Alex Kunz

Power of Technology on Social Justice

The topic of social justice is very notably known for its relationship to technology
and over time has been the topic of much discussion. In this day and age, everything is
being revolutionized into new things that are heavily based on technology and advances
in technology. Almost every second of the day, something that you are doing is related to
technology. Therefore technology is related to almost every aspect of life and how an
individual can function in their life. There are some major issues that can be associated
with the power to move social justice forward with relationships to technology.
While the term social justice can mean different things to different people, there is
no doubt that technology and advances in technology largely influence social justice.
The non-controversial way of defining social justice is, as the ability people have to
realize their potential in society. When including the institutions such as progressive
taxation and regulation of markets to ensure fair distribution of wealth, the water gets
muddier and critics may find reason to question some issues related to social justice. For
the purpose of this paper, I am using the term social justice as the positive goal of our
society to enable people to lead a fulfilling life and be active contributors in their
community and am discussing how technology has overall helped this goal.
Over time, some very practical technologies related to public health played a role
in social justice. These were, and still are, the technologies that provide clean water,
sewage treatment, vaccinations, and antibiotics. One of the most outspoken and
influential authors on this subject is Freeman Dyson. In his writings on this subject
explained that these technologies could only be effective in protecting the rich from
sickness and contagion and if they were also available to the poor. "Even if the rich and
powerful receive preferential treatment, as they usually do, the benefits of public health
technology are felt to some extent by everybody." This is proven by the fact that in
countries where public health technologies are enforced by law, there is not a large gap in
life expectancy between rich and poor. What this means is that where these technologies
were implemented to everyone, the health benefit was to all, not just the wealthy or upper
class. And the wealthy and upper class could not have benefited unless the poor
benefited also, therefore providing social justice. To a large degree it was not possible to
provide favor to the wealthy when these technologies were developed, because if they
were not provided to the poor as well, then the less healthy overall population would have
had a negative effect of the rich, especially as they aged. So the development of these
technologies has provided good examples of how technology has had positive influence
on social justice.
Dysons vision is to push technology in a new direction, away from toys for the
rich, and toward the necessities for the poor. He believes his vision can be reached by
developing three technological areas. These technologies are solar energy, genetic
engineering, and the Internet. Solar energy is available everywhere including the poorest
areas of the world. If we were able to develop the technology of solar energy to be cheap
enough to compete with oil and oil products, then it would benefit social justice. We
have a long way to go on this effort, but I agree with Dyson that technological
advancement in this area would have great benefit. By genetic engineering, Dyson is also
referring to energy. He believes we can engineer plants that convert sunlight into fuel
more efficiently and produce an energy crop from a permanent forest with trees that
convert sunlight to liquid fuel and deliver the fuel directly through their roots. I am not
sure how plausible this is, but it is an optimistic goal from a physicist and futurist! The
third of the technological areas is the most well known and easiest to understand and
relate to these days. It is the Internet and its advances globally.
The Internet has been discussed by many as having the greatest potential as a
contributor to social justice. I agree that the Internet is probably the single most
important thing in todays technological revolution. Think about how many times a day
use the Internet or better yet think of the last day you didnt use the Internet at least once.
Its hard to believe how over the last 25 years the Internet has completely revolutionized
the way we do things throughout the world. The Internet is essential to enable businesses
and farms in remote places to function as part of the modern global economy.
Another current and developing technology that can play a role in social justice is
the cell phone. The evolution of cell phones in the past 10 years has really changed the
way we go about our everyday routines. If you said that we were going to have touch
screen phones when the first cell came out, you wouldve been looked at like you were
crazy. Most socioeconomic classes throughout the world use cell phones. As the number
and locations of towers increases, I believe this will be a positive effect on social justice
when used for positive communication and work.
However, over usage and non-productive usage of mobile devices could be
considered a negative influence on social justice. With cell phones comes social media.
It is estimated that the average American spends 3.2 hours per day on social media. There
are so many more productive things you could do with 3 hours of the day then just
scrolling through twitter and instagram. Nowadays the people I know have seven or more
different accounts of social media on their phone that they use on a daily basis. When
used for non-positive or wasteful use by people from all socioeconomic levels including
the rich and the poor, it defeats the purpose and goal of social justice.
Another evolution of technology that can have influence on social justice is the
computer and Internet as it relates to education. It is mind-blowing to me to realize that
we have universities and college classes that can be completely 100 percent completed
online. All of my homework for school is done using my computer; I dont even
remember the last time I actually handed in a handwritten piece of work. This leaves
members of lower socioeconomic classes at a disadvantage, as they cannot afford to
purchase these technologies. Without modern technology, it is almost impossible for
them to participate in higher-level education. The part of the educational system could be
considered a social injustice since it deprives the poor of an education, simply because
they cannot afford to keep up with technological advancements. On the other hand, if
computers and Internet become available to everyone even in remote areas, it may offer
the opportunity for higher education where it now may not be possible. In past years, I
feel like searching for jobs and careers was all about having connections in certain
industries but now I think it is starting to move towards a more Internet type job
searching process. So this goal is far-reaching and extremely important for social justice.
In Dysons article, he states Social justice includes the ideal that all people
should be free to pursue their goals in life, to exercise their autonomy in their work,
worship, political actions, and personal lives, free from unnecessary interference. In a
perfect society, everyone would be treated equally and everything would be socially just.
Technology can be incorporated with these ideas in many different ways. I believe that
wealthy people in this country are given better opportunities to better themselves then the
poor. Think about what the money used to buy a millionaires Lamborghini could be used
for in research towards curing something like cancer.
Social justice and its relation to the power of advancing technology is a very
intriguing topic. By looking at the past technologies to develop essential things like clean
water and sewage treatment for public health, we have seen how technology plays a big
role in social justice. The continuing improvements in worldwide technology, such as the
Internet and mobile devices, are amazing. Its crazy to think how these and other
technologies have the potential to improve the lives of everyone in all socioeconomic
classes and help reach the goal of equal opportunities and social justice.

Works Cited

Austin, Michael W. "Ethics for Everyone." Technology and Social Justice. Michael W.
Austin, 13 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
Belluomini, Ellen. "Technological Advances to Grieving and Closure Social Justice
Solutions." RSS. Ellen Belluomini, 12 Feb. 2014. Web. 18 Mar. 2014.
Dyson, Freeman. "Technology and Social Justice." 5 Nov. 1997: n. pag. Web. 6 May
2014.