Technology: Servant and master | BusinessMirror
Undoubtedly, the greatest technology achievement in recorded history occurred sometime around 6,489 years ago in Lower Mesopotamia when a Sumerian engineer inserted a rotating axle into solid discs of wood and created “The Wheel.” History does not record the date when the first wheel fell off its axle.
Without the wheel, the automobile would have never been invented. Likewise, Mr. Walter Johnson of Middletown, Connecticut would never have been hit, stepping off the curb, by Edith Wilmore driving her father’s car while traveling with five of her girlfriends in 1913.
Humanity has been the beneficiary, and at the mercy, of “technology” forever as we have continued to build on the achievements of thousands of years and through our never-ending journey of success, failure, and more success.
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”—Thomas Edison.
However, advances in technology have always brought unexpected consequences. Humans have been sailing the Seven Seas since we first figured out how to build a vessel that was reasonably seaworthy. But most seafaring was limited to staying in sight of land so you knew where you were so that you could figure out where you were going. But we always find a way. Polynesians as far back as 3,000 BC were able to navigate a huge portion of the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii in the north to Easter Island in the east to New Zealand and parts of South East Asia. They followed the movement of the ocean swells well as bird flight, clouds, and the sun and stars. But in the open ocean you could never know exactly where you were. Explorer sailors like Magellan just went in one direction until they ran into something.
John Bird produced the first sextant in 1759, building on previous technology. With a clock set to the time at the originating port and sextant readings once or twice a day, a ship could plot its latitude and longitude position to about one mile accuracy. Now we have a Global Positioning System. Even your Smartphone GPS can achieve a five-meter accuracy under an open sky…as long as your battery is charged.
Ships carry a sextant and have a “ship’s clock” for the same reason. Technology, no matter how sophisticated, is at the mercy of malfeasance, incompetence, and force majeure.
Hundreds of airline flights to and from Manila affecting some 65,000 passengers were canceled on New Year’s Day. We will not speculate on the cause until all the politicians and pundits share their wisdom. However, it is safe to say that either some humans screwed up or some technology failed.
Less than two weeks later, some 10,578 flights to and from the United States were delayed and 1,353 were canceled. Again, we will not speculate on the cause until all the politicians and pundits share their wisdom. However, it is safe to say that either some humans screwed up or some technology failed.
Clearly, it is important and absolutely critical to find out what caused the problem in order to make necessary changes to reduce the probability of anything like this happening again. But when it comes to human-created and maintained technology “zero probability” is simply not possible.
Norwegian historian Christian Lous Lange wrote: “Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master.” But as author Alice Kahn wrote, there is a number we can call and get: “For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three.”
Gloss