Ways to Consider Technology.. and Life

After today's in class discussion, it made me realize that various aspects that go into 'steering' technology, and not even just technology, but people's decisions in general. The space vs. oceanic exploration discussion brought up good observations about the reasoning behind each exploration, or lack thereof. Not only do people do things for money, but for interest and curiosity, self-interest and reward, and status. Cancer research brings money in addition to self-interest for doing what is right and helping others. Space exploration on the other hand, costs a lot of money to do, but creates a status for the country (generally speaking) which accomplishes or discovers the most. This is part of what brought about the space race. But why do some things take precedence over others? That’s a subjective question that alters from person to person.

More specifically to the Precautionary Principle however, I think there is a need for this. One might argue that technology moving too slowly is a bad thing (and in some respects I agree such as alternative energy forms.) But in most cases, such as the Pinto car, technology needs to slow down and take more of an assessment of the implications and impacts that it has. Nanotechnology and Geoengineering are great, in the short term, but what about thousands of years from now? If the Precautionary Principle was applied to these prior to execution, there could be a better way to solve these preexisting problems. In addition, many areas of technology and research apply the Precautionary Principle, but maybe not in the most effective ways, or as much as it should be applied. In one way, maybe the environment would be more highly thought of as a concern that people address if there was an economic (or some other form of) reward. These incentives, whether personal or physical, would have a large impact on the implementation of the Precautionary Principle, if executed correctly.

This is a little bit of a tangent from this topic, but I was watching the Olympics today and saw an interview of Sarah Burke's parents. Sarah Burke was a super pipe skier who died from hitting her head skiing in the X games at the age of 29 in 2010. Her passion was skiing, and her dream was to have her event in the Olympics. Now, it is. Although she can't be here to participate in it, her mom was asked if she regretted letting her ski and pursuing her dreams. Her response, was no. She wouldn't want to take that away from her. From this, it made me realize that people make decisions, learn from their mistakes and take on trial and error. It might not be in the most systematic way such as with the formality of technology, but rather that each decision is based off of some sort of pursuit or desire. So just remember, live to fulfill your life, make the decisions that make you happy and if you die trying, you know you lived a full and good life doing what you love. Have no regrets.

http://www.nbcolympics.com/video/sarah-burke-driving-force-behind-ski-halfpipe-taken-too-soon