Technology: Promise or Threat?

Core 155

Spring 2005

I.          What is Technology?

A.                 Your Definitions:

1.                  Definition One: Tools and processes designed to make our lives better (i.e., more efficient or effective).

2.                  Definition Two: Any application of knowledge designed to make our lives better.

B.                 Their Definitions:

1.                  Pitt: Humanity at work (Thinking About Technology, 11).

2.                  O’Rourke: A human reflex—the natural product of our creative movement through the world.  We create ways and means to influence and control the world of our experience, and these bits and pieces of technology then support new goals for us, new possibilities, and most importantly, new identities.

C.                 The application of knowledge will typically involve the production of tools and/or processes. 

1.                  We generally apply knowledge to a problem that puzzles us or makes our lives difficult; the results of this application are solutions that have one foot in theory and one foot in the world. 

2.                  In developing these solutions, we must rely on the world to guide our efforts, structuring the solution to fit the constraints that distinguish the actuality of the real world from the possibility of theory. 

3.                  In designing our solutions to fit those constraints, we produce methods, techniques, processes, and tools.  These are the tangible scaffolding of our problem solving efforts, the pieces of technology that mark our success at technological innovation. 

4.                  Note also that there is often a feedback loop, with technology developed through the application of one area of knowledge giving rise to new knowledge.

II.        Should We Use It?

A.                 In many cases, technological innovation is progress, i.e., it advances us in a positive direction.  But is technological innovation always progress?

1.         On the one hand, technological innovation is an expression of our creativity and our intelligence.  It supplies something new in the form of a novel solution to a problem, and this represents a triumph over ignorance, an enlargement of the human presence in the universe.  How can this not be progress?

2.                  Unfortunately, one person’s solution can be another person’s problem.  The technology developed to deal with a particular problem can spin off and become problematic on its own (e.g., DDT).  And then there are the solutions to problems that are designed to harm, such as weapons technologies.  In these cases, technology can do more harm than good.  How can this be progress?

B.                 In light of the lack of clarity surrounding the status of technological innovation, we are prompted to ask whether we should apply knowledge just because we can—that is, if we have knowledge of a certain sort, are we under any obligation to apply it to problems we either have or can envision ourselves having?

1.         Affirmative: 

a.                   We are under an obligation to ourselves and future generations to develop our knowledge as much as possible, as this is what improves our lives and makes us more substantial and involved citizens of the universe. 

b.                  It would be boring if we didn’t pursue the development of our knowledge.  We are by nature curious creatures, and if we don’t apply it, we will stultify ourselves.

c.                   Technology, even if it appears problematic on its face (e.g., cloning), can prove very valuable; if we succumb to arguments from ignorance and refrain from applying knowledge, we risk losing out on major innovations that could cure cancer, bring about world peace, and enable the Vikings to finally win the Super Bowl.

d.                  There are applications and there are applications.  In particular situations, it might be unwise to use available technology, such as prolonging the life of someone who is irretrievably brain dead.  But in general, if we have knowledge that can be applied, we should make the effort to develop the applications even if we don’t use them, simply so as to enlarge our knowledge base.

2.                  Negative:

a.                   How can we be sure that we won’t wipe out the species and reduce the Earth to a steaming, lifeless rock?

b.                  It would be boring to develop technology to a point where we are deprived of the challenges that make life so fulfilling.

c.                   In certain cases, such as human cloning or in stem cell research, it is immoral for us to apply knowledge we may have; it is arrogant and puts human lives at risk.