The dangers and the positive impact of technology

Jeff Douthwaite states in his paper that we as a society need to use technology to fix our problems. He argues that we should use the logical, mathematical science of engineering to solve our unpredictable social issues. He uses example of how we already do this with using the American automotive industry as an example. He also gives an example of how we can do this to combat drunk driving with breathalyzers in the ignition. However Douthwaite doesn’t want us to exclusively use technology to solve our problems, he believes it is a great way to give us time to fix the core of our issues. The book by Huesemann almost completely disagrees with Douthwaite. He believes that all technology has consequences and that us, as humans, are interconnected with nature. He believes that if we take something from nature, it will take something from us, he describes it as no free lunch. Johnston is in-between the other two authors, he believes we should use technology, but we should be careful with it.

There are negative repercussions to using technology to fix social and environmental issues because we do not always know the long term effects of a new technology. An example of this could be the widespread use of DDT in the United States throughout the 20th century. After use of use we discovered the negative impact it had on the environment. Despite this, the chance of negative repercussions should not discourage us from making technological breakthroughs and using them. As long as we are safe and smart with our technology, it should always be used.

1 thought on “The dangers and the positive impact of technology”

  1. I agree with you on the fact that we have to be careful and safe with our technology, but that doesn’t mean breakthroughs won’t come through if we aren’t careful. A very extreme example would be the doctor of the Nazi’s who performed experiments on people, his work, as horrible as it was, opened doors for many advancements in modern medicine. Also, would it be to far to say that buildings and anything else man-made are a part of nature? Other animals part of the Earth create their own structures, so I believe that it can be argued that humans are just building their own structures in nature. The only thing that separates us from other animals is that we care about the others of the planet, but sometimes the worst situations can produce the best outcomes.

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