Chapter 7: Technology PDF

Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material Chapter 7: Technology 1. Benefits of technology Technology, and especially change in technology (i.e., technical or technological progress), plays an important role in economic growth: You can produce more, with the same resourc...

Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material Chapter 7: Technology 1. Benefits of technology Technology, and especially change in technology (i.e., technical or technological progress), plays an important role in economic growth: You can produce more, with the same resources (labour, capital) OR you can produce the same, with less resources It is o`en “embodied” in new (physical or human) capital It is usually labour saving, but may also be neutral or capital saving (effect on the capital/labour raBo) Rapid progress since the Industrial RevoluBon Science based o We look for be;er ways of producing goods -> scienBfic knowledge o Fundamental knowledge put into pracBcal applicaBons Boosted by the military-industrial complex o The Cold War and the East-West arms race contributed to rapid technological development o Dwight Eisenhower (1961) warned for the dangers Also sBmulated by the space race o Cold War space race (Sputnik 1957) o Kennedy’s appeal (1961) to put a Man on the Moon by the end of the decade gave a new impulse Technical progress in transportaBon and in informaBon and communicaBons technology (ICT) has driven globalisaBon 2. The tragedy of the commons and technology Sustainable use of a common-pool resource A fishery is a good example of a common-pool resource If it is exploited compeBBvely (“open access”), it o`en leads to a situaBon of overfishing o If the number of boats increases, more fish are caught o At some point the amount of fish which can be harvested sustainably starts to decrease § Sustainably: if the stock of fish doesn’t change (otherwise is diminishes year from year) o Beyond that point, the risk of overfishing becomes real The “tragedy of the commons” (or overuse of a resource) occurs when private short-term benefits outweigh private long-term benefits Global commons today: oceans, internaBonal river systems, seabed, atmosphere and outer space A common resource tends to get overused under compeBBon, and parBcularly if someone has a technological advantage over others o E.g. not everyone can go on a boat and go fish. But if technology progresses it become cheaper and changes the rules of the game The future will be in danger 65 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year?  Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material The compeBBve use of a common resource gives an incenBve for technological progress Commercial fishing For example, commercial fishing is an example of the “tragedy of the commons” o Technological advances (e.g., sonar equipment to locate schools of fish) enables bigger fishing boats (floaBng factories) o Dri` net fishing (20 km) is used to scrape the sea floor o Some species have collapsed, and some fishing grounds are exhausted (e.g., Grand Banks) Commercial fishing is a major cause of piracy on the horn of Africa o Collapse of sustainable fishing drives people to other means of income The Grand Banks tragedy Fishery on the east coast before Canada and the US It was very rich of Cod As a result of new technology, so much Cod was caught, the fish collapsed and never recovered 3. UnanIcipated consequences of technology DDT was widely used as a pesBcide in the US and other parts of the world (unBl the 1960s) Very effecBve pesBcide Persistent and poisonous to many life forms (animals, humans etc) The negaBve side effects were unanBcipated The use of DDT is now banned (Stockholm ConvenBon on Persistent Organic Pollutants; signed in 2001, effecBve in 2004) The reduced use in developing countries has led to a resurgence of malaria (WHO advocates selecBve use in malaria infested areas) Because mosquito’s didn’t die because of DDT, so there where more Malaria cases Silent Spring (1962) Book by the biologist Rachel Carson (1907-1964) She drew a;enBon to the negaBve effects of DDT Birds will be killed by DDT There will be a spring where no birds are singing Factory farms Factory techniques are implemented to raise poultry, pigs, veal calves, ca;le, … o In huge stables, no daylight Stress in animals reduces their immune system, vulnerable for diseases AnBbioBcs are frequently used to prevent diseases from spreading This causes resistant bacteria infecBng humans Hog and chicken factory farms create large volumes of sewage and manure If spread on the land, this causes excessive nitrogen and phosphorus ending up in rivers and the water supply (direct and indirect toxicity by promoBng blooms of toxic algae) Hog farms and toxic algae 66 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year?  Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material 4. Inappropriate uses of technology In Small is BeauBful (1973) Ernst Friedrich Schumacher argued for the use of “intermediate” technology (not high technology of the West) in developing countries There is no use in imporBng the most advanced technologies from rich countries Many developing countries have a large labour endowment and a small capital endowment => Technologies with a low capital/labour raBo are more cost-effecBve and more appropriate (than trying to implement the most advanced technologies) Inappropriate technology: why? Foreign consultants and advisors tend to go for “high technology” Special interests lobby for high technology to promote exports o someBmes subsidised as development aid Economic and social policies o`en lead to over-pricing of labour and under-pricing of capital RegulaBon may create incenBves to overuse “high technology” o the example of Caesarian births Abuse of technology Most technologies can be used for posiBve and negaBve purposes o e.g., nuclear technology There are many examples of abuse of technology o Dictatorial regimes using advanced communicaBon