See the cat? See the cradle?

Throughout Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle” and Kim Vicente’s “The Human Factor” they explore the good that technology brings to us but also the struggles that come along with it. I feel that both have the question in it that if technology is actually becoming this dangerous, should we continue to invent these harmful things? Should some things just be left to the imagination? Like Newt says, “No wonder kids grow up crazy. A cat’s cradle is nothing but a bunch of X’s between somebody’s hands, and little kids look and look and look at those X’s, no damn cat and no damn cradle,” (Vonnegut 166). I think like the cat’s cradle may be a metaphor in the novel for technology. Like having imagination for the game cat’s cradle people may need to start using a child’s imagination to see the negative effects new technology could have on the future.

“More and more, we’re being asked to live with technology that is technically reliable, because it was created to fit our knowledge of the physical world, but that is so complex or so counterintuitive that it’s actually unusable by most human beings,” (Vicente 17). I think Vicente is wondering if technology is becoming too advanced for human knowledge. For the case with Leonid Toptunov the technology was too complex for him, which resulted in 31 deaths including his own. “The problem was that the plant designers hadn’t paid enough attention to the human factor—the operators were trained but the complexity of the reactor and the control panels nevertheless outstripped their ability to grasp what they were seeing,” (Vicente 11). I feel that Vicente is trying to show us in this example how technology is getting out of hand, that these workers did what they were trained to do but they weren’t informed about what this technology is capable of. He raises awareness that with these technological advances humans now have to make advances with the technology to keep up and be informed of what dangers are involved with using it.

I think he reaches a good point by saying, “Human beings are capable of doing some pretty remarkable things, but if we become alienated from technology our full capacities won’t be realized,” (Vicente 18). I feel like he is saying that humans have the power to create a lot of miraculous things and have talented ideas; however with technology can anyone just come up with these gadgets and ideas. Maybe now we only try to create new technology instead of concentrating on improving our quality of life, we are creating machines to ‘improve’ it for us.

I feel like Kurt Vonnegut’s ideas in “Cat’s Cradle” are also about if technology is going too far. I feel up until the atomic bomb, science and research was purely considered a good thing, it was meant to improve lives and make your day easier. “Science has now known sin,” (Vonnegut 17). I feel like Vonnegut says this because after the atomic bomb is when questions starting raising about what technology can really do to our lives.

I wonder if Vonnegut chose to write about the apocalypse because he is scared to see what technology will be in the future. “This I assumed: tornadoes, strewing the poisonous blue-white of ice-nine everywhere, tore everyone and everything above ground to pieces. Anything that still lived would die soon enough of thirst—or hunger—or rage—or apathy,” (Vonnegut 264). I wonder if Vonnegut explored the idea of ice-nine so much because he thinks there is a possibility of something happening like that. Also, I wonder if he was exploring ice-nine because he sees technology as humorous, maybe as though some of these new ideas seem out of the ordinary.

One thing that is clear in Vonnegut’s novel is the roles humans play when it comes to technology. I feel this is how Vicente and Vonnegut connect. I think Vonnegut based his story off of the life of Hoenikker to show the ‘human factor’ in technology. Just because the person has the intelligence to create something like ice-nine should they? I feel like Vonnegut’s answer to this would be no. The end of his book ended with ice-nine being the end of the world. Maybe he is showing that technology is going too far.

Whether we approve or not technology is going to continue to grow and expand. Maybe we just have to be concerned about who is holding this powerful technology, can we trust someone who is capable of making something as powerful as the atomic bomb not to do anything with it? Vicente may answer that humans make mistakes, with technology now though these little mistakes can be fatal. Vonnegut may answer we can’t trust these people because how do we know if they are creating it just to prove it to themselves that they can or if they are creating it to destroy something. Maybe it is time to start using our imagination to think of what could be instead of making it reality. “See the cat? See the cradle?” (Vonnegut 179).