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SILICON
CHIP
www.siliconchip.com.au
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD
Production Manager
Greg Swain, B.Sc. (Hons.)
Technical Editor
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2 Silicon Chip
Publisher’s Letter
We live in a time of plenty and
we should all be optimistic
Do you get sick of all the bad news on the media? Every day there seems to be another dire story about things
getting worse: more pollution, more floods, more fires,
deaths, more noise, more disease, scarcer resources,
energy becoming more expensive – the list goes on
and on. And yet for the vast majority of people, life is
not getting worse, life is getting better; profoundly so.
Consider, for example, the increasing cost of energy
and in particular, the burden that air-conditioners place on our electricity grid.
For me, that burden is not bad; that is good. Fifty or sixty years ago in Australia
virtually no households had air-conditioning; not even the richest people had
it. The same applied to most office buildings. So in summer we all sweltered
and many older people died of heat stress. In winter, we shivered and older
people were more likely to die of cold or succumb to influenza.
But now, most households can afford air-conditioning and unless people are
living in areas where they get cooling sea breezes in summer, they elect to have
it. And nor do they necessarily moan about the resulting electricity bills. You
want the comfort? That’s what it costs! Really, the only argument is whether
the electricity tariffs should be as high as they are. I would argue that they are
artificially high, partly because of subsidies for renewable energy. But by and
large, most people are significantly more comfortable, happier and probably
live longer because of air-conditioning. It is a blessing.
And what about air and water pollution, soil degradation, desertification
and so on? Again, it is pretty easy to gain the impression that everything is
getting worse. Well, in the cities of most developed countries of the world, air
and water pollution is demonstrably better than it was in past decades. Similar
comments apply to soil degradation. Better farming techniques in the advanced
countries are slowing the process of soil degradation and as living stands rise
in the developing countries, you can see the process of improvement again,
with China being a prime example.
And think about the range of entertainment that we now have. Fifty years
ago in Australia, we did have black and white television in the cities but many
households did not have it. Nor did most households have hifi systems. Indeed,
many homes did not even have a telephone. Microwave ovens, dishwashers,
automatic washing machines, clothes dryers – what were they? Computers,
smart phones? – science fiction! And what about developments in medicine
with heart, lung, kidney and even liver transplants, hip and knee replacements
and so on? Now look at us! The march of technology has brought unimaginable improvements to virtually every aspect of our lives – at least they were
unimaginable fifty or more years ago.
So why is the news so dire? Why are some people so worried about resources
getting scarcer or climate change? As far as natural resources are concerned,
I cannot think of one that is becoming scarcer. Sure, fish stocks have been
badly depleted in parts of the world but I have no doubt that, with the move
to large-scale fish farming, even that may be reversed in the future. After all,
look at the rising whale numbers around the world.
Which finally brings me to climate change. Why are we so worried? In the
past, human ingenuity has adapted to much more adverse conditions and man
has thrived. I have no doubt that the wonders of technology over the next fifty
years will again bring unimaginable improvements to our lives. We couldn’t
imagine them in the past and we cannot necessarily imagine future improvements right now, can we? Be optimistic; I certainly am.
Leo Simpson
siliconchip.com.au
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