Can We Have Too Much Technology?

Can too much technology be a bad thing? Some people believe that sometimes this can be true and I am one of them. I guess I have surprised some people by saying that I agree with this statement, but I have seen evidence of this. Let's look at our new fighter planes for example. They are so packed with technology that they cost over $100,000,000 just for one. Why is it so bad to have such a superior plane you might ask? Superiority is not the problem, the cost is the problem. Look at it this way, Foreign countries can build a fairly good plane for a few million dollars. As a matter of fact, the air force does not like to talk about this, but the Indian Air Force beat us in war games with their planes. We were using F-15s, which are not the newest technology, but pretty good never the less. If a foreign country can put a plane in the air that is better than the F-15 and build it for 20 million dollars, then they can out number our newest planes by over 5 to 1 for the same cost. Could our newest fighters survive this? Probably not. What would happen if some country decided to build really cheap planes that could just shoot missiles? They might be able to outnumber us 50 to 1. At that point it would be all over.

F-15 Workout By Swiss

The electric grid has become a problem because of too much technology. It is just too easy to knock out. Some of the areas of the grid only go through a couple of switches which if taken out, put down the entire electric grid. I had heard that there is one place in the grid where one switch controls everything, but I can not verify this. While this may be a more efficient way of running the grid, it certainly doesn't make us more secure. As a matter of fact, the electrical grid is something who's time has passed. It is now time to put individual buildings on their own power. This can be done by using fuel cells, which are available now. There is also a huge leap in solar cells that should be out soon, allowing them to reach about 80% efficiency. If we control several different methods of electrical generation, there should be no problem in a few years.

Child Playing A Computer Game
Photo Source: Stock.xching

Another area that has been hurt by too much technology is the well being of our children. When a game becomes so realistic that it can not be resisted and children would rather stay home and play these games than get needed exercise, that becomes a problem. Children all over this country are gaining lots of unwanted pounds because they stay home and sit down and play these games all day. While they are sitting there, they eat junk food. Clearly this technology is not so good in this instance, even though there is no denying that it is fun. The Wii has tried to change some of this by creating games that require movement such as jumping, arm movements, dancing and other things. While it may not be the entire solution, it has started a trend into games that require some sort of effort, thus allowing for some exercise.

A report was released in Germany. Before I tell you about it, have you gotten your children the best in new computer technology, because you believe that this will help them in their studies? Many have, but this report states that too much computer exposure hurts the developing mind. Over 175,000 15 year old students in 31 countries were tested by researchers by the University of Munich and the results were announced in 2004. These results showed that math and reading had suffered significantly among students who have more than one computer at home. I don't think that anyone expected to see this type of a result. The conclusion was that computer overuse harms the student.

Too much technology can even effect the water we drink and the food we eat. A case in point is using silver nanoparticles. An assistant professor in the University of Missouri has now stated that he has found that silver nanoparticles might destroy benign bacteria that removes ammonia from waste water along with bad bacteria. This is not good news. Consumers are using the silver nanoparticles in their high tech, energy saving washing machines. These machines generate these particles while disinfecting clothes. Guess where all this waste water is going? It goes into the sewer and then into the waste treatment plants, and some gets into our water supply.

One thing that technology has brought is complexity in some areas. Trying to sync several devices up to each other can become a real problem. Then there is the movie problem. Want to watch a movie on your PC, Ipod, cell phone, or PDA? The PC will probably play a DVD without any problem, but this certainly is not true of an Ipod, cell phone, or PDA which are smaller than the DVD disk. You have to convert the movie to a format that the other devices can play. This means that you need the correct software to do this and you have to know how to use it. Why can't all these devices use the same movie format. On top of that the movie on the DVD is usually protected by encryption so now you need a software program that will allow you to get through this. All this is far too complicated.

It used to be that an ordinary guy could actually repair his car. When the car started to run rough, he would replace the plugs and wires and adjust the points. Today there are no points and electronics rule. Computer chips tell your motor how to behave and special devices are needed to read those chips to see if they are working correctly. The cars in the pre-electronic age still ran 100,000 miles or more. I have to admit that the cars today do run a lot smoother and more efficiently, so I guess it is a toss up on car technology depending how important self repairs are to someone.

MRI Of The Head
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Another area where some people think technology has hurt us is in medicine. Some think that we are all being sent for far too many tests and because of this, receiving far too much radiation. Indeed the government has run studies and some state that there are too many unnecessary tests being conducted. There is no denying that modern medicine and modern machines are wonderful, but if a test is only scheduled to pay for a machine, or because it has become too routine, then technology is being over used. I knew of a doctor that was scheduling every child in his office for a special type of electrocardiogram and then declaring that they all had heart murmurs.

Cell phone are a great idea. They are really nothing more than fancy radio sets and as such receive radio waves. These waves are said to be harmful if they are received and sent while the device is too close to our heads. It is suspected that the wave may be cancer causing.

Is technology good? Yes it is. Can we be better off sometimes with lower tech devices? Yes again, depending on their use. Sometimes all we need are the basics. It is just like some people who own computers and only use them for word processing and Internet browsing. It would be crazy for them to go out and buy a high end graphics card.