I don't believe that all technological developments from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution to the present are evil. Electricity, for example, allows me to share my thoughts with the world via this blog. And even if no one ever reads it, it is a good thing that it is available. There are, however, a number of questions that arise regarding the rapid pace of technological development.
Question 1
Who profits the most from rapid technological growth?
A. Those who have the money to invest in marketing new products, or
B. The consumers who can afford to purchase those products?
Question 2
What did we ever do before affordable electricity was made available to the masses, in the 1800's, for example?
Answer: People still read books. They created their own entertainment. They were busier and so had less time to grow bored. People generally were much more physically active than the average person is today. Not coincidentally, there was no obesity epidemic in the country at that time.
Even before the 1800's, when we lived in caves, according to the book Your Primal Body by Mikki Reilly, archeologists have determined that Paleolithic Era people did not suffer from heart disease, arthritis, cancer. In fact, unless they were killed accidently or by predators, they lived as long as people do today.
Question 3
What else did people miss before the blessing of modern technology?
1. Pittsburgh's sun did not disappear for days on end thanks to coal burning steel mills as it did in the early 20th Century.
2. There were no disabled workers injured in those same mills begging for handouts.
3. Before modern technology, the citizens of Minamata, Japan did not experience mass poisoning due to a chemical factory leaking mercury into the Minamata Bay for several years. The mercury became incorporated into the food chain of the bay's ecosystem. People who ate fish from the bay (the main source of protein) were poisoned by toxic levels of mercury.
4. Citizens of Bhopal, India living in 1884 missed the gas explosion at the Union Carbide chemical plant that would occur 100 years later and which would result in thousands of deaths and hundreds of thousands of injured people.
3. The Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor explosion in 1986 which lethally poisoned 28 people, caused a rise in thyroid cancers and necessitated mass relocations would be inconceivable in 1886.
4. In 1889 the inhabitants of Prince William Sound in Alaska would not have believed that eleven million gallons of crude oil could be spilled into their water by a ship. But the Exxon Valdez did just that in 1989.
5. Then there's the BP oil well explosion in 2010 which resulted in 206 million gallons of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico over 87 days, killing 11 workers and injuring thousands of birds, fishes, turtles and sea mammals.
6. Prior to the industrial revolution, one percent of the population did not control 90% of the country's wealth.
7. Gas fracking wasn't pumping hundreds of different man-made chemicals into the ground and polluting the air, drinking water, and soil with carcinogenic chemicals, radioactive elements, dust and noise.
8. 85% of all food cans sold in the U.S. did not have plastic linings containing bisphenol A (BPA) which can leach into food. Low doses of BPA can lead to memory problems and brain aging.
9. Genetically engineered fish would have been science fiction. Presently there are at least 35 species in development.
10. There were no Genetically Modified seeds that can withstand the toxic effects of powerful synthetic pesticides
11. Before the Industrial Revolution, one wouldn't find over 700 synthetic chemicals in the bodies of average older Americans. Today we can find synthetic chemical carcinogens, hormone disruptors, nerve and immune system toxins, and blood sugar disruptors in the bodies of average Americans 58-92 years old.
12.U.S. garden centers did not sell home garden plants pre-treated with pesticides known to harm and kill bees.
13. The problem of global over population did not exist.
14. Neither did Global Warming.
Question 4.
Were these and all the other negative effects of rapid, careless technological development inevitable?
What if solar power, wind energy, or hydro had become preferable to fossil fuels as our main source of energy at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution? What if organic farming had caught on so that man-made chemical fertilizers and pesticides were never needed?
Question 5.
What about the benefits of technological development? Increased physical comforts, physical ease of living, time savings, life expectancy?
One might weigh the apparent benefits of rapid unchecked technological development against its costs to the average human being. One may wonder if someone with a chronic debilitating disease
is better off because today's medical technology is able to prolong that person's suffering.
What if technology allowed people to live twice as long as they do now? That may double or quadruple the world's human population. Would that be a good thing? As long as one percent of the population holds on to 95% of the wealth, what would be the result of doubling the population? Twice as many people would have to share what's left over. Technology does not equal equity. Twice as many people would experience deprivation.
Question 6.
What is to be gained from technological development proceeding more slowly and carefully?
Most people in the 19th Century could not accept the possibility of an over-populated world suffering from the effects of global warming, multiple species extinctions, widespread chemical pollution and poisoning. It will be regretful if we do not do something to avoid the unforeseen negative effects of unchecked technological growth that will negatively affect our children's future.
