If one day we could
travel back to the past, unless we brought all modern technologies with us,
otherwise we would gain many advantages comparing with the people living in the
past. Some things are not possible without the support of modern technologies.
For example, delivery was not possible in the past, because it was too risky
for anyone to run a delivery business like UPS. Delivery men could just run
away with goods because information transformation was very slow in the past,
the risk for delivery men to run away with parcels was very low. Moreover, many
jobs just could be done in the past. People were well educated not because of
their lack of incentive, it was caused by the lack of technology. The invention
of printers lowers the cost of publishing significantly and makes education
cheaper in general, so technology makes more people be able to read.
The
key in technological development is information. Almost all technological
development relates to information. Trains, ships and planes make people easier
to travel, so people are easier to exchange information or see information
(sight viewing can be a way of seeing information). The inventions of radar, stealth jets aim to create information
asymmetry to benefit oneself. Furthermore, people like sharing information with
each other, especially with those who are close to them, that is why Facebook
has such an enormous number of active users. The information that users upload
online also helps companies like Facebook to earn significant amounts of
profits. Therefore, it seems that to determine whether an invention is a
significant and meaningful one or not is to see its impact on information, if
it can improve information symmetry or create information asymmetry, it is a
very good invention.
No comments:
Post a Comment