Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. Dynamite, for its time, was extremely advanced technology. It made it easier to open the ground, to excavate, to mine resources. It also made it easier to kill greater numbers of people in military actions.
Nobel realized this when a newspaper errantly printed his obituary, believing he had died. Like anyone else, Nobel was interested in hearing what would be said about him after he died. When he realized the answer was terms like "butcher," or "greatest mass murderer of our time," he was shocked and appalled. But then, that is what TECHNOLOGY gives us as a species: tools that we can use for any and all purposes. Their use is entirely dependent upon our morals and ethics.
It was for this purpose that Nobel created a series of prizes to inspire those who would use their skills, talents, and abilities not to create mere tools for humanity, but to inspire others, to give our species an ethical center. (Something we apparently still lack.)
Simply creating new tech is (like it or not, techies, it's the truth) easy. Finding ways to encourage humanity to only use those tools wisely is increasingly difficult, especially in a world that lionizes Randian selfishness and Trumpian accumulation of wealth above virtually all else.
Slashdot Mirror
Alfred Nobel invented dynamite. Dynamite, for its time, was extremely advanced technology. It made it easier to open the ground, to excavate, to mine resources. It also made it easier to kill greater numbers of people in military actions.
Nobel realized this when a newspaper errantly printed his obituary, believing he had died. Like anyone else, Nobel was interested in hearing what would be said about him after he died. When he realized the answer was terms like "butcher," or "greatest mass murderer of our time," he was shocked and appalled. But then, that is what TECHNOLOGY gives us as a species: tools that we can use for any and all purposes. Their use is entirely dependent upon our morals and ethics.
It was for this purpose that Nobel created a series of prizes to inspire those who would use their skills, talents, and abilities not to create mere tools for humanity, but to inspire others, to give our species an ethical center. (Something we apparently still lack.)
Simply creating new tech is (like it or not, techies, it's the truth) easy. Finding ways to encourage humanity to only use those tools wisely is increasingly difficult, especially in a world that lionizes Randian selfishness and Trumpian accumulation of wealth above virtually all else.