equipment to remain in power o Modern hospitals in African capitals with maintenance costs exceeding naBonal budgets for health However, some “high technology” proves to be extremely useful in a development context o Cell phones and safe payment (African countries) o Instead of making investments in land lines, if you have a mobile phone networking, its much cheaper and a more rapid inclusion of the people 5. Limits to the “technological fix” In many advanced socieBes, the belief exists that there is always some “technological fix” for a problem Idea: if there is a problem, we will find a soluBon (there will be invested massively, and a soluBon will be found) But some problems are created by technology, and they are now so serious that there are clear limits to the “technological fix” Water polluBon (households, industries, agricultural and urban run off, …) is such a problem that even massive investment in sanitaBon plants is no or only a parBal soluBon Nuclear arms were originally intended to gain security, but the arms race led to increased insecurity 67 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year?  Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material 6. War and technology Abuse of technology and the arms race The development of the atomic bomb during the Second World War and the post-war Soviet nuclear capability triggered an arms race between the US and the Soviet Union The advantage of a first strike was lost in the 1950s o The Soviet Union also had a large amount of nuclear arms The MAD (Mutually Assured DestrucBon) strategy kept the peace during the Cold war period o There is no advantage in using nuclear bobs now, if you do the first strike, the other sees this and will strike back. The whole world will blow up. o Hence, a first strike is suicide The massive military buildup under US President Ronald Reagan (1981) and his Strategic Defense IniBaBve (“Star Wars”) undermined the MAD equilibrium The cost of this race (and other factors) ulBmately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and an agreement (between the US and Russia) on a massive reducBon of war heads and an “end” to the arms race o They both agreed on a reducBon of arms/ bombs o But there are sBll huge amounts of nuclear weapons! The arms race is an example of an “escalaBon game” o Two players compete, as a result the number of nuclear weapons has accumulated Some facts on war: Spending on the military (2022): o 2240 billion USD (equivalent to 2.2% of world GDP, or 284 USD per person) Since the end of the Second World War there have been about 150 wars o 90% in the developing world (territorial, ethnic, social,...) § resource curse!: in countries with a lot of resources, it o`en leads to conflicts with other countries and within the country o Resource wars (Gulf Wars), ethnic wars (civil wars, Arab-Israeli conflicts), failed states (Yugoslavia, Libya, Syria, Iraq,...), anB-terrorism (Afghanistan, IS, …) o Most recently: Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022) CharacterisBcs of modern wars Nowadays more civilians than soldiers tend to be killed o 1900-1950: 50% of war related dead were civilians o 1960s: 65% o 1980s: 76% o 1990s: 90% Technology has greatly enhanced the destrucBve capacity of weapons o Accuracy, penetraBon ability, rates of fire, automaBon, armor, drones,… o It has led to more civilians dying o But in the Ukraine-Russia conflict this is not the case! 68 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year?  Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material PosiBve and negaBve signs on war Peacekeeping intervenBons o NATO forces in Yugoslavia (1990s) o Other UN peace keeping intervenBons (African conBnent, …) USA-Russia arms reducBon o Nuclear arsenals from 18000 to 8000 megatons War as a poliBcal instrument o Congo conflict: 4 million dead since 1998; Sudanese civil war: 2 million dead; conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Mali, Sudan, Egypt, … Russian invasion of Ukraine o Has a global impact The threat of nuclear war A nuclear conflict has the potenBal to destroy life on earth (a`er 4.5 billion years) o Short run damage: iniBal radiaBon (gamma), electromagneBc pulse, thermal pulse, shock wave, radioacBve fall out o Long run damage: worldwide fall out, climate change, parBal destrucBon of ozone layer The destrucBve power of modern nuclear weapons is much higher than that of the bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki There are more than 10,000 nuclear warheads in the world (Most in Russia and US) New dangers ProliferaBon of nuclear weapons o Acknowledged: US, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel o Aspiring: Algeria, ArgenBna, Brazil, Iran, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, South Africa, (Iraq, Libya) The control of nuclear weapons in former Soviet republics is not yet fully ensured The clean-up of producBon and tesBng sites (US and former Soviet Union) is very costly and difficult o What are you going to do with the old atomic bombs? Non-proliferaBon efforts are important Terrorism and the threat of nuclear terrorism There are fears that terrorists are acBvely trying to obtain nuclear weapons “Dirty” nuclear bombs could be a cost-effecBve device for terrorism Terrorism is an old strategy, but it is on the rise since the 1970s (PalesBnian, Northern Irish, Basque, Tamil, Islamist, …) 7. To sum up Technological progress– based on science– is crucial for economic growth and development, quality of life, sustainability, … Technological innovaBons can accelerate the overuse of resources There is no such thing as a “technological fix” for everything Technology has changed the nature of war The combinaBon of terrorism and high tech arms is a new risk 69 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year?  Stuvia.com - The Marketplace to Buy and Sell your Study Material 70 Downloaded by: carolinaalmeidadj | [email protected] Want to earn $1.236 Distribution of this document is illegal extra per year?