Techno Earth

I think that the question of technology with reference to the environmental problem today is both essential and impossible to answer. It is essential in that knowing what the future of technology brings could help us to save the Earth from further damage by knowing what green technologies to create or by realizing that we must regress in technology in order to prevent catastrophy. However, because technology is so progressive and autonomous, it is impossible to know what future technological advancements might be made. Some people have suggested that technology can be the savior of the Earth if it is used properly. Others feel that technology, if it continues to advance, may end up creating more problems than it solves. Each new technology uses more enegry to create it but if this energy is used efficiently, the technology can end up conserving energy or being sustainable. In general, I feel that technology can go either way from this point on. It can certainly be beneficial to the Earth if human innovation is put to good use and if the enviromental problem is considered a threat to humanity. On the other hand, if the problem is disregarded and technology continues to advance in ways that don't make it more energy efficient, the environment could suffer the consequences.

It is difficult, also, to know exactly what technology means for the environment. The question is just as ambiguous as the answer. My first response is that further technological advancement will only increase the human impact on the planet and therefore, will be harmful. However, upon thinking about the meaning of technology a little bit more, it becomes clear that by definition, technology is any kind of tool that can extend one's abilities to be efficient in a task. So, if the task of humans now is to control the climate, and technology extends our abilities to complete that task, then technology could be what allows us to control the climate. I thought this could be a great idea until I took the idea even further and asked the question of whether or not it is a good thing for humans to try to control the climate in the first place. After all, there have been many instances where, in trying to solve a problem, humanity created another, more serious problem. It is impossible to predict the kinds of futuristic problems that could arise from humans attempting to fiddle with the global thermostat. Since industrialization is what got us all into this problem in the first place, it seems that a reversal of that would be the way to solve the problem, not an increase in it. For example, if people want to lose weight, they reverse the eating habits that caused the problem by reducing their diet; they don't continue to eat exponentially more hoping that it will eventually help them lose weight. This seemed like aa very logical argument to me for a while but then I reminded myself that technology has much more ambiguous effects than food. Either way, as I went back and forth between the two theories, I kept convincing myself that one made more sense than the other until I finally came to accept that there is no way to tell how technology will affect the Earth in the future. The arguments become cyclical until I find myself thinking in circles without coming to any definite conclusion. Overall, it comes down to trying to predict the future, which is an unsteady art, even in the magical world of Harry Potter. In the real world, it is even more unlikely.

To take a more science fiction approach, it can be concluded that even if technology continues to destroy the planet, we will be so far advanced by the time the planet is uninhabitable that we will be able to move off the Earth and leave our home to rot. As shown in the movie Wall-E, this could have devastating effects on humanity but it does pose a possible solution for the preservation of the human species. Although this could be feasible in the very far future, I like to hope that would never happen and that humanity will have wised up before it becomes necessary. The movie does raise some interesting questions about how we are treating our world. The planet was covered in trash and completely destroyed but technology had advanced so far that it was possible for humans to move onto a space-based ship. Despite the fact that the ship the humans moved to was pretty sweet, I hope my great great great grandchildren will not be 600 pounds.