Andrew McGrath
Technology, Always Late to it’s Own Party
Technological advancements in social and environmental systems have negative repercussions because they are short term advancements in a long term struggle for economic, social, and environmental issues. Technology does fix problems as they arise, or rather about two years later, but this does not change the mindsets of politicians. The difference between Technocrats and those who believe that technology fixes social problems is that the Technocrats understand that having science as the driving force of politics does not put food in hungry stomachs. Technology only facilitates the ease of social progress, it does not directly cause it. Technology can be used to innovate existing social, economic, and environmental systems, however; technology is only as useful as those in charge of such systems allow it to be .
Unintended repercussions from technology arise when existing systems are not improved upon to fit ever changing needs. Systems are invented that work so efficiently that they are not improved upon or renovated until they are already outdated. It is because of this that technology is in a constant state of catch-up to the needs of society. Another pitfall of technology is the problems created by applying short term solutions to long standing problems, a key example of this is the California Aquifer Network. The aquifers make large scale farming and urbanization in otherwise inhospitably dry areas possible. The major downside to this is that the water tables of every less economically significant county are siphoned down to unacceptable levels. This drainage causes superficial droughts throughout the whole state, in addition to the environmental water shortages caused by a host of other non-technological reasons. the aquifers fix the short term problem of there being a huge population in Orange County with no water, they fail to solve any water shortage issues. Hydrogen synthesis and desalinization are both far less temporary fixes to the California water crisis, but true to form of technology those much needed systems are far too late to be preemptive measures.
I feel like you bring up a good point that the authors of the articles we read didn’t address. I like your point about technology being too good and making society complacent. I hadn’t thought about that as being a problem with it, and it gave me something new to ponder. I think that society has a responsibility to look forward and try to anticipate future problems that can be caused by current technology or lack thereof. The difficult aspect in this is getting people to step up and take responsibility for the problems they are causing.
I agree, I think technology is great but it has its problem. Technological fixes can only bring us so far. I love your point about the California Auquifer Network. That is a great example of the issues technology has. I believe people need to take actions to make a change before we use technology as a quick fix. I think the points you’ve made are very insightful.
Hey Andrew! I agree with about pretty much everything you said. Technological fixes are like putting on bandaid on a bullet wound. They are born out of necessity and don’t stand chance in the long run. I really liked how you brought up a real life example, that can really help visualize the problem. I do although believe technology needs to be incorporated into a social fixes in some sense. But it needs to be more adaptable to the changing times.