With Douthwaite’s statement that technology can solve all of society’s problems, and continuing on this trend won’t have any serious repercussions. However, Dr. Alvin Weinberg, Michael and Joyce Huesemann would disagree with Douthwaite’s statement about the advancements of technology being beneficial for society due to their caution about the consequences of solving every problem in society with technology. With that happening, would humans really be natural anymore? Or would we just be a product of the technology we create, not totally natural human, but not totally technology?
Technological fixes have negative consequences on society and the environment due to how we are becoming more normalized to the idea of total control and ease of access to the solution of everyday problems. Whilst having solutions to everyday problems at our fingertips, it tends to lead to a more impatient and less critically thinking society as a whole. We’ve already seen the impatient behavior in the generations growing up with the internet, computers, and cell phones. In the environment, our technological advances and fixes have drastically impacted how our world looks today in comparison of how it looked when America was initially being discovered by Europeans. From the spreading of plant species to the mining of precious metals and contamination of water as a result of toxic runoff, our environment has taken a serious beating. This beating is especially represented in the rapid growing global warming that we are experiencing today, as well as other negative repercussions of our technological growth in society. Another example of this is the endangered animals that have been hunted and are being hunted to extinction, over the years and even still today. Before big game hunting and gunpowder, as well as the destroying of natural resources, these animals had no risk of dying out. However with their habitats being destroyed, and the gradual degradation of natural resources to sustain themselves, with a healthy dose of sport hunting, entire animal species are being eradicated from this earth. While these consequences definitely seem harsh, I do not think that we should halt all technological advances towards fixing societies problems. There are problems that definitely need to be fixed, such as medical issues, although I do think we need to not go overboard with everything for a more convenient lifestyle, as it tends to have serious negative drawbacks.