There are various reasons for the resistance to new technology.
First, it is obvious that people are usually not eager to change what they have been familiar with. It is what we call " mind inertia" which mainly originates from people's fear of wasting time and money to discover new things. Second, and more important, the change itself sometimes make a lot of people worse-off, which is a certain reason for the resistance of technology. Dating back to the British Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth century, despite of the unbelievable thriving in industrial technology, the workers' living standard continued descending dramatically. Machines have taken places of human. Poor workers are fired, and blamed technology for their misery so that they broke any machines they could. As a result, this era of briliant development in technology, to the workers, becomes the most sorrowful one. However, we should sympathize with these poor people since " much fundemental change is painful and that which destroys old ways of life is more painful still" (Randall, 1995). Last but not least, misusing of new technology and its extremely severe consequences are the most likely causes of the global resistance to it. We and our following generations will never forget the two painful landmarks in the history of mankind: Hiroshima and Chenobyl. The wrong application of nuclear power, in specific, and of new techonology, in general, is so costly that it totally changes many people's the point of view toward this issue:' Is new technology what we really need for a better world?'. All in all, the resistance of technology can originate from many reasons and has different levels ranging from the most normal individual reasons to the most complicated one. Whenever the new technology can do harm directly or indirectly to humans, the resistance is still there. Thus, basing on this understanding, as future engineers, we must aim to the human welfare in all new technology we are trying to apply into real life.
Reference:
Randall, A.(1995). In Bauer, M.(Ed). Resistance to new technology: nuclear power, information technology and biotechnology. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
First, it is obvious that people are usually not eager to change what they have been familiar with. It is what we call " mind inertia" which mainly originates from people's fear of wasting time and money to discover new things. Second, and more important, the change itself sometimes make a lot of people worse-off, which is a certain reason for the resistance of technology. Dating back to the British Industrial Revolution in the late eighteenth century, despite of the unbelievable thriving in industrial technology, the workers' living standard continued descending dramatically. Machines have taken places of human. Poor workers are fired, and blamed technology for their misery so that they broke any machines they could. As a result, this era of briliant development in technology, to the workers, becomes the most sorrowful one. However, we should sympathize with these poor people since " much fundemental change is painful and that which destroys old ways of life is more painful still" (Randall, 1995). Last but not least, misusing of new technology and its extremely severe consequences are the most likely causes of the global resistance to it. We and our following generations will never forget the two painful landmarks in the history of mankind: Hiroshima and Chenobyl. The wrong application of nuclear power, in specific, and of new techonology, in general, is so costly that it totally changes many people's the point of view toward this issue:' Is new technology what we really need for a better world?'. All in all, the resistance of technology can originate from many reasons and has different levels ranging from the most normal individual reasons to the most complicated one. Whenever the new technology can do harm directly or indirectly to humans, the resistance is still there. Thus, basing on this understanding, as future engineers, we must aim to the human welfare in all new technology we are trying to apply into real life.
Reference:
Randall, A.(1995). In Bauer, M.(Ed). Resistance to new technology: nuclear power, information technology and biotechnology. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
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