Tech fixes
I was musing a bit the other day about the pace of technological change that we have gotten used to in our society. It truly is a marvel to behold. It seems that a better future is just around the corner, thanks to our accelerating technological innovations. But its not only about making life easier. We also, in the same mind set, have come to believe that if we base our solutions to the myriad of problems that we have, on our technology, there will be a better way of solving those problems tomorrow.
So, if you take that premise to its extreme, you have to believe that it is better not to implement any changes or make any effort to mend our ways, because tomorrow we will have better, faster, more complete solutions to the problems that we have created, today. Procrastinators rejoice! Off load the problem on our children’s doorstep and have another Mai Tai!
Using this logic its not hard to understand why the fossil fuel companies, manufacturing giants and auto behemoths believe that doing nothing to our wasteful ways is a solution to the environmental crisis we find ourselves mired in. And since governments these days takes it marching orders from big business that wonderful and innovative policy is by and large the course of action that we have taken.
Oh to be a teenager again with a caboodle of books and a homework galore. Don’t worry Mom. No need to study tonight. I will be smarter tomorrow and be able to zip through this algebra like a hot knife through no transfat margarine tomorrow. So it would be a waste of time to burden my noggin with facts that are better left with sleeping dogs. See ya later! Where are the car keys?
Instead of reducing emissions, let’s burn baby, burn and wait for those geniuses in the tech department to come with a carbon sequestering fix or a maybe we can shoot cannon loads of sun block into the upper ionosphere or seed the oceans with iron pellets. That’ll do the trick. That’ll set those pesky tree huggers back a notch. Yep, technology is a marvel. Party today, fix tomorrow and let the good times roll.
Before we all march off into the better living tomorrow world, hand in hand with our mega, giga luxo-barges, I have some questions. What if there is no solution, no tech fix. or worse, what if technology has a fix but it is too late? Or worser what if the fix is worse than the problem? What if the cure for the hangover causes cancer so to speak? What if technology falters in its upward trajectory?
True, our technology is a marvel to behold. Never in the history of humanity has the pace of innovation and change seen anything like it. But also never has the scope of the problem to the environment ever been this onerous. It seems that for every tech fix and innovation there is the attendant hydra of problems that again require tech fixes of some sort. Its a vicious cycle, one that in truth, we have barely been able to keep up with. Trying to stay one step ahead of armageddon, battling with the gods, so to speak, is a risky business.
Perhaps there is another solution. Let’s party after we have reduced, reused and recycled. Let’s fix our ways not the problems. Time to grow up and to be less self indulgent.
March 4th, 2008 at 9:17 am
Hi Richard,
Just found your blog and I agree with what you’ve been saying.
I was at Disney a month ago and their mantra was ecology. Everywhere you went they were showing us how they were in cooperation with the animals.
Then, in the middle of one of these electronic lectures one of my sons says, “Dad, where do we put our empty bottles?” Then it struck me. In the middle of The Animal Kingdom there was no recycling - just lots of garbage cans beside machines that sold drinks in plastic bottles. In fact, at the hotel where we stayed there were no recycling bins.
So, for the kids to have to put their recyclables in a garbage facility it was like putting a stain on the earth. Go figure.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Kim Kinrade
March 5th, 2008 at 11:10 am
Hi there Richard,
Back on October 23rd of 2007, I left a comment for you regarding a scientific theory that i’d previously not heard of. It’s basically thrown everything I learned in school out the window. Could you comment on it please? I know you attempted to contact me in that same blog, however I didn’t catch it immediately.
We have since moved, and I just now remembered that i’d left you that comment. So, here we go again. In my original note, I forgot to leave you the link to the video I wanted you to watch, and then form an opinion of it based on it’s information. I’d like to see what you have to say about it.
Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjgidAICoQI
Keep up the good work, Richard.