Why We're Doomed

I just saw a news report from the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The reporter was hyping a new battery operated bicycle. He referred to this as "cutting edge" technology and trumpeted all that is technology. This upbeat report left me with the distinct feeling that we are doomed.

No, I do not mean that a bicycle is going to destroy the world. Nor do I think that the story was necessarily representative of the products on display. What made me feel we are doomed was the obvious and oblivious excitement the reporter expressed concerning a bicycle he did not need to peddle. It is our endless fascination with gadgets that make me feel that all is lost. No matter how inane, no matter how useless, or no matter, as in this case, how redundant the invention as long as it is dressed up as new technology we line up like lemmings.

Technology comes at a price. That cost, unfortunately, is borne by the natural world. In the present example, even if the battery is solar charged, it still has to be produced and eventually it will require disposal. This adds two environmental costs to the manufacture of the bicycle. It also removes the secondary effect of exercise that this mode of transportation will incur.

Granted, one could argue that riding one of these bikes is better than driving a car, but you can ride a bike with or without a battery. The point is that fascination with technology has led to a denial of the effects of the costs of production of most of the tools of the technological and information age. For example, by all calculations electronic readers have a greater environmental impact than traditional books. Paper, produced in the proper manner with the rights sources (i.e. hemp, not trees), can be a sustainable, renewable crop. The mined material in an e-reader will never be replaced.

The fascination with new technology is akin to a child's desire for a new toy. The fact that it is shiny and new are more important than whether it is necessary or even wanted. A battery operated bicycle and the electric book are not the only examples of this mindset. One of the worst examples of this effort to bring technology where it is not needed has to be the electric trashcans in the Atlanta Hartsfield Airport. Ironically, the writing on the cans boast of the airports efforts at recycling.

This fascination assists in the continual introduction of products to replace and upgrade what is basically the same product. HDTV, flat screen technology, even the advent of color broadcasts have essentially served the primary purpose of getting the consumer to continually buy the same product. The transition from LP's to 8-tracks to cassettes to CD's did little for music but caused the consumer, no matter their preferences, to have to purchase different devices. Now, turntables are making a comeback and LP's have been the rage for years. The iPod is just a Walkman with more bells and whistles. The Walkman in turn was just a glorified transistor radio.

Somehow, all of these things are seen as advances. The slow introduction of one generation of technology after another is causing an acceleration in consumption that is unwarranted by need. Technology may have benefits but it also has costs. These costs are at times significant, as when there are industrial accidents, or the more likely everyday environmental impacts. The more we produce useless products, ignore the costs of technology, accept planned obsolescence and the commodification of information, the closer we come to jumping over the cliffs.

The planet has great problems. One of the major problems that we rarely discuss is the fact that we have a world population approaching 7 billion and growing exponentially but that we have finite resources. Either something has to give or something has to change. Otherwise, there will be conflict. We must change the mindset that views technology as the solution to our problems. Technology is only a tool. If technology was the solution your pencil could do math.

The choice is not between technology or a pre-industrial existence. The choice is between our present system of consumerism and that of sustainability. We can either use it all up or we can make it last. We will not make it last by putting batteries on a bicycle.



A note about lemmings. Contrary to popular belief they do not line up and jump off the cliffs into the sea. This misconception was created by film footage in which they were herded over the cliffs for cinematic effect. Consumerism is based on the herd instinct while advertising is kind of like a sheep dog.