the threat of technology

[mrhnau]

Wikipedia frequently has little articles each day recalling important events that occured in history. Todays articles included Ted Kaczynski, the Unibomber. I read a little bit about him, recalling things I'd seen many years ago.

One of his chief concerns was about the threat of technology in the future. His method of communication was poor (bombing being rather terrorist in nature), but his message is interesting.

Do you think technology currently is a good thing? Do you think it will continue being a good thing if you think its good now? Do you perceive a possible threat for humanity in the future? If so, what do you think a possible cure/safeguard could be?

 

[Carol]

Kinda hard for me to make my living as a telecommunications engineer and be against technology

 

[Don Roley]

Technology allows us more potential. You can't blame technology itself. The sins it does are of our own making.

19 guys in the 14th century could not kill almost 3000 people in a day.

But no one back then could find a cure for a disease that would save millions.

I am very fond of science and progress. But I am pretty concerned since it gives such power to individuals. And there are plenty of individuals in our world that are quite willing to abuse it. It only takes a few and they only need to get lucky once.

 

[mrhnau]

Technology allows us more potential. You can't blame technology itself. The sins it does are of our own making.

19 guys in the 14th century could not kill almost 3000 people in a day.

But no one back then could find a cure for a disease that would save millions.

I am very fond of science and progress. But I am pretty concerned since it gives such power to individuals. And there are plenty of individuals in our world that are quite willing to abuse it. It only takes a few and they only need to get lucky once.

It seems that the best technologies often wind up being weaponized. Nuclear technology, which could have been used as an almost unlimited energy source was used to develop nuclear weapons. Medical understanding of viruses and bacteria has been used to cure diseases, but has also fostered biological warfare. Computer technology has been great in many ways, but has fostered a new wave of "terrorism" and potential problems. Hackers compromise information and private data.

Personally, I often feel less than human when I talk to people. They no longer seek my name, but my Social Security number, my phone number, my drivers licence number, my student ID number, etc...

Is technology good? aspects of it are. But most things good can be corrupted.

 

[heretic888]

Do you think technology currently is a good thing?

As with all evolutionary advancements (biological or otherwise), information-based or network-based technology is both good news and bad news.

Laterz.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Technology allows us more potential. You can't blame technology itself. The sins it does are of our own making.

19 guys in the 14th century could not kill almost 3000 people in a day.

But no one back then could find a cure for a disease that would save millions.

I am very fond of science and progress. But I am pretty concerned since it gives such power to individuals. And there are plenty of individuals in our world that are quite willing to abuse it. It only takes a few and they only need to get lucky once.

How true is this! Technology is great until someone figures out a way or makes something to simply abuse it and create problems.

 

[terryl965]

Technology allows us more potential. You can't blame technology itself. The sins it does are of our own making.

19 guys in the 14th century could not kill almost 3000 people in a day.

But no one back then could find a cure for a disease that would save millions.

I am very fond of science and progress. But I am pretty concerned since it gives such power to individuals. And there are plenty of individuals in our world that are quite willing to abuse it. It only takes a few and they only need to get lucky once.

I would have to agre with Don but man I cannot keep up with all this new crap all the time, I'm still trying to figure out the Beta tapes of the 70's man I'm behind.
Terry

 

[Flying Crane]

How true is this! Technology is great until someone figures out a way or makes something to simply abuse it and create problems.

Yes, and as technology advances, the magnitude of the problems people can cause with it also increases dramatically. The mayhem one person, or a small group of people could cause used to be fairly limited. But now, with modern advances, people can cause mayhem that can literally affect the entire globe, and huge numbers of people.

We have seen tremendous benefits from technology, but in some ways it has also been a curse.

 

[Andrew Green]

Technology is good, I think we are having some problems do to rapid advancement though. Leads to a lot of waste. I imagein that in 20 years computers will last longer then 2 years before being outdated

Technology as far as war fare goes could go either way. It is making the world smaller, people suddenly can communicate directly with people on the other side of the planet. Not too long ago "Peace" on a land mass the size of North America would have been seen as impossible, perhaps in another 100 years peace on a planetary scale will become possible. If not, we'll have weapons capable of blowing up the planet...