The Technological Age: Is Utopia becoming achievable?
Posted: Sunday, March 13, 2011
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
The Britannica Concise Encyclopedia explains technology as follows: Application of knowledge to the practical aims of human life or to changing and manipulating the human environment. Technology includes the use of materials, tools, techniques, and sources of power to make life easier or more pleasant and work more productive. Whereas science is concerned with how and why things happen, technology focuses on making things happen. Technology began to influence human endeavour as soon as people began using tools. It accelerated with the Industrial Revolution and the substitution of machines for animal and human labour. Accelerated technological development has also had costs, in terms of air and water pollution and other undesirable environmental effects.
Let’s begin about sixty years ago. I had just reached adulthood and was drafted into the U.S. Army the next year. I had never even heard of television. I know that there must have been a few because I did see one in a couple of years from that time. It was black and white and the screen was so snowy, the images were unidentifiable, nor could you understand the voices because of the frying sound. The only computers, if any, were monstrosities that required a huge wall space area.
Now look what has happened in those areas alone. TV screens that are the size of a wall and computers the size of a pencil.
These two technological advances have opened up unbelievable possibilities. Let us allow our imaginations to run amok. The budget for education for 2010, ran as follows: U.S. Gov. $140.4 billion. States (combined) $234.0 billion. Local (combined) $604.1 billion. Total: $887.3 billion.
Closing in on one trillion dollars. Think for a moment. These are funds from taxpayers and paid out on the educational system. This does not include the costs to households for tuitions, transportation of students plus school clothes and school supplies, etc.
What if we closed all our schools including colleges, and many technical schools. No more hassle to get the kids off to school each morning, no more auto fender benders enroute plus the gasoline and other expenses. Our present technology could easily produce a home classroom effect with one teacher teaching thousands. No more college promiscuity, no more drunken fraternity brawls. A higher quality of teaching could prevail. There would be many details which would have to be ironed out, but none insurmountable, that I can think of.
I understand there would be much less socializing and intermingling of our children. But, as things now stand, I’m not sure that is a minus. Cities and communities could arrange their own s ocial activities and sports teams for youth, and let the families be responsible for choosing in which to participate. Church activities could add more to eliminate some of this void.
Even a great deal of medical services could be combined into computer and television visits. Connections with ones chosen physician could gain a few minutes rap where the patient could furnish their own blood pressure readings, pulse count, temperature, etc. No more long waits in doctors waiting rooms sitting near others red-faced and breathing hoarsely, and uncovered sneezes, etc. Virtually all non-emergency conditions could be eliminated, other than serious injuries, etc.
Automated grocery stores, or even Walmart stores could be electronically programmed where one could simply scan through the groceries, et al, choose the item(s) and number of them, click a total at the end and receive the costs and a number. Then drive by a window where you present the number and pay, pick up your packaged product(s) and be gone! All stores could eventually become automated like this.
We have only begun to see the possibilities, but notice already some of the implications. Billions would be saved in all levels of government. Millions (or maybe billions) would be saved by consumers on gasoline consumption, crowding in stores and store parking lots would be lessened. Traffic would be lowered which would result in less accidents and deaths on the roads.
My age is such that I will not be around to see a lot of this, however, I do predict that these ideas are not fantasy and will be introduced in some level or way, beginning in the near future. It is becoming increasingly necessary that innovations must be undertaken to lower our dependency upon fossil fuels, lower family expenditures and above all, lower governmental expenditures.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Great article, daddy!! I loved it! I think these ideas are fantastic, why don't you contact our government officials and suggest them? :-)They are too dumb to understand them. But thanks for the compliment
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