Not taking any risk appears to have become the riskiest proposition. Shouldn't science and technology deliver us the capability to reduce risks with every progress we make?
2007-11-13 23:15:03 · 10 answers · asked by small 7 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Advanced technology cannot forestall risks, for human error can never be controllable. Just as humans make innovations and new discoveries and inventions, they can only what make them to be. And can you honestly believe humans who are not perfect, and cannot be, can still evolve for the better and make a perfect machine? Look what they made of our earth today. It's like a cheese riddled with termites. How would it look a hundred years hence? Unless life is still there. I'm not overly pessimistic. It's just they way things seem to be headed. Can we afford to think positive even if the trend of evidence is to the contrary? I suppose it's time we rid of materialism and brace ourselves for a deeply spiritual contemplation where the threat of risks is nil.
If you think of risks, blame them on the enemy within!
2007-11-14 00:47:20 · answer #1 · answered by Lance 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋
What a fascinating question!
It seems to me that risks increase with the so-called "progress" we make because, despite our vast knowledge, we are not always capable of imagining every possible outcome of, say, a cure for a medical condition or of the use of a new technology to solve a problem.
Even if we can anticipate favorable outcomes, few contributions of applied science and technology come without some known and often many unknown risks.
It is unreasonable, I think, to place on science and technology the expectation that every contribution these branches of human knowledge make must always result only in a net reduction in risk and bad outcomes.
Science and technology are, after all, human endeavors in the end, and unless and until we achieve infallibility and omniscience as a species, we will continue to make mistakes and substitute one risk or set of risks for another with every step we take forward. The hope is that, taken as a whole, the results show more improvement than regression.
A great question. Thanks for asking it!
2007-11-14 07:34:56 · answer #2 · answered by JMH 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I fail to see how scientific progress hasn’t mitigated the amount of risk we have to face. Think about the number of virulent disease have been either vanquished or contained because of our advances in medical knowledge. Think of how much safer our cars and buildings are because of new mechanisms that have been integrated into them, in the past 30 years. Even when looking at potentially destructive technology, like nuclear weapons, their very threat has reduced the number of large-scale conflicts that we have had to engage in. The War on Terror has exacted a heavy toll on many people, but it is no where near as destructive as wars before the nuclear age (i.e. WWI and WWII).
I think our technological progress has done much to reduce the risks we have had to take. Granted some of our innovations have produced new risks, but generally the risks that were eliminated by progress were greater than the ones we face as a result of new technology.
2007-11-14 17:39:39 · answer #3 · answered by Lawrence Louis 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I don't feel that risks are increasing, merely changing. Solutions have been found to many of the things which once posed risk. We now have vaccines, safety equipment, and highly trained personnel which were not available in the past. New advancements bring new risks, but they also eliminate old ones.
What I believe IS increasing, though, is the fear of taking risks. Safety equipment has become standard, or even manditory, for many activities that were formerly considered to be relatively safe. I feel that this inflates the sense of risk involved and leaves people more fearful than they need to be. As an example, riding a bicycle without a helmet is now subject to a fine in many areas. At the time I was learning to ride a bike, someone wearing a helmet would have been considered unreasonably cautious. Helmets were for snowmobilers and football players.
2007-11-14 08:37:39 · answer #4 · answered by Crystal 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Good question!
There is really a need for science and technology to look into and make an in depth study to reduce the risk involve in making its development. Although risk is always there but we have also to develop a technology risk free if nature permits. For after all, humans are the beneficiaries for any scientific technological development. Government must try to have a test in order to regulate the risk involved for the good of the general public and welfare.
Thanks for asking. Have a great day!
2007-11-14 07:38:16 · answer #5 · answered by Third P 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well I would argue that risks are not increasing. Death rates from nearly all causes (accidents, disease, famine, war) have been falling for 100 years and continue to fall. Today people walk away from auto accidents that routinely killed 50 years ago with no airbags, anti lock breaks, seat belts, impact absorbing compartments, safety glass and stability control. War deaths in the first half of the 20th century were many times greater than in the second half. Sure we have MRSA and Bird flu looming out there, but does anyone worry about polio, scarlet fever, TB, or diphtheria which once killed millions?
Be that as it may, risk is opportunity. (In fact in some languages it is the same word). We can not exploit opportunities without risk, there is no reward without risk. So it is all about avoiding the unnecessary risks that give us nothing and can be avoided practically. Science is always working on that, and by my reckoning has a good track record.
2007-11-14 08:19:40 · answer #6 · answered by jehen 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
As we progress, we make new machines, new inventions and innovations.
But however helpful these might be, they also bring with them new risks and hence we face ever increasing risks more than before.
And of course if we do not want to take risks we will be where we are for years to come and will then risk our life for not being adapted to new conditions, natural or man made.
2007-11-14 07:29:21 · answer #7 · answered by bionic man 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think it is all because of increasing human population on earth.
2007-11-14 11:41:46 · answer #8 · answered by Sam.arth 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It isn't the failure of technology that plagues us. It's the failure of the deeply flawed human beings who USE that technology
2007-11-14 08:18:09 · answer #9 · answered by DruidGrey 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Mental babies with weapons create problems.
2007-11-14 09:14:46 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