Unnticipated Consequences Of Technology
The Unanticipated Consequences of Technology
Technology is a wonderful too for progress and change through the means of hanging our lives cognitively, emotionally, and behaviourally; psychologically, physically, and socially; politically, culturally, and environmentally (Taylor, J 2010). Throughout the history of human innovation and evolution, the development of technologies has always been present. It is one of the major contributing factors that developed and shape who we are today. However, there are unintended outcomes as a result of this immeasurable growth and technical advancement. This short discussion will analyse two unanticipated consequences that derived from new technological inventions that we have observed over the years.
The first example of this is the development of a nuclear power plant at an ocean location. The desired results or an anticipated consequence of the creation of this power plant is that it will produce …show more content…
electricity. Thus, this can also be considered as an advantage. On the other hand, the power generated by the plant might cause a rise in water temperature within the surrounding areas. This rise in temperate may impair the growth of certain ocean organisms while accelerating the growth of species of predator fish. These fish will then prey on other weaker species and as a result causing extinction to the weaker beings. This can be identified as an unintended or undesired consequence.
Another good example is the creation of telecommunication devices, focusing specifically on mobile phones.
Since the introduction of mobile phones, the definition of universal communication and connectivity has been redefined. One of the many advantages of mobile phones includes the ability to communicate with other people, such as friends and family members. In modern days, mobiles phones have evolved into one-stop media devices that operate with much different functionality such as a camera, a portable web browser or a video games player. However, this innovation comes with a price. Teenagers get so addicted to mobile phones that they forget the main purpose of it and indulge too much of their time on mobile phone usage. Furthermore, researches during recent years have shown evidence that prolong mobile phone usage can have a negative impact on the health of the consumers. There are many desired and undesired consequences in relation to mobile phone usage but these are just a few example highlighted in this
discussion.
The untended consequences of technology can only be reduced or mitigated but not eliminated completely. New technological advancement and innovation will always bring along the element of ambiguity, without this so called uncertainty, technologies cannot be improved as no new ideas can be introduced due to this barrier. According to Dr Jim Taylor (2010), one of the approaches that can help reducing this unintended result is to understand technologies better, as it is everywhere and is involved in everything in every facet of our daily lives. Thus, as humans, we should try our best to increase the desired effects of technology while reducing the unwanted side effects as much as possible.
References:
Healey, T 2014, The Unanticipated Consequences of Technologies, Santa Clara University, San Francisco, viewed 7 April 2014, http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/healy/consequences.html
Taylor, J 2010, Technology: The Law of Unintended Consequences, Huffington Post, San Francisco, viewed 7 April 2014, < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jim-taylor/technology-the-law-of-uni_b_437727.html>
Technology is a wonderful too for progress and change through the means of hanging our lives cognitively, emotionally, and behaviourally; psychologically, physically, and socially; politically, culturally, and environmentally (Taylor, J 2010). Throughout the history of human innovation and evolution, the development of technologies has always been present. It is one of the major contributing factors that developed and shape who we are today. However, there are unintended outcomes as a result of this immeasurable growth and technical advancement. This short discussion will analyse two unanticipated consequences that derived from new technological inventions that we have observed over the years.
The first example of this is the development of a nuclear power plant at an ocean location. The desired results or an anticipated consequence of the creation of this power plant is that it will produce …show more content…
electricity. Thus, this can also be considered as an advantage. On the other hand, the power generated by the plant might cause a rise in water temperature within the surrounding areas. This rise in temperate may impair the growth of certain ocean organisms while accelerating the growth of species of predator fish. These fish will then prey on other weaker species and as a result causing extinction to the weaker beings. This can be identified as an unintended or undesired consequence.
Another good example is the creation of telecommunication devices, focusing specifically on mobile phones.
Since the introduction of mobile phones, the definition of universal communication and connectivity has been redefined. One of the many advantages of mobile phones includes the ability to communicate with other people, such as friends and family members. In modern days, mobiles phones have evolved into one-stop media devices that operate with much different functionality such as a camera, a portable web browser or a video games player. However, this innovation comes with a price. Teenagers get so addicted to mobile phones that they forget the main purpose of it and indulge too much of their time on mobile phone usage. Furthermore, researches during recent years have shown evidence that prolong mobile phone usage can have a negative impact on the health of the consumers. There are many desired and undesired consequences in relation to mobile phone usage but these are just a few example highlighted in this
discussion.
The untended consequences of technology can only be reduced or mitigated but not eliminated completely. New technological advancement and innovation will always bring along the element of ambiguity, without this so called uncertainty, technologies cannot be improved as no new ideas can be introduced due to this barrier. According to Dr Jim Taylor (2010), one of the approaches that can help reducing this unintended result is to understand technologies better, as it is everywhere and is involved in everything in every facet of our daily lives. Thus, as humans, we should try our best to increase the desired effects of technology while reducing the unwanted side effects as much as possible.
References:
Healey, T 2014, The Unanticipated Consequences of Technologies, Santa Clara University, San Francisco, viewed 7 April 2014, http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/healy/consequences.html
Taylor, J 2010, Technology: The Law of Unintended Consequences, Huffington Post, San Francisco, viewed 7 April 2014, < http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-jim-taylor/technology-the-law-of-uni_b_437727.html>