Dangers of the Exponentials Exponential technologies can potentially pose great dangers to the human race. Although, not to the extent people believe. Simply put, “The wrong technology in the wrong hands leads nowhere good.” This brings us to topics such as bioterrorism, cyber attacks, and Robotics or artificial intelligence leading to potential unemployment for skilled workers. Bioterrorism is no joke, it is more prevalent than most would assume. Technology is becoming increasingly easier to use and cheaper to access, making biological attacks and hacks practically inevitable. The threat of a biological attack alone can produce negative impacts all over the world economically, psychologically, and society as a whole. The good news is that these threats have called for more regulation on the distribution of technology and reagents. The issue at hand is that it may not have the greatest or desired effect. Often times, banning something creates a black market for those dedicated to exploiting it. The result of almost anything made illegal, is organized crime. “Our greatest resource to combat emerging natural and artificial biological threats is an open and broadly distributed technological capability. Regulation that is demonstrably ineffective in improving security could easily end up stifling the technological innovation required to improve security.” We need regional facilities that are able to rapidly distribute vaccines and antiviral drugs in cities worldwide to
We think of computers as being incredibly intelligent now, but actually in terms of brain power an average computer today has the intelligence of a mouse. According to Moore’s Law, computing power doubles every 18 months. In other words, it increases at an extreme rate. The rapid pace of change brings fear into the eye of a technophobe and some of today’s most eminent scientists are now warning that the evolution of technology may spell the end of humankind. Even now, the greatest threat to job creation is the increasing reliance on robotics in industrial factories. Jobs that have traditionally provided a living for millions of people are quickly being turned over to a highly efficient and cost-effective robotic
One of the overall concerns regarding easily accessible technology is our dependency on it. When we take a closer look, we see an interesting dynamic: we feel a sense of isolation and danger if we are without our technology, so much so that we risk even further greater danger (literally and figuratively)
Technology are being increased all over the world, the threats posed against it also tend to increase.
“Bioterrorism remains a major threat for the United States despite more than $65 billion spent on protecting the country from myriad dangers, the Bipartisan WMD Terrorism Research Center said in its latest report Wednesday. The center's Bio-Response Report Card evaluated U.S. preparedness for countering threats from bioterrorism and found the country remains vulnerable to multiple threats and "largely unprepared for a large-scale bioterrorist attack."”(UPI.com, 2011). There have been over a dozen leading U.S. bio-defense experts that have taken part in figuring out where we are exactly as a county and what the effects of a terroristic attack
According to Marc Goodman, a global strategist, author and consultant, and Vijay Kumar, Nemirovsky Family Dean of Penn Engineering, today’s technologies have a huge influence on our world, which, in turn, becomes very open, and that has implications both bright and dangerous. Nowadays, technologies are developing so fast and it makes our world easier and more comfortable, on one side, but dangerous and threatful, on the other side.
A governmental concern is that a bioterrorist attack will trigger panic amongst the population. Panic refers to a group response where intense fear causes people to be concerned with only their survival. While actual panic is rare, there are certain factors that could cause panic in the event of a bioterrorist attack, including limited medical resources where “first come, first serve” applies, a perception that there is poor
Welcome to week 4! This week we are discussing what consequences face the Nation if our chosen threat isn’t adequately addressed and whether we believe that it is being addressed adequately now. Of the six security challenges that are mentioned in the 2014 Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, I have chosen to discuss biological threats. Biological terrorism is a scary prospect that should be a growing concern for the country. The reason for this is the ease at which a bio attack can be put into action. Depending on the level of intricacy of the attack, the effects could be isolated to one area or become a pandemic that spreads across the United States. Bioterrorism comes in many forms but as a general explanation biological
Without a doubt, we live in a world where technology is taking over our existence. The advancements of these incredibly sophisticated machines have recreated a world where these machines carry the workload in all aspects. People from all over the world rely on these machines on a daily basis for the fact that they are efficient and innovative in every possible aspect. A vast percentage of the population questions whether these machines are destroying humanity, but in the long run, technology and its advancements are worth it.
The fear of a Chemical or Biological attack has been a concern to many governments. These attacks, either by state agencies or individuals, have caused loss of life and the United States has not been spared in this forms of attacks.
