Page 514 - Essencials of Sociology

How Technology Is Changing Our Lives 487

sharing, you will compare your countries’ customs on
eating, dating, marriage, family, or burial—whatever is
of interest to you. You will then write a term paper in
which you apply the theories in the text to what you
have learned from your fellow students. With a flour-
ish and a smile, you then e-mail the paper to your
instructor. (Okay, forget the flourish and smile, but
from this, you can catch a glimpse of the future.)
Computers in Business and Finance. The
advanced technology of businesses used to consist of
cash registers and adding machines. Connections to
the outside world were managed by telephone. Today,
businesses are electronically “wired” to suppliers, sales-
people, and clients around the country—and around
the world. Computers track sales of items, tabulate
inventory, and set in motion the process of reorder-
ing and restocking. Sales reports alert managers to
changes in their customers’ tastes or preferences.
For retail giants like Wal-Mart, the computer reports This bike actually flies—thanks
to six horizontal propellers and a
regional changes in preferences of products.
battery-powered motor. Changing
National borders are rendered meaningless as computers instantaneously transfer bil- technology changes not only the way
lions of dollars from one country to another. No “cash” changes hands in these transac- we do things, such as travel, but also
tions. The money consists of digits in computer memory banks. In the same day, digitized the way we think about life and the
money can be transferred from the United States to Switzerland, from there to the Grand self and the way we relate to others.
Cayman Islands, and then to the Isle of Man. Its zigzag, encrypted path around the globe
leaves few traces for sleuths to follow. “Where’s my share?” governments around the world
are grumbling, as they consider how to control—and tax—this new technology.
Computers in International Conflict. Computers are also having a major impact on
war. Many of the changes, fortunately for us, are still theoretical. When the application
arrives, the loss of lives will be horrendous. In the following Thinking Critically section
we’ll look at cyber war. After that, we’ll consider drones and warfare in space.

THINKING CRITICALLY

Cyberwar and Cyber Defense

Iran’s nuclear enrichment program had progressed quite well. But as five thousand centri-
fuges were whirring away, Iranian scientists stared in disbelief. Although their computers
reported that everything was fine, the centrifuges suddenly sped up and slowed down, rip-
ping their delicate parts into shreds.
Iran had been hit by the Stuxnet worm, a malware that the United States and Israel
had surreptitiously entered into Iran’s computer codes. Iran’s goal of producing material
for a nuclear bomb had been set back by months, perhaps by years. (Sanger 2012)

very country in conflict with another looks for an edge. The computer’s mar-
velous strength—its capacity to store and retrieve information and to execute
Ecommands—can be turned into a weakness, an Achilles heel that can bring
down the powerful.
To turn strength into weakness brings both delight and fear to generals around the
world. Their delight comes from the mouthwatering anticipation that they might use
this capacity against their enemies. Their fear? That their enemies might turn this capac-
ity against them.
Cyber weapons offer intriguing potential for warfare. They can make missiles that
have been ordered airborne to strike enemy targets sit in their silos like wounded birds