The Tortoise and the Hare

Working off the winter fat:  Jake and Jasper pulling logs out of the woods

We can never do merely one thing. -- Garrett James Hardin

Here in the heart of the Church of Technology, it goes without saying that all (well... most, anyway) technology is a good thing.

Take, for instance, the tractor.  It is, in large part (along with Mexicans, that is), what has freed the majority of us to give up the horrid drudgery of farming. The tractor has given us the freedom to enjoy our modern industrial lifestyle, where we spend our days buzzing around in little metal boxes on wheels (cousin to the venerable tractor) so that we can stare at screens in climate conditioned comfort. Could our ancestors have imagined a more perfect existence?

And most importantly, the tractor allows us to grow more food.  It would be pure blasphemy to suggest otherwise, of course.

There's little doubt that I and my team of horses would soon lose out on a plowing competition, even if we were up against our own little 1952 Ferguson TO-30. Just imagine how poorly we'd fare against John Deere's biggest, baddest, six hundred and twenty horsepower behemoth.

The horses and I would be happy to get an acre plowed in a day. The John Deere...? I'm not really sure. Lesser tractors can handle 150 acres in a day. 200 acres? Maybe 250 acres?

Now, let's extend the competition out a bit. Not just a day, a week, or even a month. Let's run the competition for a thousand years (we'll have to pretend that plowing is beneficial, but bear with me).

Based upon current trends, we can safely assume that the tractor's fuel will last for perhaps one century. It will emit many tons of CO2, among other gasses and particulates which are less fun to breathe. The manufacturing process will spread mercury throughout the environment, and likely other chemicals as well. Some of these are likely to accumulate in the environment and operator, rendering him sterile, just as we're seeing happen throughout the industrialized world. The accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere ultimately renders the farmland sterile as well, as droughts, storms, and crop failure move from the exception to the norm. Soil heating and drying (from increased CO2) cause the remaining organic matter to oxidize into the atmosphere as well.

So, yes, the tractor makes a most impressive showing, for the short term. But it does not increase food production. Over the long term, in fact, it will result in significantly less food production than the lowly horse, or even a simple peasant with a digging stick.  Like most technology, it's a trade, and not necessarily a good one.

The tractor, of course, is just one example of many. The automobile will ultimately result in less human travel, for the same reasons that the tractor will ultimately result in less food production. The washing machine will result in fewer clothes washed. Computers (like the one I'm typing on), will result in less information shared between people.

How many other examples can you think of?  Are there technologies which provide a net benefit?