FREE ESSAY ON TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

As technology speeds ahead seemingly faster than light, our society and social structures
are not keeping pace. The American government has grown large and inefficient. There is a
push toward Globalization, as geographic societies are disappearing, a growing
indifference in a new intellectual age. All of these are causes of the inability of
society to adapt with current technology. 
Our Government has grown to try to meet the demands of a constantly changing culture. In
the process, is has become large and slow, bogged down with politics, and paperwork. With
technology, we are now faced with another growing problem. One faced by many businesses
today as they have become large, unwilling, inflexible, inefficient, and slow. The ones
that restructure and adapt the fastest survive and prosper. In his book, "Business @ the
Speed of thought", Bill Gates says, "The successful companies of the next decade will be
the ones that use digital tools to reinvent the way they work. These companies will make
decisions quickly, act efficiently and directly touch their customers in positive ways."

In 1965, Gordon Moore made an observation that later became "Moore's Law". This law
simply stated means that the capacity of a chip doubles every 18-24 months. In short,
growth of technology is exponential. At such speeds, how can our legal system possibly
keep up with this onslaught? For example, the Supreme Court hears more than 7000 cases
per term, and that number increases yearly. Without some internal change of rules and
procedure, the court system will continue to be overloaded with work, and will
continually fall behind. Bill Gates suggests a "Digital Nervous System" is needed to give
an institution the flexibility to adapt.
The increasing trend toward globalization is quickly eroding the physical requirements
that used to be necessary to define a culture and ideas of a society. As technology
improves, communication increases to an extent that the formal definition of a society
begins to fall apart. The Americans, Europeans, and every other social group are becoming
the social group of the World. 
Technology such as Global communication, the Internet, and Mass media are creating a
"Global society". This means that the existing societies that are defined by geographical
boundaries are becoming subcultures within the global society. Personal cellular phones
now offer free long distance. The Internet allows people in our society to communicate
freely when it comes to business, communication, etc... without regard to boundaries. For
example, the Internet now offers a Personal computer to phone conversation anywhere in
the world for no charge. The proliferance of mass media allows cultures to interact and
establish bonds. The rate at which this globalization occurs is increasing rapidly. 
The values of people in our society are becoming indifferent as technology removes us
from the "physical acts" of a crime. There are legal debates over copyright infringement,
as well as other moral and ethical battles. Online gambling is becoming popular, but
still illegal in most of the United States. Gambling companies locate their businesses
outside of the United States to avoid laws that prohibit such activity. This means that
companies are creating socially acceptable "loopholes".
Software piracy has exploded on the Internet, companies or individuals can host a website
with illegal software that anyone can download at temporary locations. These locations
change daily to make it harder for the "software pirates" to be caught. Other copyright
issues are coming from the music industry, specifically over MP3's. Napster was hoping to
avoid prosecution by avoiding storage of the illegal software.
Cary Sherman, general counsel of the Recording Industry Association of America, says
Napster has "come up with a very clever way to be involved and get the commercial benefit
of facilitating piracy without touching the stolen goods themselves. They're providing
all of the means for the exchange of stolen goods, but they avoid touching it".
In conclusion, America needs to reassess its size and efficiency, and then create an
infrastructure capable of responding to the high demands of an Internet culture. If the
Government does not create a more efficient way of dealing with technological
advancements and crime, the transgressions will increase in frequency and severity.
Unless the American Government advances to the current technological culture, than our
place in the Global economy will fall. 
Denver Scheid
29 January 2001
Bibliography
WORKS CITED
Looking at the book, chapter overviews, Bill Gates
http://www.speed-of-thought.com/looking/chapter.html
The Justices' Caseload, The Supreme Court 
http://www.supremecourtus.gov/about/about.html
Sailing around the letter of the law, Bruce Haring, (USA Today)
http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/tech/review/crg820.htm