老师好,请教一句英文句子的理解.

老师好,请教一句英文句子的理解.
The statement linking technology negatively with free thinking plays on recent human
experience over the past century.Surely there has been no time in history where the lived lives of
people have changed more dramatically.A quick reflection on a typical day reveals how technology
has revolutionized the world.Most people commute to work in an automobile that runs on an
internal combustion engine.During the workday,chances are high that the employee will interact
with a computer that processes information on silicon bridges that are .09 microns wide.Upon
leaving home,family members will be reached through wireless networks that utilize satellites
orbiting the earth.Each of these common occurrences could have been inconceivable at the turn of
the 19th century.
The statement attempts to bridge these dramatic changes to a reduction in the ability for humans
to think for themselves.The assumption is that an increased reliance on technology negates the need
for people to think creatively to solve previous quandaries.Looking back at the introduction,one
could argue that without a car,computer,or mobile phone,the hypothetical worker would need to
find alternate methods of transport,information processing and communication.Technology short
circuits this thinking by making the problems obsolete.
其中,最后一句 “this thinking”是否指的是‘one could argue that……“,我的问题是"the problem"指的是文中哪个?

是的
也就是前面说的,依赖技术对人们需要创造性地思考问题不利.
the problems
我认为 指的是 汽车、电脑、手机等
再问： Technology short circuits this thinking by making the problems obsolete.请问老师这句话中的谓语是“short circuits”吗？这句话改如何翻译？
再答： 这句话中的谓语是“ circuits”

字面意思 通过使这些问题被淘汰 短期技术围绕着这种想法