How do we reconcile the ambivalence of technological advances in our lives?

Science and technology make our lives more convenient and richer, but they also pose many risks, including environmental degradation and health problems. We need to recognize the ambivalence of technological development and carefully control its direction.

 

We live a more convenient life under the protection of science and technology. While technology has provided us with an enriched life, few people realize that it can also be a poison. In this article, I’d like to discuss the double-edged sword of technology that makes our lives easier: it can be both medicine and poison. Let’s start with a couple of examples.
First, let’s talk about food additives. Food additives are chemical synthetic products that are allowed to be manufactured, processed, imported, used, stored, or displayed for sale as long as they are not likely to harm human health. There are about 600 types of food additives designated in Korea. Food additives are considered indispensable to maintain the freshness and quality of food.
However, an important question is, are these authorized food additives safe to use? Of course, food additives that are authorized by the KFDA are safe to use to a certain extent. However, there is a daily allowable intake for food additives, which can be problematic if consumed in excess. Therefore, it“s important to read the labels when buying food and avoid foods that are heavily loaded with additives. In other words, you don”t have to be afraid of them, but it”s better to minimize their intake.
Nevertheless, the debate about whether food additives are harmful to our health continues. Monosodium glutamate (L-glutamate), also known as MSG, is one of the most controversial. Neuroscientist and professor at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, Konrad Weyreiter, explains that Alzheimer’s is the death of nerve cells, and notes that “monosodium glutamate is a poison for nerve cells.” In addition, American author Gene Carper has described monosodium glutamate as a “serial killer of cells”. Although the U.S. FDA and the European Union currently classify monosodium L-glutamate as one of the safest food additives, there are many experts who disagree. For example, in 1969, Professor John Olney of the University of Washington found that monosodium L-glutamate caused brain damage in rats, which led to a ban on the addition of monosodium L-glutamate to baby food in the United States. Since then, Olney has continued his research, linking monosodium glutamate to a number of diseases, including stroke, epilepsy, and Alzheimer’s disease.
However, the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has stated that food additives are not necessarily to be feared and avoided. Additives that have been scientifically verified and approved can be used safely within the prescribed dosage. However, it is recommended that minimal amounts be used to maintain food freshness, and consumers should carefully check the labeling of food additives and refrain from consuming foods with excessive amounts of additives for their own health. While the Food and Drug Administration has reaffirmed the safety of monosodium glutamate (MSG) since 2020, many consumers still prefer products that are free of additives, and foods that emphasize natural ingredients are gaining popularity.
Next, let’s talk about flushable toilets. You might wonder why something we use every day is controversial. However, while they’re hailed as a great invention that saved humanity from disease, they’re also criticized as a major contributor to environmental degradation.
Flush toilets are hygienic fixtures that allow you to flush your toilet and get rid of your waste, and were once hailed as one of the greatest inventions of all time. However, critics say it’s one of the worst environmental inventions ever. They’re blamed for wasting water, polluting water, and wasting resources. So, let’s take a look at whether flush toilets are the best or worst invention of mankind.
First of all, there’s no denying that flushing toilets are a hygienic way of disposing of waste that saved the human race from disease. In the past, people used to defecate in the open, or on the floor of their homes, and then throw it in the street, leaving the streets filled with filth and bad odors. In medieval Europe, people living in high-rise buildings would throw their poop out the windows. Unclean toilets and unsanitary living conditions were one of the causes of the Black Death, which wiped out one-third of Europe’s population. In addition to the Black Death, millions of people died from typhoid, dysentery, cholera, hepatitis, and other diseases caused by drinking dirty water.
In this situation, the flush toilet was an invention that freed humanity from disease and bad odors. Sir John Harrington’s flush toilet, first developed in 1596, was a groundbreaking invention for its time, but it had one problem: the foul odor of the cesspit where feces collected. Then, in 1775, Alexander Cumming introduced a U-shaped drain pipe to block the odor from the cistern. These pipes are still used today in toilets, washbasins, and sinks to keep odors and bugs out of the sewers. As you can see, flushing toilets were an important invention that saved humanity from dirt, odor, and disease. In the early days, sewage flowed directly into the Thames River in London, contaminating drinking water sources and causing widespread waterborne diseases, but as the city’s water and sewage systems were improved, these problems were largely eliminated. As a result, flush toilets became more widespread.
But despite the convenience of flushing toilets, the environmental impact is still significant. Each flush of a toilet uses about 13 to 15 liters of water, and even water-saving toilets consume about 6 liters of water. If you think about how many times we use the bathroom in a day, you can see how much water we use to flush the toilet. This contaminated water flows through sewer pipes to a sewage treatment plant to be purified, but this process is extremely costly and time-consuming. In a year, South Koreans flush about 1.1 billion tons of tap water from flushing toilets, which ends up in rivers and is a major contributor to eutrophication of rivers and red tide in the ocean. No matter how clean sewage treatment plants try to make it, there are some contaminants that they can’t filter out, and the water will inevitably become contaminated. This makes flush toilets one of the worst water wasters and environmental degraders, which is especially problematic in South Korea, which is classified as a water-scarce country.
In the modern world, human cloning technology has cured incurable diseases, genetic manipulation has increased food production, and advances in space science have enabled robots to explore Mars. In addition, every time a war breaks out, we are often horrified by the new weapons and their destructive power.
However, as these two examples show, advances in science and technology don’t always have to be for our benefit. It’s not just the advancement of technology that makes humanity truly happy, but how it’s used. Science and technology should contribute to making human life better and richer, but if it doesn’t, it can harm people and the environment. For this reason, we need to regulate the development of science and technology and carefully consider its direction.
We need to find a way for the earth, the environment, and humans to coexist, and this is an important task to ensure that the development of science and technology does not become a hindrance to human life. Indeed, our lives are becoming more enriched every year with the advancement of science and technology, but the blind pursuit of speed can have negative consequences for us. We need to prepare for the side effects of technology and moderate it so that it can have a positive impact on human life.
Since the development of science and technology, people have been talking about its ambivalence. Science and technology have given us many benefits, but at the same time, there are fears that it can threaten human life. In order to ensure that technological advancements don’t skew toward harming human life, we are at a moment of choice.
The choice is to make sure that technology is being used appropriately and that it is moving in the right direction. We must harness the power of science and technology wisely to create a safer and more sustainable future. Science and technology have brought us incredible advances, but we can’t ignore the negative side effects. We must think critically about technology and work to ensure that it truly advances human well-being and the sustainability of our planet.
Finally, we need to recognize that advances in science and technology are no longer just about making our lives easier; they have the potential to threaten our existence. We have a responsibility to carefully manage its use and development so that it remains a tool to make our lives happier and safer. Otherwise, the bright future we expect from science and technology could come back to haunt us.