By Jessica Demarest

The world of technology is ever-changing and always evolving. Advancements are made around the world every day.  Often these advancements can be seen on the consumer market in the form of cellular devices, computers, music players, and more, making their splash in the United States and around the world.  How significant are these innovations?  Scientific progress in the field of technology has had profound effects on political and economic life, in both positively and negatively.

Technology is also positively changing the way political leaders and parties gain support in the United States and around the world.  President Barack Obama has been using new methods to grow and connect his campaign for the 2012 presidential election.  Advertisements have been posted on job websites expressing the need for predictive modeling and data mining scientists to assist in Obama’s campaign. The Obama 2012 Campaign has also created its own Facebook app to be used to collect information about supporters and voters.  Staff members on the operation are using a social networking site called NationalField to keep all of the campaign’s different branches (field, fundraising, and web operations) well connected.  The site includes a hierarchal system allowing the higher-ups in the campaign to view the progress being made on a broader scope. NationalField supports the campaign’s efforts to harmonize their data.  By logging all of the information that individual sections have collected, the campaign can be more easily directed. Campaign leaders will be able to use this data to determine what advertisements and messages should be sent to what groups of people.  Further, they can ensure that they are successfully spreading the reach of their campaign efforts across the country without overloading certain areas with an excess of propaganda.  These networking techniques have allowed the Obama Campaign to leap far ahead of their Republican opponents on a technological level. Technology is also affecting politics worldwide. Google+ is the creator of a video conferencing program called ‘Hangout.’ This program was recently used by the Dalai Lama and South Africa’s anti-apartheid leader, Desmond Tutu, in order to hold a live chat. These two Nobel Peace Prize winners would have liked to talk in person, and the Dalai Lama had actually made plans to visit Tutu in celebration of tutu’s 80^th birthday. The South African government, however, stood in their way when they refused to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama. This was most likely a result of China being a key trading partner of South Africa. Regardless, the pair still managed to find a way to talk by turning to the internet. On October 8, 2011, the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu engaged in a live chat via ‘Hangout.’ The video was shared live with all of those who wished to view it and was a huge success.  Video conferencing sites like ‘Hangout’ allow people all over the world to chat with their friends and family members, but they can also be an important tool in sharing political ideas. Perhaps these methods could also one day be used to settle disputes amongst political groups and countries, such as Israel and Palestine.

While technology’s power to make the world a more open place can be very beneficial, it can also be a danger to a country’s government, thus negatively effecting those countries. For example, in the United States, military drones have become a common weapon of choice to perform missions, gather information, and launch attacks. These drones run on a very sensitive computer network and it is becoming clear that, because of this, the drones are susceptible to viruses and hackers. Members of the U.S. military found a substantial amount of drone footage on confiscated Iraqi laptops. This footage was not encrypted, thus the Iraqis were able to tap into the video feed and see what the soldiers were seeing. This makes the drones vulnerable, and could potentially devastate American missions. A computer virus was also recently detected in the drone system. This virus logged the keystrokes made in the drone network and evidence has been found that both unclassified and classified files were jeopardized. It is still unknown whether the virus was introduced intentionally or if it was an average computer virus that happened upon the network by accident, but this incident reveals a lack of security on very important U.S. military operations.  New technology in the form of military drones has greatly assisted in American war efforts, but it is also a liability.

Terrorists have fancy technology too, and their technology can be used as a weapon against our own. Computerized systems have advantages, but if a terrorist were to get their hands on the sensitive information they house, the results could be devastating. Technology can also spread political unrest as activist groups share their opinions over the internet. While giving people a voice is a valuable benefit of technology, one must keep in mind that it can also lead those activist groups to turn towards violence. This was clearly seen as revolution broke out in Egypt earlier this year after revolutionary ideas were spread using the ever-popular Facebook.

New green technology efforts will soon be positively affecting economic pressures in the United States. Daniel Nocera and his scientific team have recently developed their ‘artificial leaf’. The leaf doesn’t exactly look like the average leaf one would see in his or her backyard, but is considered a huge step in the effort to find a clean source of energy for the world. Basically, the leaf uses sunlight to split the carbon and hydrogen atoms in water. The hydrogen atoms can then be stored and later used as energy. This technology is not currently available on the consumer market because important supporting factors like systems to collect and store necessary gases have yet to be developed.  It is, however, a step in the right direction for green technology. The artificial leaf is one of many projects attempting to find an alternate energy source with which to power the world. As the fossil fuels currently used for energy are used up and they become more and more difficult to find, the prices for energy will continue to rise. The artificial leaf project is a significant economic interest because if scientists can find a way to develop something that produces energy and can also be mass produced at a reasonable cost, prices for things like gas and electricity will decrease.

Those positive efforts to create a renewable energy source contrast severely with the negative technology currently used by hackers around the world. One of the most notable hacking situations as of late would be the threats to hack the New York Stock Exchange. The threat was given via YouTube to the NYSE from a group identified only as ‘Anonymous’. Anonymous has taken credit for hacking the Bank of America and the Sony PlayStation network in the past. The group is now affiliated with the Occupy Wall-street Movement that has been spreading across the country in recent weeks. The movement is in protest of corporate greed and Anonymous states that it has plans to attack the NYSE in support of the protest. So far, no attack has been made, but the fact remains if Anonymous were to carry out their threats then, depending on their intent, severe negative economic effects would be the result. This holds true for all other hacking attacks on prominent economic establishments as well. The world has become so reliant on computers and other forms of technology, that if those devices were to be compromised, very serious repercussions would be felt by large masses of people.

New technology will always be a factor in various factions of our modern society, and in most situations, it will be of great use to people and nations worldwide. Prominent Enlightenment thinker Voltaire once said “with great power comes great responsibility”. This statement applies to the use of technology. Technology is a very powerful tool, but, if put in the wrong hands, can be misused and cause a great deal of damage.  As human beings become more and more dependent on technological devices, they leave themselves open to attacks from computer viruses, hackers, and even other people. New developments in technology have made huge differences by influencing the world politically and economically, and promise to make more in coming years.