and unaffordable to pay back. Later on, when the amount of homeowners who depend on loans increase, it creates a housing bubble which might cause huge financial instability and economic hardship just like the 2008 financial crisis. So, measuring the superiority of a place cannot be totally attributed to the number of homeowners.

Moreover, the argument depends on an employee survey to prove that workers prefer non-urban areas. While this survey could of course show a trend of a certain segment of people if it was inclusive enough. Depending on the result of this survey is definitely not ideal, as it is only limited to workers, overlooking the worker's family preferences, who might not favour such transition away from urban areas, seeing the facilities provided like education and more modernised hospitals.

Also, there is an assumption in this argument outlining the direct relationship between the safety and cost of living of a certain place to the amount of taxes in that place. The argument ignores several other factors which determine the cost of living, like the nature of the market itself, including the supply and demand on certain items.
The safety of the place could also depend on the social behaviour of the population, the system and laws that are being enforced in Coporateville.