July 8, 2003
Feeling Some Good Vibrations?... Let's take five with Moira Gunn. This is "Five Minutes".
It's that time once again when we all seem to be packing up and heading outdoors, whether it's a campsite in the mountains, a shack on the beach or simply our own backyards.
For many of us, the worst case we're preparing for is mosquitoes, ants and any number of creepy-crawly things, we just don't like. Of course, in some cases we are well-advised to avoid contact for health reasons. Considering last year's 4,000 cases of West Nile Virus, this is a serious consideration. Although no cases have been reported this year, there is every reason to continue to be cautious, and so we apply bug repellent and hope for the best.
In the face of all this, it's easy to get pretty excited about any technology which keeps pests away, so what could be wrong with that?
--
Well, let's move from campers and insects to swimming on an ocean beach and sharks. One technology is the electronic shark repellent. You strap on a battery-powered device and dive in. Taking full advantage of the shark's nervous system, the closer one gets, the more uncomfortable the shark feels, until eventually it experiences muscle spasms and skedaddles out of there.
This doesn't appear to harm the sharks, and who could imagine them coming up with an evolutionary workaround any time soon, so you might consider this the equivalent of a person spraying himself with bug repellant - one person, one safety barrier.
But you know engineers and technology: If a little is good, more is better.
Wouldn't it be great if we could just turn a switch and all the mosquitoes would flee the picnic area? And all the sharks leave the water?
One Australian company is developing a device to protect the area around pleasure boats in addition to entire beaches. Why not leave it on all the time, day and night? Why be bothered with those pesky sharks? And wouldn't we be negligent if we didn't protect our citizens at all times?
--
Now, the mosquitoes are being targeted by another apparently perfect mass technology. Literally the outgrowth of a high school science experiment, there is now a larvae zapper which vibrates the mosquito larvae to a rapid demise. With 400 mosquito control districts in the US, this has to be good news. Got a pond or a creek nearby? Zap it, and your mosquito worries are over.
So, why shouldn't we enthusiastically embrace all these technologies? The answer is quite simple actually: We don't really know how the sharks or the mosquitoes fit into the total chain of life. If the sharks don't like these vibrations, what other life forms don't either? You know, those life forms that can't hotfoot it out of there when things turn uncomfortable. And the mosquitoes? Is there a case where mass elimination would have serious consequences?
Our ability as humans to build and disseminate technology is without precedent. Get a good idea, and a year later you can sell it to the world. Unfortunately, you may not be able to pull it back.
It seems to me that we believe we have a right to be any darn place we please on this planet, and to be comfortable when we get there. Of course, I doubt we'd feel so entitled if the dinosaurs were still around.
I'm Moira Gunn. This is Five Minutes.