Bioterrorism can easily target citizens by poisoning food and water supplies. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration a.k.a. OSHA stated that there’s over 250 different foodborne diseases and illnesses, and are often mislabeled as food poisoning. These diseases can be potentially fatal to those inflicted. In the article “A Discussion of Findings and Their Possible Implications from a Workshop on Bioterrorism Threat Assessment and Risk Management”, Bruce Hope states that it’s possible to analyze the agricultural and food industries by making fake scenarios of potential threats. This analysis of America’s system can allow for professionals to better secure food supplies and ensure that bioterrorism is less likely of impacting the population. Defense measures can make these buildings invulnerable, or nearly so (Zilinskas, 906). Another method of defense against bioterrorism is vaccination. According to Rebecca Katz in “Public Health Preparedness: The Best Defense Against Biological Weapons” she argues that vaccination is a plausible method of defense against bioterrorism if necessary. She also states “[vaccines] are part of a preattack defense and a postattack containment” (Katz, 177). These vaccinations can aid people in case of smallpox and anthrax, both of which are viable threats to biosecurity. The article also states that while more research is necessary to improve the currently available vaccines, it’s a necessary component of preparing for bioterrorism. Katz states “In order to avoid chaos during an event, development and dissemination prior to an attack of vaccine priority and distribution plans is essential. These plans should incorporate the best methods for controlling the spread of disease, saving the most lives, and ensuring the utility of
Imagine this: you wake up hours before your alarm sounds to find your entire neighborhood in chaos; people running, robbing banks and stores, and bodies are littering the once calm streets. Over the night, a government-run biological experiment dealing with germ weapons had been released, infecting, destroying, and causing panic across the globe. As a single, globalized society, we need to heighten our security against biological weapons and biological terror to prevent the endangerment of mankind. It would be most beneficial to our species if we did not try to use or experiment with biological weapons, seeing as they are engineered specifically to create social, economic, governmental, military, and general fear and disruption. Bioterror
On October 20th, 2001, Joseph Curseen, a postal worker in Washington D.C., went to work like any other day. Mr. Curseen was a hard worker who had never missed work, even for a sick day, since joining the postal service fifteen years earlier. Sadly, that was about to change. By that night, Mr. Curseen was in the hospital and two days later he was pronounced dead. The cause: anthrax. While this quick turn of events came as a shock to the people in his life, Mr. Curseen’s story was not unheard of. In fact, cases like his were appearing almost every day, and it was soon discovered that anthrax had been placed in letters sent via the postal service in a direct attempt to harm people. This act of terrorism alarmed the world. While government officials and the media discussed bombings, shootings, and hijackings, biological agents were not a focus of attention. The 2001 anthrax attacks were the first successful attempt by a person or a group of people to use weaponized anthrax in a terrorist attack, rather than in warfare. People suddenly became aware of another horrible form of terrorism, bioterrorism, that now posed a serious threat to our society. The 2001 anthrax attacks particularly highlighted the dangers of anthrax and the toxins it releases into a host’s cells, demonstrating the widespread effects that anthrax and other bioterrorist weapons could have on a country.
Bioterrorism is directly focused on the livestock and crops, which are valuable sources of food. The agroterrorism attack in the U.S. has started an economic warfare, which can turn fatal to most Americans. Economic warfare has calculated of being damaging to the
Techno-optimist or techno-pessimist? That is the question. Technology throughout time has no doubt changed our way of life. Travelling to destinations quicker, curing new diseases, or figuring out how to cease a wide famine are examples of how technology has made advances over time. The solutions that scientists create spark a tool that others cannot live without. But what if these technologies bring out negative effects rather than their desired purpose? Sometimes, innovators create new inventions that bring unintended consequences. It could range from less communication face to face, side effects from new medicines, or pollute the earth’s atmosphere.
The production of technology has come a long way over the past few decades and is changing everything society knows. New advances in technology and artificial intelligence have been implemented all over the world, and it is becoming more and more evident every day. The consequences are becoming apparent, and yet societies continue to focus their attention primarily on new inventions and improvements to various forms of technology. There are common misconceptions when it comes to developing advanced technology and artificial intelligence. The topic is highly controversial as society must decide whether the production of artificial intelligence be accelerated or delayed. Additionally, how much should the government be involved in regulating artificial intelligence production. Society is already beginning to experience detrimental consequences as production continues to advance beyond control. Technology changes us and causes us to act more selfishly and ignore the harms that come with these advances. This idea is relevant not only in society today, but additionally in the works of The Veldt by Ray Bradbury and The Gernsback Continuum by William Gibson. When it comes to the debate on whether to accelerate or delay the production of artificial intelligence, the potential harms considerably outweigh the benefits, making it advised to be precautious and delay to prevent society from becoming corrupted by new advances in technology.