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Saturday, March 1, 1997, p. 1A
Technology includes electronic information. Some economists estimate a half our gross domestic product comes from "the Information Economy." It's certainly a significant share of Johnson County's economy -- and economic opportunity.
But "technology" is more than electronics. The six sections, like technology itself, cover the range of school, health, work, market, home and leisure -- virtually every facet of our lives.
Some readers will question headlining the supplement "Progress." For thousands of years humans have both welcomed, and bemoaned, the arrival of new technology. We are both empowered, and threatened, by it.
Twenty-five years ago I wrote a book called Test Pattern for Living, extolling the virtues of the simple life. This week, National Public Radio informs us, the theme is back in style. Today it's called "Voluntary Simplicity." Test Pattern, out of print in hard copy, is now available (for free) from my Web page (http://soli.inav.net/~njohnson). Is it a contradiction to use such high tech global "publication" for a book about the joys of low-tech lifestyle?
Not at all. And that's the point.
Having reached the age when "building a bridge to the 21st Century" means finding a reliable dentist, I see the value of striking a balance between the Luddites (who reject everything new) and the electronic hobbyists (who want one of everything).
Technology still has its fascination for me. After all, I'm an amateur radio operator and computer hobbyist. I teach a "Cyberspace Law Seminar." Electronics is both my work and play.
But I can distinguish my tools from my toys.
If your computer and software get the job done you don't need to upgrade this tool. You may still want to play with, and even buy, the latest, fastest, biggest computer (video camera, cell phone, etc.) as new toy. But that doesn't make the toy a tool.
Saying "Wow!" is not enough. The fact that the technology can be invented doesn't mean that anyone will, or should, want to use it -- as a number of corporations are discovering to their shareholders' sorrow.
A part of the excitement of living is to participate in the passions of your time. Among them is to experience technologies that touch all our lives. It makes life more interesting. It makes us more interesting.
Who owned the first automobile in Johnson County? Irving Weber may know. I don't. Whoever it was, I bet he or she was more interesting than the folks who dismissed cars as a fad.
Formerly the telephone, automobile, radio and television, today it's computers and their global networks. Reject it all and you miss something.
But we also need to retain as much control and common sense as humanly possible.
Black boxes are value neutral. Rockets can help us look for life on Mars -- or end all life on Earth. Genetic cloning can create improved livestock -- or a new "master race" of humans. The Internet may speed global democracy, or merely hasten corporate domination and global dictators who make Saddam Hussein look like an Eagle Scout.
The enemy is not technology. As Pogo observed, "We have found the enemy and it is us."
Consider the growing gap between the information rich and information poor. While we debate whether to access the Internet with a 486 or a Pentium, 80 percent of the world's people -- many of whom are living on less than $200 a year -- don't have a phone. I'm reminded of Lilly Tomlin's observation about the marketing genius behind the sale of snack foods to the Third World: those who don't eat regular meals had not formerly imagined the concept of between-meal snacks.
So our challenge, as we read through this special supplement, is to think through our needs, our values, our goals -- for ourselves, family, community, nation and world. When technology can help us reach those goals we should not fear to use it. When it seems useless, overpriced, and likely to lead to a destruction of our values we should not hesitate to reject and oppose it.