Modern Inventions Some modern inventions are so dangerous, we choose not to use them. Developed in the 1940s, for instance, the pesticide DDT and other persistent organic pollutants were either banned or restricted in a 1996 world treaty negotiated in Stockholm. Exemptions exist so countries can use these compounds to control mosquito populations where malaria is a problem, but otherwise we have decided their benefit is not worth their harm. Nuclear weapons haven’t been used since the United States bombed Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945. So far, although over 13,000 of these bombs remain in the world, no one has chosen to wreak such disaster upon the world again. We’ve…
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Robots, the Internet, and Humanity
Robots Among Us Your life might not be populated with whirring and clicking creatures motoring around your house, but all of us depend on artificial intelligence in some way, even if only tangentially. Manufacturing plants and hospitals use robotic machines. Many of us interact with Siri or Alexa. Apps manage our finances and our entertainment. If you use those self-checkout lanes at the supermarket, you’re being helped by a computer that is, essentially, a stationary robot. In the technological and business world, there’s a lot of excitement about the possibilities. Sarwant Singh expressed the hope that we’ll soon be able to “create a new breed of mobile robots that act…