IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2013 - 6

other hand, we may be quickly approaching a crisis
Society in Asia" for which I thank the tremendous
far greater than that of the 1973 oil embargo and subefforts of ISTAS12 organizers Greg Adamson, Michael
sequent stock market crash, if we do not back renewArnold, Sophie McKenzie, and guest editors Martin
able resource initiatives with serious and ongoing
Gibbs, Philip Hall, and Shiro Uesugi, a counter-balresearch funding.
ance is necessary to place the special issue in perspecThe externalities of technology are not only felt
tive [12]. Yes, technology is the answer to so many of
on a global scale with respect to climate change as a
our problems today, but it can also be the source of our
direct result of carbon emissions, but are vividly obviwoes. That which has had such a positive impact on the
ous in other activities from the exportation of e-waste
production functions of so many processes, i.e., techdisposal to countries like Bangladesh
nology, can also carry with it negaand Nepal, and in the contaminative intangible and hidden costs to
We might be paying the individual, the household, the faction of waterways through industrial
significantly reduced tory, and society at large. We need to
chemical waste within organizations
situated within Asia and Africa [11].
think past the first ripple effect, to farprices for our
In other cases, technology change
computers, toasters, reaching consequences, ensuring that
has equated to business process
we take the longer-term view, before
and clothes, but
optimization so harsh on employthat which immediately benefits profit
somewhere up the
ees that inhumane practices have
margins.
been discovered in sweat shops and
"chain" someone
white good manufacturing lines.
has had to get the
References
We might be paying significantly
[1] United Nations Population Information Netcomponent
parts
to
reduced prices for our computers,
work, 2009; http://www.un.org/popin/data.html.
[2] Internet World Stats: Usage and Population
a finished good.
toasters, and clothes, but somewhere
Statistics, 2013; http://www.internetworldstats.
up the "chain" someone has had to
com/stats3.htm.
get the component parts to a finished good. We have
[3] P. Evans and P. Budde, "Asia - Mobile, broadband and digital
economy overview," BuddeComm, 2012;. http://www.budde.com.au/
a responsibility to ensure that child workers are not
Research/Asia-Mobile-Broadband-and-Digital-Economy-Overview.
being exploited on cocoa farms to bring us our favorhtml?r=51.
ite chocolate bars, and that pregnant female workers
[4] "Poverty and equity data," The World Bank, 2013; http://data.
worldbank.org/topic/poverty.
are not bound to their sewing machines from dawn to
[5] "Rural Poverty Portal: Asia," International Fund for Agriculdusk, among a great many other worker issues.
tural Development (IFAD), 2009; http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/
I observe around my neighborhood during rubbish
region/home/tags/asia.
[6] M. Tuck, "Poverty Reduction and Equity," The World Bank, 2013;
collection days, electrical appliances such as printers,
ht t p://web.wo rld ba n k .o rg / W BSI T E / E X T E R NA L / T OPIC S/
abandoned on the roadside because it is cheaper to
EXTPOVERTY/EXTPA/0,,contentMDK:20040961~menuPK:435040~
purchase a brand new one than to take the effort in
pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:430367~isCURL:Y,00.html.
[7] ITU, "Measuring the Information Society," International Telecompurchasing color toner and installing it for use. Little
munications Union, Switzerland, 2012.
by little we have become the throw-away generation,
[8] one.laptop.org, OLPC foundation, Cambridge, MA; http://one.
and the side effects from this thoughtless consumerlaptop.org/, accessed Aug. 1, 2013.
[9] Interaction Design foundation, Aarhaus, Denmark; http://tour.
ism will cost us heavily in years to come. How much
interaction-design.org/.
more prevalent this behavior might become with the
[10] S.K. Moore and E. Strickland, "GM foods grow up," IEEE Spectrum,
onset of 3D printers and downloadable computer2013; http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/environment/gm-foods-grow-up.
[11] StEP, "Solving the e-waste problem, 2012; http://www.step-initiative.org/.
aided designs (CAD) is anyone's guess.
[12] ISTAS12, Technology and Society in Asia, IEEE International
While I do not wish to cast any shadow on this sigSymposium on Technology and Society 2012, Singapore; http://www.
nificant special issue dedicated to "Technology and
technologyandsocietyinasia.org/.

IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

fALL 2013

http://www.un.org/popin/data.html http://www.internetworldstats http://www.budde.com.au/ http://data http://www.worldbank.org/topic/poverty http://www.ruralpovertyportal.org/ http://one.laptop.org http://one http://www.laptop.org/ http://tour http://www.interaction-design.org/ http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/environment/gm-foods-grow-up http://www.step-initiative.org/ http://www http://www.technologyandsocietyinasia.org/

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Fall 2013