Does Technology Really Make Our Lives Better?

In act 1 scene 2 specifically lines 366–368 where Caliban was talking to Prospero and Miranda. This speech lays out the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. What Caliban learns is what Prospero tells him. His education comes from his owner, much like the internet. Much like how Prospero controls Caliban, higher powers or the government controls what the public sees and reads because they want to control the narrative they are pushing. Caliban is a slave and the son of a witch. Prospero is the leader or in charge of the island and Miranda is the daughter of Prospero. So these characters have different outlooks on the relationship between colonizers and colonized or slaves and masters. Prospero claims that he tried to help and educate Caliban, but Caliban does not see it this way. This passage also seems to be a turning point for Miranda’s character because here it is prevalent to be a different side of her personality than passive and quiet. Prospero mentions that he knows that Caliban tried to violate Miranda and he agrees. Miranda does not take this lightly and her response is where it can be seen as the more aggressive side to her. Caliban is not free and is constantly comparing his ‘freedom’ to that of Prospero and Miranda. In a sense, technology does control the public. It controls the information users see whether it is on social media apps like tik tok or through search engines like google. What Caliban learns is what Prospero tells him. His education comes from his owner, much like the internet. What the public sees and reads is what the government is feeding them. They make it hard to find uncensored information and easy to find the information they want you to find. In addition, in the book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism by Shoshana Zuboff on page 47, the first Gmail user saw ads targeted toward her private correspondence. This then erupted an outrage. As a society having ads targeted towards your recent searches or interests is very normalized that no one thinks twice about it. Our generation knows nothing besides all of our technology being monitored and our content being censored. There’s always a higher power looking over our shoulders through our phones and computers and other technology. Nothing you search or send on google is private it is all a part of your digital footprint. Prospero believed that he was doing everything to give Caliban the best life, but he never felt free. Those that create the internet and the newest technology believe that they are making it easier for users to be able to go about their everyday tasks, but in reality with each software update and advancement there are new ways for companies to spy on users. They use this information to target them on what ads they see and what information they make prevalent.