Sometimes I run across the sentiment that
technology is an evil of some sort. There generally isn't much actual
reason behind the statement, but there is a lot of
passion and
feeling and
conviction. When I point out that if we were to technologically regress even a thousand years or so (hardly a blink in our evolution) more than
five billion people would die within a decade, I often get back something to the effect of, '
Oh, well, there's too many people anyways.'
If you're not chilled by that statement, your system of values is seriously out of whack.
Environmentalists especially tend to be rather catastrophic in their forecasts. If we could believe what they said when I was growing up, the ozone layer would be in tatters now, the entirety of South America would be paved over, and the only species of animal left on the planet would be geckos and very small furry mammals. Lo and behold, here we are. And we continue.
Yes, we are starting to exhaust some natural resources like coal and oil. But we are quickly developing safe, clean, efficient manners of producing energy.
Yes, we are slowly nibbling at the ozone layer. But we will find a way to repair it, and much more quickly than it would naturally heal.
Yes, there are some species of plant, animal, and insect that are being driven to extinction by our development. But others are 'naturally' dying out. Anyways, there are several dozen banks of DNA all over the world, with samples from rhinocerous, tiger, panda, and everything else that has died out or might die out in the future. We will bring them back. With technology. It can be done. Hell, they've got a good shot at resurrecting the Woolly Mammoth or Sabre-Tooth Tiger, some of the first casualties of man's expansion.
Human beings are part of nature too. The Hoover Dam is just as valid as a beaver dam. We're just better at it.