Paper on Freeman Dyson's Technology and Social Justice - Essay Example

“Technology and Social Justice” by Freeman Dyson – Analysis Introduction This paper attempts to carry out an analysis of Freeman Dyson’s views on “Technology and Social Justice”. This analysis is with regard to Dyson’s optimistic views on how technology can be utilized for enhancing social justice. Also, it (the paper) would go on to enumerate the strengths and weaknesses of the arguments presented by Dyson. Technology and Social Justice Freeman Dyson views the aspect of utilizing technology for furthering social justice with an entirely positive perspective.

As a matter of fact, he effectively counters the arguments of some sections of the society maintaining that technological sophistications have in fact led to a rise in social injustice and inequalities. Dyson elaborates this by coming out with a real-life example. He states that, the invention of diverse household appliances have enabled the advent of a scenario where, the need for servants was eliminated. In addition, sons and daughters of servants have been enabled to pursue higher education, and thus get elevated to middle class. (1) Dyson considers that as a vivid reflection of a key facet of social justice: the segment that was hitherto downtrodden has now been empowered by the knowledge gained through education.

And according to him, that became possible solely because of the advent of the aforesaid technologies (domestic appliances). (1) Dyson emphatically argues that technology should be more focused on meeting the needs of the poverty-stricken people, rather than providing more luxuries for the affluent. He goes on to add that poverty could be eliminated by appropriately combining the technologies of genetic engineering, solar energy and Internet. In this context, he strengthens his argument by focusing on the fact that there is plenty of untapped solar energy in some zones of the Globe where, severe poverty is the order of the day.

He conveys that by utilizing genetic engineering, plants can be enabled to transform solar power into fuel, in a highly effective manner. Dyson says that by furthering usage of Internet in remote locations, people residing there would be facilitated to become an integral part of the worldwide economy. (1) Dyson maintains that, in the event of the scenario described in the above paragraph becoming a reality, removal of poverty would be an obvious consequence of the same. He states that the changes that would then take place signify as being nothing short of a positive social revolution. (1) Argument of Dyson - Strengths and Weaknesses The biggest strength of Dyson’s argument is attributable to the fact that, he highlighted real examples to add weight to it (his argument).

In fact, the example of invention of domestic appliances, mentioned earlier in the write-up, indeed shows that proper usage of technology does bring about social justice. Likewise, while speaking about the three technologies, Dyson speaks about abundant solar energy being available in several poor regions of the World. Even this denotes as being a strong point of his view, for when right steps are initiated in those zones, solar energy would go on to alleviate the lives of the poor, and thereby ensuring social justice.

But it has to be admitted that the arguments of Dyson are not without some drawbacks. Perhaps, the biggest drawback is that, it is not that practical to be successfully blending the technologies of genetic engineering, Internet and solar energy. For this purpose, there are several key economic, social and political parameters that have to be considered. And in fact, some of those factors are also nothing short of being major impediments, for the purpose in question. Additionally, the financial implications related to actually using technologies for both social justice and also elimination of poverty are very high.

Tremendous amount of commitment has to be displayed by people in position of power, in the realm of politics and economics. The fact that there are very few leaders who are committed to that extent warrants no special mention. Source 1) “Freeman Dyson – “Technology and Social Justice””, ucs.mun.ca/~alatus/2801/Tecnology&SocialJustice.html, Internet, NP, ND.