Conclusion
Overall, in Divergent, there is a need for a balance of power between humans and technology in order to maintain a peaceful society.
Too much control over technology can result in an abuse of power, and as a result, there needs to be better technology regulation. Technology can be used in a proper manner when placed in the right hands. This is evident in the film when serums were used to designate characters to a faction that did not harm society. However, technology can be used in an improper manner when in the wrong hands. This is evident in the film when Jeanine and Erudite utilize the newly developed control serum in to kill members of Abnegation. In the film, there was little to no technology regulation present among the five factions.
Technology regulation is extremely relevant to society today, as a growing debate that has come about is what if AI and technology gets in the wrong hands? Technology is capable of making everyone's lives easier, however, it can also be used against society as seen in the film. So, the question of how to regulate this control comes up. The government could control the usage of technology since they have the most power in society or the researchers can since they developed the technology and know the most about its capabilities. "56% of Americans in a study supported the idea of more government regulation against technology and big tech companies [1]." In the film, if the government (Abnegation) controlled the technology, it would have resulted in peace among the factions. However, if the researchers (Erudite) controlled the technology, the mass genocide would still have occurred.
Too much reliance on technology can negatively impact a society and its development. In Divergent, technology does not accurately complete its purpose and creates misconceptions. The society in the film relies heavily on a computerized aptitude test system to determine what faction characters should be a part of. The system follows a machine learning model, using collected data and previous decisions to decide peoples' factions. Despite the large amounts of data collected, the computer system cannot always define an individual and cannot always do it correctly. This is exemplified in the film, where the aptitude test does not work on Triss and she is classified as Divergent.
Currently in our society machine learning is still developing and is not advanced enough to accurately analyze groups of people similar to the ways portrayed in Divergent by the aptitude tests. A study conducted in 2012 found that machine learning technology was able to analyze and find common characteristics within a software engineering group, however, there were aspects the technology could not pick up [2]. The inherent discrepancies between machine learning's analysis and the facts of the world make it essential to not solely rely on it when making critical decisions. In addition, standardized testing is typically not an accurate representation of an individual, as shown in the film by the aptitude test. In a recent survey, "70% of more than 1500 NEA members said that standardized testing was not an accurate assessment of the students they teach [3]." Similarly, in the film, the aptitude test did not accurately represent all characters, including Triss and Four - the two Divergents.
References:
[1] Vogels, E. (2021, July 20). 56% of Americans support more regulation of major technology companies. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/07/20/56-of-americans-support-more-regulation-of-major-technology-companies/
[2] Petkovic, D., Okada, K., Sosnick, M., Iyer, A., Zhu, S., Todtenhoefer, R., & Huang, S. (2012). Work in progress: A machine learning approach for assessment and prediction of Teamwork Effectiveness in software engineering education. 2012 Frontiers in Education Conference Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.1109/fie.2012.6462205
[3] Tim Walker, Survey: 70 Percent Educators Say State Assessments Not Developmentally Appropriate (NEA, 02/18/2016) https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/survey-70-percent-educators-say-state-assessments-not (10/5/2022)