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By Kevin Lee
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This poses two problems. First, humans might view themselves as raw materials and therefore as expendable beings. Secondly, humans might become enslaved by technology because any new attempts to redefine our reality would be stopped by technological intervention.
The concepts are not as ludicrous as one might believe; it is common for companies to view their employees as nothing more than just another capital investment, especially with the increase of temporary jobs. And it is difficult to envision a society where we break out of this norm.
Our capitalist society, according to Ulrich Beck, markets off risk created by technology to generate more risk. For example, a pharmaceutical company might create a new brand of sunscreen as a response to ozone depletion but the sunscreen contributes to land pollution. In the end, a vicious cycle is created, one that would eventually end in a global catastrophe.
This process could happen in more subtle manners. Automated journalism, for one, is a controversial technological innovation with more drawbacks than benefits. Computers have now evolved to the point that they can auto-generate newspaper articles for reputable news agencies such as the Associated Press. In a couple of years, Artificial Intelligence may evolve to the point where journalism is completely dominated by these automated systems.
Think about that for a second. Our political choices would be dominated by a non-human entity. It would effectively end the so-called "Fourth Estate," the checks and balances of governmental power. Yet we continue to turn a blind eye… because of progress for progress's sake.
Our society is moving faster than we could even comprehend. New "innovative" products come out every day; I see advertisements for the iPhone XS alongside advertisements for the iPhone X and 8.
However, it seems like we are on a treadmill, never able to look back and reflect on the damages we caused for the fear of losing momentum and falling. Billions of lives are in the balance over the next generation of self-driving cars or robotic medical machines. We must not tempt fate any further.
Robert Oppenheimer, the creator of the atomic bomb, lamented that he had become "death, the destroyer of worlds." How can we be sure that the next Oppenheimer doesn't become the true "destroyer of worlds"?
Kevin Lee (s2lee2021@chadwickschool.org) is a sophomore and an aspiring journalist at Chadwick International School.
