Writing Feedback / How dependent we are on machines? / Are machines going to take over the world? [NEW]

We are living in a society which is called a "technologically civilized" society. Every small work that we do is technology dependent. Today every other person is recognized with the device or gadget, he/she carries; which is, again, technically advanced. Ultimately, we can say that living without technology or machinery is like living without air in this modern world today. Therefore, we are much dependent on machines.

What is the role of machines in our lives today? Starting with a simple example of food storage, today the shelf life of the food products is increased with the help of modern technology and even preparation time of food is reduced with the help of new machines and equipment. But, think about it, would we really be able to live our lives if it hadn't been for these machines?

Apparatus, or machinery as we call it, has of course made our lives simple but much dependent on it. We can sit in a corner and get connected to the world; thus, making the world a "global community". Communicate with a person within fraction of seconds; make a trip to any part of the world in no time, all these are possible with the advanced technology. The simpler the work gets with machines, the more dependent we are on it.

Today, we don't find a single kid without using the available technology to him/her. It has made us dependent on it and we can't expect or imagine a life without using the word "technology" in it. Hence, machines do play a major role in our lives.

Finally, I'll leave you with one last question to think about - So, does utilizing more modern machinery mean we are more dependent on them?

Thank-you and hope you learnt something new!

Writing Feedback / Report on the Dark Side of Chocolate [4]

The Dark Side of Chocolate is a documentary film about the manipulation and slave trading of African children for the ingathering of chocolate still taking place nearly ten years after the cocoa industry pledged to end it. Cocoa plantations in places such as Ghana and the Ivory Coast provide 80% of the world's chocolate. Chocolate producers around the world have been pressured to "verify their chocolate is not the product of child labour or slavery." In 2001, the Chocolate Manufacturers Association and its members signed a document called the Harkin-Engel Protocol that prohibited the harvest of their cocoa beans through means of child workers. Regardless of this effort, copious children are still forced to work on cocoa plantations in Africa. Due to this conflicting stance, the filmmakers went undercover to determine the reality. The documentary starts with the investigation of journeying to the western coast of Africa in the country of Mali, the country were children were rumoured to be smuggled from and then transported to the Ivory Coast. The team of journalists intended to investigate human trafficking and child labour in the Ivory Coast and its upshot on the worldwide chocolate manufacturing industry. The documentary starts in Cologne, Germany were each vendor is asked at a gathering of chocolate makers where their chocolate is imported from. Their comebacks lead to the assumption that almost all the chocolate is imported from someplace in Africa. Their detective work leads them to find that Mali was trafficking children at bus stations by bribing them with work and money, or by kidnapping them from villages. Afterward, they are taken to towns near the border of Africa, where another trafficker transports the children over the border. Then they are left with a third trafficker who sells the children to plantations. The children, ranging in age from 10 to 15, are forced to do hard labour, physically abused, and paid poor wages or none at all. When confronted with the agreement, the Harkin-Engel Protocol, the corporate representatives of some of these companies denied all rumours of child labour and trafficking. But the final investigations of the filmmakers proved the abuse of children on cocoa plantations.