Technological innovation tends to lead to unanticipated consequences.

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Technological innovation tends to lead to unanticipated consequences.

hank — 10/3/2017 5:22:15 PM (archived)

I especially remember the intellectual Renaissance trope.
And I say that charitably, because I must confess I fell for it too.

TV was supposed to bring culture and education into every home, and it quickly devolved into Newton Minow's "vast wasteland". TNT was supposed to make war too terrible to contemplate, as were nuclear weapons. Cell phones were going to put us all in touch with each other. The internal combustion engine was going to make us infinitely mobile. Counter-examples abound, but they only serve to highlight that technology is neutral, it doesn't give a shit whether it helps or hurts its creators. And it always exacts a price. You don't get something for nothing.

As a wise man once put it..."This was the technology that was going to take us to the stars..."

The whole thread (40 posts)

Only in America... (n/t) - RL - 10/2/2017 9:59:38 PM
- We won't be hearing too much about this one. - ER - 8/27/2018 2:06:58 PM
- And again... - RL - 8/26/2018 6:59:55 PM
- And again.... - RL - 5/18/2018 10:07:56 PM
  - Again, thank our lucky stars he's not Mexican or Muslim. - ER - 5/19/2018 3:01:02 AM
    - His parents are Trump voting gun nuts... - RL - 5/19/2018 12:10:50 PM
- Its too soon to talk about it. - hank - 2/15/2018 2:54:28 AM
  - Funny how that works... - RL - 2/15/2018 4:58:41 AM
- Only in America... yet again - RL - 11/6/2017 12:40:48 AM
  - Yet again... - RL - 11/15/2017 2:35:54 AM
    - And yet again ... - RL - 2/15/2018 1:47:43 AM
      - Republican policies are leading us directly into economic crisis and civil unrest. - hank - 2/15/2018 2:59:40 AM
      - We are averaging one school shooting every 60 hours so far in 2018 - RL - 2/15/2018 2:25:52 AM
  - Its a good thing he wasn't Ay-rab, or Eye-ranian or Mexican, or black. - hank - 11/6/2017 2:08:53 AM
    - A bunch of innocent people got murdered. What should we do? - BuckGalaxy - 11/16/2017 1:13:29 AM
      - Charged with atttempted murder - RobVG - 2/19/2018 3:30:11 PM
      - A teacher's perspective - RobVG - 2/16/2018 2:23:28 AM
        
        What to do? - RobVG - 2/19/2018 2:53:16 AM
        
        Make it easier for people like that to get and afford treatment, and make it far more difficult for them to get guns... - RL - 2/19/2018 4:04:24 AM
        
        Nikolas Cruz’s Lifetime of Trouble: Family Loss, Flashes of Rage - RobVG - 2/16/2018 4:24:03 PM
        
        And other warning signs.... - RL - 2/18/2018 12:43:34 AM
        
        And now let's hear from a teacher that actually knows what she is talking about on this subject... - RL - 2/16/2018 7:34:43 AM
        
        Or this mom... - RL - 2/16/2018 7:48:04 AM
        
        Or this student... - RL - 2/16/2018 7:53:53 AM
        
        But no, let's listen to your dumb-ass friend that wants to pack a gun in a classroom of kindergarteners - RL - 2/16/2018 7:57:38 AM
      - Depression - RobVG - 2/15/2018 3:52:07 PM
        
        Yeah, THAT must be what makes america the only country experiencing this slaughter... - RL - 2/16/2018 6:56:47 AM
    - I am sure Rob is 3.25 times as outraged about this shooting as he was about the NYC killings... - RL - 11/6/2017 11:13:01 PM
      - Do we know LV shooter's motivation - RobVG - 11/7/2017 3:28:22 PM
        
        How is that relevant? - RL - 11/8/2017 12:57:33 AM
        
        Where do you place your outrage - RobVG - 11/12/2017 6:48:02 PM
        
        On the perpetrators and their accomplices - RL - 11/15/2017 2:49:44 AM
- This is, apparently, the country that Americans want - mcfly - 10/3/2017 9:59:05 AM
  - Well, THESE Americans are the ones that make this possible... - RL - 10/3/2017 3:29:47 PM
    - The legacy of social media - Robert - 10/3/2017 4:48:55 PM
      - Technological innovation tends to lead to unanticipated consequences. - hank - 10/3/2017 5:22:15 PM
      - The article those nuts were responding to - RL - 10/3/2017 5:05:58 PM
    - No, THOSE Americans are the ones that make this inevitable. - hank - 10/3/2017 4:18:24 PM
  - I'm afraid you might be right. - hank - 10/3/2017 2:40:50 PM
- Congress considering bill to allow silencers and armorr-piercing ammunition. - hank - 10/2/2017 10:24:24 PM

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