The Double-Edged Sword of Technology: Are We Advancing or Regressing?

As we leave the 2025 starting gate behind us and look forward to another uncertain year I’d like to ask you a riddle.

What is one thing that is invisible, affects everyone for better or for worse, costs more money than it’s supposed to, creates more new problems than the ones it’s supposed to solve, and starts with the letter T?  If you guessed Technology, then let’s be friends.

More technological incidents and mishaps occurred last year than any notable advances to make society better. I’ve embraced technology for a long time for the sake of improving my life, my health, and simplifying my household chores, but my life isn’t getting any easier.  When will there be a Roomba robot vacuum that can do stairs?  I’ve seen automatic lawn mowers that let you sit on the porch and sip that cold Saturday afternoon beer while watching your grass being cut.  Why can’t I find a low-cost automatic cat litter box cleaner?  Seriously.

2024 was a challenging year for technology advancements. I can’t think of any memorable innovations that 2024 will be remembered for.  Several Boeing aircraft incidents occurred, again.  Boeing’s Starliner thing still has astronauts stranded in orbit.  Elon Tesla’s SpaceX is supposed to go rescue them but when?  SpaceX has been filling the void where NASA can’t.  SpaceX is launching things into space at breakneck pace but I’m not sure that’s a good thing.  How will Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Starlink avert an in-space collision with one of its own satellites or someone else’s?

According to an article published by CEOWorld Magazine, as of July 2024, there were an estimated 12,994 operational satellites circling our globe.  Over 6,000 of these are Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites.  Starlink is aiming to put up to 41,000 satellites into orbit eventually.  These supposed telecommunications improvements have me really thinking about my personal online privacy.  I’m not sure I want to get more bad media news any faster than my YouTube, X, or Instagram feeds can provide.

Special mention for the CrowdStrike incident that affected millions of people stranded due to airport computer systems running on Microsoft operating systems. That wasn’t even a hacking incident but a simple screw-up.

I mentioned the Boeing incidents, but these were accidents.  The CrowdStrike incident was an error. Don’t get me going about Hezbollah-targeted pager attacks in Lebanon by Israel.  Or bombs exploding under beds in Iranian safehouses.  Those events were deliberate.  They also required advanced technology.

Google boasted its Willow quantum computer and how quickly it can break secure encryption that would take billions if not trillions of years for a typical home computer to crack.  Mainstream media kept reminding us how no password is safe anymore.  Will Google’s Willow pose a serious threat to nVidia’s livelihood? (nVidia is now the world’s leading chip manufacturer offering advanced GPU capabilities used for AI and crypto mining)

AI and AGI also dominated tech headlines, but I have yet to read one article as to how these technologies have made notable advances in medicine or help diagnose cancer quicker, let alone cure cancer.  However, I keep worrying every time I’m reminded how bad actors (read “hackers”) leverage the same AI technology to crack passwords faster, or send you even more sophisticated phishing or smishing messages. 

For those who aren’t sure what phishing or smishing is:  Phishing is when a bad actor sends you a phony email impersonating someone you know like a close family member tries to convince you to send them money.  Other popular phishing emails involve online accounts such as Netflix, Microsoft, Facebook trying to convince you it’s time to reset your password. 

Smishing is like a phishing email but you receive it as a text message on your smartphone (think SMS’ing.)  Who hasn’t received a fake CRA arrest warrant message? Or a fake DHL or UPS message, “we tried to deliver a package, but you weren’t home so please login here”.  I’ve even received some convincing Interac e-transfer messages requiring me to provide my banking login credentials.

In an upcoming article, I’ll provide some sound advice as to how to identify phishing and smishing messages so to make your online life a little more robust

Thanks for reading and let me know if you have any questions by posting a comment below.