Should Modern Technology Owe Ecology An Apology?

The world is ever changing. One moment I see a flat land next to the train station near my place, and before you know it, all of a sudden high-rise buildings start sprouting out and all the empty land you are used to is gone in a flash.

That is what is happening to the world right now. One moment there are jungles and jungles of trees, and the next moment all the thousand-year trees are felled to build factories so as to build machines and electronic gadgets.

Although I do not really approve of clearing jungles for modern living, but still I guess it is alright if everything is done in moderation. However, due to all these modern living and technological advances, a lot of hidden jungle species became homeless and subsequently extinct when the jungles were cleared to make space for urbanisation.

But animals do not just lose their homes to clearing of forests. New technological improvement gadgets increase demand for electricity or energy which increases burning of fossil fuels which increases pollution problems. With forests and jungles being polluted, animals have no homes to live in. This also causes global warming, and animals that are not able to survive in these hot climates die out.

Toxic wastes from the factories were also dumped into the ocean and many marine animals were killed as a result. Luckily governments nowadays impose dumping tax so for factories who really must pollute the environment, they have to buy "dumping space" to limit their dumping activities.

The entire biological balance of the Earth had been turned upside down because of this. It is like when living things at the bottom of the food chain die out, those higher up the food chain will be affected. Sooner or later, more and more living things are going to be extinct.

Not only that, modern technology is now being used to breed living things. There is orchid hybridisation in school, where you breed two different types of orchids to get a totally different breed. Apparently many hybridisation farms are cross-breeding plants and flowers to see what they can get. Although this is a good breakthrough in botany research, it is still not wise to mess with Mother Nature.

Animals are also being cloned instead of being bred naturally. First come sheep, which animal goes next? Are humans also going to be cloned in the near future? Then what will become of us? Will we be considered as natural humans or some artifical intelligence species, product of some cloning experiement? And if humans can be cloned, will parents not ask for the best DNAs for their kids so they can have perfect children? Quite an idea actually. Wonder if I can clone some perfect guys for my girl friends (and myself of course!) and some perfect girls for my guy friends.

This would be something similar to the breeding experiment by Hitler's Nazis during the Second World War. The best female specimens (smart, beautiful, well-figured, graceful) would be chosen as "breeder" for the best male specimens (the best of the Nazi soldiers - handsome, smart, tall, muscular) to ensure the survival of the Aryan race.

And technological advances also mean animals are not being fed naturally anymore. Cows were fed food containing traces of meat, resulting in the Mad Cow Disease of few years ago. Of course the cows will get sick. They are herbivores; it is not in their biological makeup to take any form of meat, no matter how little traces there are. And there was also a rumour going around that chickens were being injected with some steroids or something to that effect so they could grow bigger and stronger.

Modern technology does achieve wonders, but is it going too far if things are going against nature? Afterall, if things are supposed to be of a certain way, is it a good idea to try to change the entire makeup of those things?