In the final analysis, when we help our children identify and develop their talents we are all
better off. But ifwe help only some children to develop only some talents, I fear that on balance
we will all be worse off.
Issue 110
"Too much time, money, and energy are spent developing new and more elaborate technology.
Society should instead focus on maximizing the use of existing technology for the immediate
benefit of its citizens."
The speaker asserts that rather than devoting its resources to developing new technology,
society should try to maximize the use of technology already available. While I would concede
that in a few areas society might be well served by adopting this recommendation, in general I
disagree with the speaker.
Admittedly, when a society’s members devote their collective time, energy, talent, and money
to developing a new and more elaborate technology, the society necessarily incurs various
opportunity costs. The space program aptly illustrates this point. Virtually every additional step
in space exploration requires new technology, which diverts our resources from addressing
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pressing problems here on Earth. Of course, space technologies have imparted a myriad of
benefits in areas such as weather forecasting, telecommunications, chemical engineering, and
medical technology, to name just a few. Yet, these technologies were developed in Earth’s
orbit and for the most part were stated objectives of our space missions. Our goals in probing
further into space are far more vague: to learn more about the universe, its origins and destiny,
and to search for life elsewhere. Thus society might be better served by redirecting resources
used for developing new space exploration technology toward programs which impart clear,
certain, and immediate societal benefits and which avail themselves to a greater extent of
current technologies.
Yet space exploration is an exceptional and extreme example. In other areas the benefits of
new technology are far more immediate and certain, and thus justify the new technology.Consider, for example, computer semi-conductor technology. The benefits of continually
developing faster, more reliable, and more affordable processors are immediate, predictable,
and profound. To halt advances in semi-conductor technology at any given point would be to
impede progress in global communication, knowledge and information access, the
development of safer buildings and vehides, and even the cure and prevention of disease.
The call for new computing technology seems particularly compelling in light of the last area
listed above. A great measure of valuable genetic research would simply not be possible
without the aid of fast and reliable computers. And effective treatment and cure of many
diseases also require more precise lasers and more powerful microscopes than those
currently available. In short, maximizing the use of existing technology in lieu of developing
new technology will not suffice to cure, prevent, and treat many diseases. Thus the speaker
would have society resign itself to its current state of physical health and well being--a dismal
prospect for society and for all humanity.
In sum, I find the speaker’s recommendation indefensible. Admittedly, as a society we
should be careful not to pursue new technology merely for technology’s sake or to satisfy our
curiosity. It is important that we direct our resources in ways that clearly benefit the society.
Nonetheless, without new technology we resign ourselves to life less safe, less healthy, and
less interesting than it need be.
Issue 111
"Most important discoveries or creations are accidental: it is usually while seeking the answer
to one question that we come across the answer to another."The speaker contends that most important discoveries and creations are accident~-----that
they come about when we are seeking answers to other questions. I concede that this
contention finds considerable support from important discoveries of the past. However, the
contention overstates the role of accident, or serendipity, when it comes to modern day
discoveries--and when it comes to creations.
Turning first to discoveries, I agree that discovery often occurs when we unexpectedly
happen upon something in our quest for something else--such as an answer to unrelated
question or a solution to an unrelated problem. A variety of geographical, scientific, and
anthropological discoveries aptly illustrate this point. In search of a trade route to the West
Indies Columbus discovered instead an inhabited continent unknown to Europeans; and
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during the course of an unrelated experiment Fleming accidentally discovered penicillin. In
search of answers to questions about marine organisms, oceanographers often happen upon
previously undiscovered, and important, archeological artifacts and geological phenomena;
conversely, in their quest to understand the Earth’s structure and history geologists often
stumble upon important human artifacts. In light of the foregoing examples, "intentional
discovery" might seem an oxymoron; yet in fact it is not. Many important discoveries are
anticipated and sought out purposefully.
For instance, in their efforts to find new celestial bodies astronomers using increasingly
powerful telescopes do indeed find them. Biochemists often discover important new vaccines
and other biological and chemical agents for the curing, preventing, and treating diseases not
by stumbling upon them in search of something else but rather through methodical search for
these discoveries. In fact, in today’s world discovery is becoming increasingly an anticipated
result of careful planning and methodical research, for the reason that scientific advancement
now requires significant resources that only large corporations and governments possess.
These entities are accountable to their share-holders and constituents, who demand dear
strategies and objectives so that they can see a return on their investments.
Turning next to how our creations typically come about, in marked contrast to discoveries,
creations are by nature products of their creators’ purposeful designs. Consider humankind’s
key creations, such as the printing press, the internal combustion engine, and semi-conductor
technology. Each of these inventions sprung quite intentionally from the inventor’s imagination
and objectives. It is crucial to distinguish here between a creation and the spin-offs from that
creation, which the original creator may or may not foresee. For instance, the engineers at a
handful of universities who originally created the ARPAnet as a means to transfer data
amongst themselves certainly intended to create that network for that purpose. What these
engineers did not intend to create, however, was what would eventually grow to become the
infrastrucRLre for mass media and communications, and even commerce. Yet the ARPAnet
itself was no accident, nor are the many creations that it spawned, such as the World Wide
Web and the coundess creations that the Web has in turned spawned.