| On Wisdom
Contents
Home
All poems: copyright by
Nicholas Gordon
Free scrapbook poems
permission to use
provided by the author. |
1. Technology, like evolution, is progressive,
one change building upon another in an ascent towards greater complexity
and specialization.
2. Thus technological change often seems inevitable:
"What can be done, will be done," regardless of ultimate
desirability.
3. Yet such change is always and entirely a matter
of political and social will, so that although the means may exist, the end
need not be pursued without our consent.
4. Even so, technology, like any tool, extends
one's reach, and few who now reach four feet would refuse the opportunity
to reach six.
5. It is inconceivable that we would long refuse
to pursue technologies that would free us from disease and the necessity
of manual labor, vastly increase our life spans, and enable us to spread
beyond the confines of Earth. The distant future may find us populating other
worlds and living thousands of years, far stronger and more perceptive and
intelligent than we are now. Who would turn away from such a destiny, no
matter what the cost?
6. Thus, as with globalization, the task is not
to oppose technological change but to manage it well. This is especially
true since technology not only promises to elevate us but also threatens
to extinguish us, and with us all life in Earth.
7. The way to manage technology well is to allow
it to develop slowly, step by careful step, always ready to sacrifice the
present generation for the next, with moderation and
patience.
Next: Wisdom in the
Modern World: Change
Previous: Wisdom in the Modern World:
Globalization
On Wisdom:
Table of Contents |
