Living within the limits of technology

As the cost of just about every consumable continues to rise, the population is casting its collective gaze toward science and technology much in the same way a puppy at the pound looks at a prospective adopter. From humanity, of course, there is the hope — or the expectation — that these disciplines of reason can remove the natural limitations with which we are faced, that is, the mere fact that limitations exist at all. This is especially evident with the fuel dilemma/crisis/plain old mess in which we currently find ourselves.

The potential benefits of alternative fuel technologies such as hydrogen, wind, solar, and even nuclear power are becoming as common a water-cooler discussion point as the latest episode of American Idol or the prior night’s baseball game. But, as ga-ga green everyone is supposedly becoming, many studies are showing that people are more concerned with putting more money in their wallet than cleaning up the environment.

Understandable? No doubt. But what I rarely hear during those coffee-break discussions is a sense of personal and group responsibility to the cause. Ultimately, it is conservation and the ability to live within limitations — not technology alone — that will save us.

Is this a taboo statement to make to EEs in a tech magazine? I don’t think so, and I’m assuming you understand this opinion better than anyone.

If there is any lesson to be learned from science, it is that there are limitations to everything. Every technological innovation brings more complexity.

There is no doubt that scientific innovation and amazing feats of engineering have enabled humanity to, for example, reign over its natural inability to fly and swim. But what have been the costs? How much of our natural resources have been consumed, depleted, or destroyed from the fruits of such efforts?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not knocking science. That’s a fairly impossible thing to do.

What is deserving of criticism, however, is our reliance on technology. Technological innovation should serve us, but not in the way we typically expect.

The best-case scenario is that technology gives us options to help us figure out the most efficient way to live and ensure what we have now will be available to us for years to come. The problems we’ve made are our own, and no magic green beans will save the farm. There are only truth and common sense.

Ralph Raiola