We Shape Our Future

    Technology is closely related to thefuture, but technology is not the future. As the author writes, “Technology isnot destiny. We shape our destiny." Future should depend not only on ourtechnological choice, but also our values. Technology has all its positivesides. With technology, the people have more choice and freedom, the economygrows more prosperous, the globe becomes more connected. However, whattechnology itself brings to us is not necessarily the brightest future we want,because technology is not perfect. For example, as shown in The SecondMachine Age, on the contrary of bounty, the consequence of spread may casta shade of gloom on the future. In that case, the author ends up the whole bookwith the title "Technology and the Future" instead of"Technology is the Future", in order to warn us that technology hasboth benefits and risks, so what really matters is how we can correctly use thetechnology to shape our future, to draw on the advantages, and avoiddisadvantages. To settle the drawbacks of the technology, in the followingparagraphs, I will try to put forward some measures to tackle some of theissues raised in the book.

       To begin with, due to the progress oftechnology, more and more labor force is eliminated from all walks of life, andincreasing numbers of workers are facing the crisis of laid-off. In order tofind a good job, people have to exert their physical ability to work for thefactory. Technology is advancing, but the competition between people is gettingfiercer. Because of the greed of capital, although the technology has liberatedthe productive forces, the working hours of producers have not been reduced. Inthis way, the work that used to be done by two people can be done by one personnow. Without reducing the working hours, it will inevitably lead tounemployment. In the case of unemployment, it will increase the employmentpressure and increase the number of poor people, the gap between the rich andthe poor will be widened. Thus, technology will not make life better, but makepeople's life even worse.

       To solve this problem, the company canadopt a scheduling mode called rotating shifts. Rotating shifts allow companiesto run two to three shifts per day, seven days a week. Workers take turnsworking eight to twelve hours on all shifts. For example, employees work acertain shift, like first shift during the day, then rotate after a period oftime to second shift in the evening. In this mode, it can be achieved thatevery time there are staff on duty, and work is not out of touch, no buckpassing. Besides, workers can spread their talent around, more trainingopportunities can be provided, and both the staff and managers are happy.Additionally, to ensure the effective implementation of the policy, thegovernment should play the role as a supervisor.

       Another way to settle this problem is toincrease investment in colleges and guarantee the right to fair education. Alarge proportion of college graduates will choose to start their ownbusinesses, so as to provide more jobs. They are also more humanistic about theuse of technology. Fair education, from a perspective different from collegeinvestment, focuses on the public which is broader and more fundamental.Through improving the education level and technical ability of the generalpublic, more people can cross the higher work access threshold caused bytechnology progress.

       However, the measures above are temporaryrather than permanent. They may have effects on a single problem, but theycannot be applied to all problems emerging in the development of technology;They may alleviate the problem in decades or even centuries, but they cannotprovide a deeper and more conceptual philosophical guidance. Therefore,measures can only be used as a way to mitigate the side-effects of technology.What is more important, the technological value, will be discussed in the nextissue.

       The second issue is the sheer density andcomplexity of the digital world. The author has mentioned two problems itbrings about. First, it’s subject to seeing minor initial flaws cascade via anunpredictable sequence into something much larger and more damaging. Complexand sophisticated machinery is more like a "black box" to us. Somevery small disturbances or mistakes may lead to very serious or unexpectedresults. For example, in 1986, a reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plantin Ukraine exploded and caught fire, causing a large amount of radioactivematerial to leak, resulting in economic losses of up to 200 billion dollars,and 3.2 million people were exposed to excessive radiation. However, this hugedisaster is only due to a flurry of operational errors —— Only 18 control rodsare inserted for safety, instead of 28 according to the operationspecification. It is worth noting that we still have nothing to do with theresidual radiation. What we can only do is to wait for it to dissipatenaturally.

       Second, complex, tightly coupled systemsmake tempting targets for spies, criminals, and those who seek to wreak havoc.The complexity of the digital world means that it has many loopholes and isdifficult to be regulated, which gives a hotbed for lawbreakers. For example,the computer worm Worm.Whboy spread fiercely in China, and over 1million computers had been infected in January 2007. More than one thousandenterprises and government agencies have been poisoned. Although Worm.Whboyhas finally been eradicated, since the beginning of the 21st century, networkattacks and Trojan viruses have never stopped. We may not have a specific anduniversal measure to ensure the security of something on the network.

       Therefore, there are some technicalproblems that cannot be solved only by technical measures. So what is asimportant as technology, or even need more attention? In fact, the two problemsmentioned above have the same kernel. In technological progress, we should alsopay attention to the research of technological ethics and the discussion oftechnological value. How do we use technology? Is it unlimited or selective?When should we apply technology? Is it at the beginning of practice or when thetime is right? Who should we allow to use technology? Is it professionals orthe general public? What should we do with technology? Is it to promotepeople's livelihood or to commit crimes? These are what we should think aboutmore nowadays. Thus, our vision of the future should be ahead of science andtechnology, so that we can really shape our future. That's why we need sci-fiwriters such as Jules Verne and Arthur C. Clarke. That's why we need literatureslike Brave New World and The Universe in a Nutshell. That's whywe need to think about Singularity and Leviathan. That's why we need to learnabout futurology and ethics. When we think further, the future is closer to us.

       So where can we start to regulatetechnology ethics and value? In my opinion, it can be divided in to four parts,availability, reliability, intelligibility, and controllability. First isavailability. The primary purpose of the technology is to promote inclusive andsustainable development, and bring well-being to human society. Therefore, weneed to give technological access to as many people as possible, so that we canshare information and bridge the technology gap. Availability also means thattechnology should be human-oriented. It is required to integrate ethical valueinto the design of technical products and services.

       Second is reliability. Technology shouldbe safe and reliable, and it can prevent malicious interference and otherunexpected consequences. On the one hand, technology should be tested andverified strictly to ensure that its performance reaches our expectation. Onthe other hand, technology should preserve the integrity of digital world,personal property and social security.

       Third is intelligibility. Technology shouldbe transparent and understandable to avoid the influence of "blackbox"(which is mentioned in paragraph 6). In the process of developing andapplying technology, we should provide opportunities for the publicparticipation and support, including privacy, freedom of expression, relief,etc.

       Fourth is controllability. Technologyshould be under the effective control of human beings, so as to avoid harmingourselves. In the short term, technology should ensure the social well-being,and eliminate expected risks and negative effects. In the long run, although wecannot predict whether Singularity would come or not, we should follow theprinciple of early warning to prevent future threats and make the possiblefuture technology serve the interests of all mankind.

       As the author concludes, we are nottechnological determinists. The technologies we are creating provide vastlymore power to change the world, but with that power comes greaterresponsibility —— the responsibility to manipulate them, to maintain them, tomake use of them, and finally, to master them. What we are going to do, is toadd our insights to technology, and shape our own bright future.