Examination assessment and evaluation methods

¶ … Home Exam

Explore the economic, social, and political consequences of an enforceable decision to halt the development of new technology. (We can assume this decision is made to protect the environment.)

There are many ramifications to new technological advances, and therefore it seems logical that ending these advances would also have issues and problems that should be addressed. Some technology can be harmful to the environment, and when an enforceable decision is made to halt the development of new technology in order to protect the environment, there are economic, social, and political consequences that must be faced. It is important to look at these and determine what they are, in case a decision such as this is ever made. A decision that is made without all of the facts often does not turn out well, and many people would be affected by a decision to halt the development of new technology, even for a noble reason such as the protection of the environment.

From an economic standpoint, halting the development of new technology could be very problematic. Many people work in the technology field, from those that create new ideas to those that take those ideas and turn them into reality. In addition to those people, there are others that use the new technology in their jobs. If technology was halted, many of those that work in research and development would not have anything else to work on, and researchers and scientists across the country would lose government grants and other money that they receive to create technological advances. They would not be able to do the work that many of them have spent their lives involved with and they would be out of their jobs, forced to find some other line of work or work in areas that only used the technology that was already available. This would seriously harm the economy of the country because so many people would be out of work from it, and when those that used the new technology found that it was obsolete for what they needed to do, there would be nothing else that they could do to find ways of making their jobs and their lives easier.

As disturbing as the economic consequences of halting the development of new technology would be, the social consequences are even greater. Technology is used so much in the daily lives of many individuals in this country, from the use of a computer to write this essay to the technology that is used to save the lives of those that are injured or harmed by disease. Technology has come a long way to help businesses, doctors, and countless others across the country. Although the halting of the development of new technology would not require that the old technology be destroyed or not used anymore, it would stop the technology that is available now from being replaced when it wears out, which could hurt many people years down the road as well as now.

From a social standpoint, most people use some form of technology every day. They have computers and cellular phones, PDAs and fax machines. All of these are technological advances, and even though they may seem commonplace now, there was a time in history when they were unheard of, and when no one thought that they would work or that they would be useful. Without being able to create new technology, society could not advance beyond where it is now. It is true that the American society today is quite advanced when compared to years ago, and also when compared to many other countries. However, this does not mean that there is not much more that can be done. However, an enforceable decision to halt the development of new technology in this country would stop society from advancing even further and would allow other countries to catch up and even surpass the United States in what they are capable of doing and how their society actually functions.

This advancement of society is important for political as well as social reasons, since much of what politics deals with is the fact that the United States is the number one superpower in the world. It is so powerful that it surpasses every other nation on almost everything that is done today, and stopping this would allow the United States to be weakened. Right now, the war in Iraq is being fought with a lot of muscle and brains, but also with a lot of technology. Halting the development of new technology would weaken the power base that this country has and would therefore weaken the ability of politicians such as the President to negotiate with other countries and to stop many of the problems that are taking place in the Middle East and in other areas of the world. This may not seem like that large of a concern, but the politicians know that part of what keeps them in their jobs and keeps the American people generally happy and complacent is that the United States is advanced and powerful, and that these people have basic freedoms and can generally live their lives unafraid of what other countries might do to their home country. Without the power that advances in technology brings to the country, this could change and no longer be the case.