Consuming Technology

Tilghman discusses our need for technology to give us alternatives to fossil fuels. This all boils down to climate change which will effect the world indefinitely.

Sort of on a more philosophical level, I think we're gonna have to figure out how we're gonna deal with change and the pace of change. One of the things I've really noticed as a scientist over the last 20 years, I think, is that as scientific and engineering advances occur, they are always accompanied by anxiety on the part of the public about the degree to which those advances -- as wonderful as some of them may be in terms of saving lives or improving the quality of life -- they bring change and change is hard. And I think it's going to be a real challenge to manage that change in a way that does not exacerbate sort of the overall level of anxiety that exists around things like stem cells, around Internet privacy, for example. All legitimate things to be concerned about, but anxiety that's getting in the way with having that technology actually have a positive impact it's capable of having.

Recorded on: 8/7/07

Sort of on a more philosophical level, I think we're gonna have to figure out how we're gonna deal with change and the pace of change. One of the things I've really noticed as a scientist over the last 20 years, I think, is that as scientific and engineering advances occur, they are always accompanied by anxiety on the part of the public about the degree to which those advances -- as wonderful as some of them may be in terms of saving lives or improving the quality of life -- they bring change and change is hard. And I think it's going to be a real challenge to manage that change in a way that does not exacerbate sort of the overall level of anxiety that exists around things like stem cells, around Internet privacy, for example. All legitimate things to be concerned about, but anxiety that's getting in the way with having that technology actually have a positive impact it's capable of having.

Recorded on: 8/7/07