The danger of technology

The future is in the computer. Every new idea, every new piece of innovation and some of the most successful companies in today's business world all deal with information technology and display its rising importance. This ever-flattening world is developing into an increasingly smaller global village. Computer engineering, biotechnology and other Internet and computer-related innovations will be the foundation upon which the future is built. As the world steps into the 21st century, it will be those companies, firms, schools and individuals able to identify digitalism as the rising industrial trend that will succeed in becoming the new leaders. The rise of the digital world will have the same lasting impact on the next 100 years, just as the turn-of-the-century innovations in telecommunication and transportation changed the face of the last 100.

The growing importance of the digital processing chip, its wide range of uses in various industries and the importance of the Internet and various Web-based companies have all been important trends in recent years. Google, Yahoo, Apple and Microsoft have led the way into a new era of technological development, expanding into the fields of portable music players, high-capacity e-mail accounts and online video sharing. Companies such as Nokia and Samsung have found that the road to riches has taken them through the lucrative route of cellular phone innovation. As a result, today's mobile phones serve dual, triple and quadruple functions as daily planners, computers and slide show projectors.

The faces of both the telecommunication and entertainment industries have evolved, with cordless phones and satellite television services beamed to American homes by the same companies to which customers pay their Internet bills. Never has the unique ingenuity of the modern era been stronger. Seldom have we ever experienced such an acute increase in new technology and fresh ideas. Rarely have the synergistic combinations of intellect from a variety of continents, backgrounds, nations and origins been so vibrant.

It is important, however, that we temper our innovation with ethical restraint. As scientists further develop currently crude tools to read brain waves and translate the thoughts of their subjects into actions, the possibility grows that reverse-engineered technologies will do harm to civilians' freedoms and attack their privacy. As paper money use declines and reliance on digital payments increases, we must ask ourselves if a departure from tradition may eventually become an acceptance of what is undesirable.

Embedded computer chips used for purchasing products in supermarkets and identification may seem convenient, but even a cursory glance at their potential to restrict the free will of those in whom they have been implanted evokes Orwellian images of totalitarian regimes that represent ideals antithetical to the democratic values of our nation. As the world of business adapts to the 21st century, evolving with the times and beside technological advancement, it is important that the potential for financial empowerment does not cloud the better judgment of those researchers and developers creating the technology that has so changed the lives of the average American in the past century.

With the ever-increasing strength of industrial innovation, in addition to society's rising clamor for specific new products (such as renewable energy), business, politics and ethics will be inextricable in the coming years and decades as our advance into this digital century leads us toward a new digital economy. Never has the human race physically manifested its potential for invention in such a visible way. We must remain ever-vigilant to the potential impact the same microchips, satellites and Internet services that have made our present lives so convenient may have upon our futures.

Ademola Sadik is a sophomore finance major. He can be reached at asadik@umd.edu.