High Technology and Modern Life

High technology has touched almost every facet of human experience all around the world. Global positioning system, or GPS, technology is no exception. In fact, it has a special place in technology because it has the potential to find the exact location of any person or thing anywhere in the world. That is a great benefit because it means that GPS makes it possible for people never to get lost, anywhere in the world, again. However, it would be foolish to think that GPS has benefits only, especially in the case of GPS technology in automobiles. Even though installation of GPS in cars seems to present advantages, it also presents disadvantages. Surprising social and cultural problems could result if people fail to think about these disadvantages before they adopt the technology. That is particularly true in regard to human privacy and human survival competency. The importance of balancing the ethical disadvantages against the technical advantages of GPS in automobiles is the subject of this research.

GPS technology started out as a military tool. The reason for that can be seen in an explanation of how GPS works technically. The idea of GPS is that a network of 24 satellites can send and transmit signals to a GPS receiving device no matter where on earth it is located. Determining exact latitude and longitude is accomplished by triggering the GPS device to receive signals from four satellites that have the device in their line of sight. The GPS receiver is a computer. The way

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ar-old retired engineer, had pried the OnStar unit from behind the glove compartment and customized it to work with his laptop and commercially available mapping software. His wife read him directions right off the laptop that sat between them. The modified unit was no longer connected to the OnStar network, over which representatives could have provided the same service for a fee (Junnarkar, 2003). That quote shows that the response of some individuals to high-cost technical services is to avoid paying for them. That puts the individuals in the position of being dishonest. However, there is another point of view on that issue. This is because the cost of subscribing to full GPS service on a car that has OnStar installed in it is not as cheap as subscribing to a magazine. The cost of OnStar Service comes to $420 per year (Junnarkar, 2003). This may be easy for rich people to pay. People who cannot afford to pay that price are out of luck. However, both rich and poor people face the same problems when they are driving on the road. That means that rich people get the benefit of GPS technology, but people who cannot afford those benefits could potentially suffer. This emphasizes the economic differences between rich and poor. Some p

Category: Science - H