The Risks and Dangers of Technological Development - Essay Example

? The Risks and Dangers of Technological Development s) In the modern society, there is a tremendous progress in innovations with an aim to improve the productivity and create comfort for human life (Bennett, 2005). Different technological innovations have both advantages and disadvantages in the society. Although human being innovates in pursuance of a better, such technological advancements come with various risks to human life. Technological advancement in the modern society is responsible for loss of human lives and interruptions of the social setups due to increase in number of accidents. Accidents are increasing at an alarming rate both in magnitude, regularity and rigorousness. They are claiming the lives of many people and adversely affecting other people psychologically, socially and economically (Musil, &Vrba, 2007). Therefore, as technology continues to advance, there is probability for increase in social evils in the society hence causing an issue of concern to all people. Technological advancement has resulted to better improvement s in the living standards of human beings (Matthewman, 2012). States and individuals have invested heavily on research and development in order to create more resources for the nations and improve living standards. However, such advancement has posed great challenges in the survival of human being. For example, oil spillages in the sea have intensely affected the aquatic lives hence resulting to extinction of some fish species and other sea lives. Society is a complicated interaction of various components and one even affects the other. For example, the effects of environmental changes result to interruptions of social lives (Musil, &Vrba, 2007). The human activities result to changes in climatic conditions such as global warming, rising and falling of sea tides, unprecedented heat which cause tension on the power supplying grids and so on. Consequently, power transmission lines pose threats to human lives and may cause death any time to the people living around those areas. After all, tensed power transmission lines are likely to collide with trees along the transmission routes hence resulting to interference of the power supply in a specific region. There is a high reliance on electric power in all aspects of lives hence it is quite difficult to live without it (Musil, & Vrba, 2007). The overhead electricity transmission system is quite economic in terms of maintenance and installation. However, those power cables are prone to risks of falling trees which may disconnect the power supply any time. As human activities increases, there is an increase in effects on the environmental conditions which pose threats to power systems. For example, human activities are responsible for variations of wind flow and great heat intensity that causes tsunamis and so on. Installation of underground power cables is also an expensive activity and result to great risk in terms of damages caused by floods. Installation of an underground system will require demolition of the overhead power transmission line and great cost of installing the underground system (Matthewman, 2012). However, although underground cables are not affected by wind, they also susceptible to damage by the floods than the overhead power supply cables. There is a study which has been carried out to establish the occurrence of deaths as a result of accidents (Matthewman, 2012). However, there is an assumption that human lives are lost through accidents resulting from vehicles, electric power and so on, in comparison to deaths caused by intentional death. Technological advancement of a nation also integrates human and political components (Bennett, 2005). Leaders in the society determine the aspects of the technology that need to be implemented in the society in order to achieve greater heights of economic progress. They are expected to support economic activities that will result to greater economic progress in order to improve the lives of the citizens. However, in case a disaster occurs, political leaders will be required to take a decision that will mitigate the effects of the accident and prevent future occurrences of such disasters (Musil, & Vrba, 2007). Furthermore, state leader are responsible for making rules that govern the implementation of economic activities and how businesses are conducted. They also fund research activities in order to achieve greater status of economic advancements. Technological progress of a nation is determined by the potential in which they can produce their commodities cost effectively and mitigate the harmful effects of their activities (Musil, & Vrba, 2007). The state should put in place measures to promote innovations and at the same make those who are concerned to bear the responsibility of their activities by mitigating the harmful effects that result from their activities. Furthermore, human lives are influenced by efficiency with which they are able to obtain their daily requirement and how effective they can care or their environment. Environmental concerns and desire for superior lives have resulted to various concerns regarding who is accountable for various occurrences (Bennett, 2005). For example, political leaders are responsible for controlling various economic activities in the society. When there is an abnormalities sin the way things are supposed to be done, politicians are the people to blame for those happenings. They decide the nature of transport systems to be put in place and establish the rules to govern the systems (Gertler, & Wolfe, 2002). Therefore, when an accident occurs, the society must relate the failure to a certain individual or group of individuals who were responsible for the failure. The major issue of concern is how people respond to disasters when they occur (Gertler, & Wolfe, 2002). As technology continues to advance, hazards will also continue to increase as a result of technological faults. However, these disasters occur as a result of interaction of the various human and technological components in the society. Sometimes, the accident could result from the failure of acquisition of the innovation at the same pace in the society. However, the biggest challenge is in the way people react to the failures in technology. People are prepared differently to cope with the emergencies depending on whether the emergency is natural or whether it is caused by human failure (Lerda, 2002). For example, the damages caused by tsunami although the disaster was natural, paused great challenge to Japans power transmitters. The main challenge was because Japanese had adopted both American 60Hz and European 50 Hz power grid systems. After the occurrence f tsunami, Japanese could not cope with either of the system because they lacked complete understanding of either of the two systems standards. Some people derive huge gains for the occurrences of disasters (Musil, &Vrba, 2007). When disaster occurs such as road accident and tsunami, it is not always a disadvantage to everybody since some people such as healthcare givers involved in providing treatment to the victims gain from medical fees. Also, those who are involved in restoration of the filed system stand to gains from the occurrence of such calamities (Bennett, 2005). Therefore, it is always essential to analyze the cost of mitigating disasters by installing steady systems such as underground cable s and the benefit drawn from such decisions. The benefits should be both in terms of monetary gains and quality of human lives. In conclusion, technological advancements have both advantages and disadvantages in the society (Musil, &Vrba, 2007). They affect the quality of the human lives both positively and negatively. They also influence all aspects of the human lives both economically politically and socially. Mainly disasters increase with increase in innovations. However, it is always essential to consider the benefits and weigh them against losses in order to make a concrete decision on the best course of action. List of References Bennett, J. 2005, The Agency of Assemblages and the North American Blackout Public Culture 17(3): 445-465; available at http://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu:8080/bitstream/handle/1774.2/32808/bennet_public_cu lture.pdf Gertler, M, S & Wolfe, D, A. 2002, Innovation and Social Learning: Institutional Adaptation in an Era of Technological Change, New York. Publication year, Palgrave Macmillanpp.46- 157 Lerda, V, G 2002, Which "Global Village"? Societies, Cultures, and Political-Economic Systems in a Euro-Atlantic Perspective, Praeger, Westport, CT Matthewman, S. 2012, Accidentlogy: Towards Sociology of accidents and disasters. International and Multidisciplinary Journal of Social Sciences, 1(2), Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.4471/rimcis.2012.09 Musil, J &Vrba, T 2007, the View from Prague: The Expectations of World Leaders at the Dawn of the 21st Century. Budapest, Central European University Press. Pp.23-175 Walsh, B 2012, Hurricane Sandy Will Put a Rickety Power Grid to the Test Time Available at: http://science.time.com/2012/10/30/hurricane-sandy-will-put-a-rickety- power-grid-to-the-test/ Read More