High-tech ups and downs

Providence Journal: Technology will continue to accelerate in 2006. Maybe that's good.
Has the computer revolution given us better lives? Probably, all in all. But Americans work longer and longer, most wages are flat, and everything is frantically faster. There's ever more information on the Web, including more inaccurate information, as well as outright fabrication. And is the virtual reality of staring at screens all day as satisfying as having a real life -- the sun on your head, the smell of wet earth, etc.?
Whatever happens, we remain animals, not machines. We will have more technology, whether we want it or not, but let's hope that we don't have less life as a result.
Looking ahead
Meanwhile, some techno-issues for 2006:
Privacy. Internet security remains problematic, and the theft of personal data will probably get worse before it gets better. People should continue to be leery of providing certain information on the Web, especially such things as bank account and Social Security numbers. The states and the Feds will probably be asked to enact more privacy laws as more credit card and other security breaches make headlines.
International competition. In countries such as China and India, whose global trade once almost entirely involved cheap manufactured goods, high technology and science of all types are booming. America must therefore step up spending in science and engineering education, and in basic and applied research.
Biotechnology. Expect further breakthroughs. But also expect more hype about the efficacy of new medicines, medical equipment and medical procedures. The drug and other parts of the health industry spend billions of dollars a year on marketing, but (amazingly!) not all of their assertions are true. And as the South Korean cloning scandal has shown, "breakthroughs" sometimes reflect only the intensifying impatience of a high-tech world -- an impatience that could be the death of us.