tedtalk2017-blog

[tedtalk2017-blog]

Technology - Who Needs It?

VR Technology, that's exactly what got us all into this mess isn't it? The combustion that is internal, jet propulsion, mechanized farming, power stations, pesticides, industrial  pollution; the list goes on, and on. And now we're due to pay the price with both global warming and oil depletion looming as a consequence of squandering the planet earth's resources to feed our obsession with technology.

VR

Surely, since technology is indeed obviously to blame, we should strive to roll right back the tide and oppose further so-called technological progress?

Do any takers are heard by me for this idea? A return to a golden age, lit by candles at night and warmed by the crackle of logs in countless hearths; a renaissance of home grown plants, chickens in the yard and beating your clothes on a rock down by the river exactly  like  you see within  the movies?

Oh i am sure there are a few diehard romantics who buy into  the self sufficiency fantasy, but the really inconvenient truth is that if we all set about burning logs to boil dried beans as well as  heat our fashionable Yurts we would deforest the place within 30 days; without modern pesticides and medicines we could be fortunate to flee the very first year without calamity regarding  the scale of the Great Irish Potato Famine so  we could soon reduce life expectancy to amounts last seen in the 16th Century (or modern Zimbabwe if you want). As for "natural transport", this is quite prevalent  the Century that is 20th and streets were ankle deep in horse dung.

Therefore back once again to the cold shower of reality. Yes, technology has laid at our door responsibility for worldwide warming and depletion of precious natural resources; but technology can be our only realistic hope of making amends and crafting a globe we may  not feel deservedly ashamed to pass on to the kids.

Just what exactly exactly has technology ever done for all of us? Well, there's warm homes and illumination at night; better and more plentiful food and refrigeration to keep it from rotting; ability to routinely travel distances once considered inconceivable; and communication, both mass communication and personal.

Pinpointing the fee incurred by temperature, light and power for domestic appliances is easy. Electricity. This in almost all  cases presently comes from power stations that burn oil, gasoline, or coal (the contribution from nuclear power continues to be almost minimal).

Travel is also easier: essentially set fire for  some type  of oil. Trains, planes, buses, boats, cars, you name it; they all use engines that burn hydrocarbons.

Communication ( apart from  that brought about by physical travel) is however unlike the  other examples and not a paid up person in the heinous Axis of Energy. Yes, some amount of oil has been utilized to transmit the electronic bits this article is truly made of, plus  some more went to  the device that is plastic're reading it on and much more 's still being burned now to energy stated device. However  in the grand scheme of things, it is really a fairly amount that is trivial also whenever we all get it done.

Anyway, the relevant concern we need to ask is: do we want, or can we even afford, to be without any among these advantages that technology has brought us? With the exclusion of contemporary travel, the response is most likely to be a definite no.

Without heat, light and food we may as well pack it all in right now and collectively slope off to back into scraping out the short, nasty and brutish existence our forebears worked so difficult  to spare us. Nevertheless  the  thing is this; it's not necessary to trash the earth simply to produce the basic principles. Every time a big orange thing appears in the sky and throws more heat and light we know what to do with at us than. Spot the search term? "know what to  do with".

Technology (the T that is forbidden word for utilising and storing sunlight within  the form of hot water and electricity currently exists. Solar lighting has been around for quite a years that are few and with financial conditions needs  to move decisively in favour of "renewable power" solutions, it's a technology that is being rapidly developed and deployed into ever more domiciles.

Within just a couple of  years before  the economic pull of solar technology and the push of rocketing oil prices will persuade a majority of households to  supplying their power that is domestic. In the conclusion cash always talks and by the time the payback period to free electricity falls below 3 years the slow shuffle towards renewable energy may have become a stampede.

Which means that technology, admit it now, will have helped soak up a significant part  of the problem and you may pour yourself a nice beer that is cold carry on reading  this article; snug, well fed and with a clearer conscience about the electricity you're using. Which brings us to communication.

You are reading this  article, one among many others no  doubt, and I will read the  other people need  to say about things and between us all we get a vast melting  pot of some ideas and ever shifting consensus. It might probably or may well  not have occurred to you for instance that LED home lighting provides a means  to light your house at a fraction of the cost that is existing terms of electricity consumption, but you certainly know  about it now and may provides steps for more information and even install some.

Why wait for the lumbering bureaucracies of governments to form committees, draft turgid reports and pander to interest that is special?. Anyone living in a building to which they can attach solar panel systems and install low energy items can unilaterally take by themselves "off-grid". And they can trade ideas, experiences and advice with millions  of others whom might then also feel sufficiently informed and confident to follow along with suit. The thing that is best about this though is that it's intrinsically scalable. There is zero requirement to build brand new infrastructure capable of handling millions  of domiciles - we each take responsibility for the own electricity supply and use.

Of program this all very well for anything typically powered by electricity, but  for transport it's like wanting  to drive home a nail with a screwdriver. Yes, there are a few electric cars being made, yet not sufficient quickly enough and also  the current infrastructure is predicated around gasoline  stations and the distance an automobile can travel before it requires refuelling. And I don't see a queue forming for the electric aeroplane.

But how come we even have to  do all  this travelling? You and I also don't have  to satisfy face to face for me personally to state my views on technology. Much hogwash is uttered about how business relationships require physical contact, yet my experience that is own flatly this and I suspect I might not be alone. I don't even require to visit an office to do what  I do to earn a crust; anyplace with an internet connection is fine, like my home for example.

What about shopping  for food as well as  other items? It is done by me online. It's more convenient, there is significantly  more choice within  my fingertips than perhaps  the most shopping malls that are largest, it's easier to compare price and service levels, it is typically cheaper ( because  the goods are delivered from a warehouse not a fancy store that has  to pay staff) and best of all it's the most fuel efficient solution.

One large courier or supermarket van can deliver to scores of customers on a single delivery run. Place another  means, that's scores of customers who left their automobiles in the driveway rather than round trip to go pick stuff up by themselves. And the good reason i and millions like me personally can do this? Technology. The same one you're using to check this out.