The Future of Technology and its Impacts
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Technology has changed much during humanity's existance, just as human society has changed over the years. Many of the changes technology has wrought were unintentional effects. Development of medicines like antibiotics has lead to more resistant bacteria, computer and typewriter keyboards caused wrist injuries (Pogue). Not all the after effects were detrimental, nuclear weapons lead to the creation of the cleaner nuclear power plants, a search for a new coolant caused plastics to be created. As James Burke asserted in his essays entitled "Connections," all technology and discovery is interconnected.
In his book "Why Things Bite Back," Edward Tenner shows how technology causes unforseen damages. He takes the position that we were much better off in a simpler time. However it is the nature of humans to inovate and invent, that is what seperates us from all but a few of the other creatures on the Earth. The discovery of metals lead to deep mining operations, the flooding of these mines caused James Watt to create the steam-power pump. That same technology was turned to mass production in factories. The tremendous amounts of smoke that these machines caused created the search for cleaner fuels, like oil and natural gas. Progress may bite us, but it's that bite which causes us to keep running forward. The progression of our technology seems to focus on two things: action at a distance, and automation. These two major points can be seen through the progressions of many types of technology, including communications and warfare. Communication began with speech, and was limited to a person's immediate surroundings. With writing, a message could be placed on paper and sent to another person in a variety of ways. These continued to get faster and farther progressing through mounted messengers, birds and signals (created with fire, smoke, drums, et cetera). Finally it reached out modern technology where we use radio to send messages at 300,000 meters per second, and computers which can help us compose the letters with minimal effort. Warfare too had simple beginnings, hand weapons such as a sword or club increased a man's reach. A spear or mounted warrior could reach farther. These gave way to the archer, capable of striking down an opponent at a distance. Gun powder produced the firearm, which can hit targets hundreds of meters away. Cannons and artillary allow fire to be delivered over kilometers. Modern missiles allow us to hit a target on the otherside of the planet. Before the 17th century, writings were copied out by hand, with the invention of the printing press, the process was greatly speeded up. Automation progressed further with the use of water and steam power, allowing the printing press to run faster. First typewriters, then computer printers came into the home, allowing people to write faster, and make several copies of their work. (This piece by Joseph Strom) The automation of communication also entered into warfare where faster reproduction of written material allowed code books and ciphers to be replaced regularly. Guides for calculating the trajectory of projectiles were mass produced to help automate the process of firing the weapon. Our modern weapons are capable of finding their target without human intervention. In future technology, we are most likly going to see even more improvments in these areas. Computers will increasingly be used to replace human at tasks. As computers grow faster and able to process more input, the tasks which they can perform will increase. Currently, computers can monitor machinery, scientific experiments and inventories. More advanced computers could take over more complex jobs, like cashiers and truck drivers. Fuzzy logic systems, are already being created that can back a trailer truck into a loading dock (Kosko). Systems to extend our reach will advance too. Wireless communication grids will expand into more of the world. Fiber optics will continue to replace copper wires and speed the transmission of data. The Internet will continue to expand and grow faster as the routers and servers process data faster and smarter, and the connecting cables increase in capacity and speed. Some detrimental effects are to be expected. People will require more of an education to get a job, and those jobs will be fewer in number. Where biology stands as a required course in most schools, computer programming will be added. Crime will turn to larger prizes, with a computer it is as easy to steal $1,000 from a bank as it is $1,000,000. Manual skills will decrease for the majority of the population, as automation will handle many common tasks. Although the future is not certain, new developments will come to pass that will continue to change out lives and culture. As Maurice Merleau-Ponty once said, "Knowledge is never finished."
The following works were referenced from my memory:
The Code Book |
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