Will Technological Advances Widen the Socioeconomic Chasm

The acceleration of technology is a cool and exciting thing and we are privileged that we will get to see unfathomable advances in our lifetime. We will see advances in cancer research, space travel, energy, robotics, agricultural, computational and many other fields. The fastest advances will occur where the most money can be made. This trend may make it difficult for the socioeconomically challenged to get access to life enhancing technology. For instance, if you look at cars and the safety features that have been added to vehicles in the last several years. I have a car with ABS, 7 airbags, anti-collision features, lane departure warnings and back up cameras. About 70% of the cars on the road do have airbags but that means about 70 million vehicles don't. Deaths in frontal crashes are reduced by about 30% when using airbags. Therefore, if you are poor and don't have airbags you have a much higher chance of dying in a car crash. Auto-pilot cars will be incredibly safe for those who can afford them. Technology advances will have the potential to solve some of the world’s most difficult problems, global warming, world hunger & poverty, human trafficking, education & medical access to the destitute. The message of hope is that many companies do contribute to the world communities and philanthropic causes. There are also some companies (not nearly enough) that are using technology to solve global social justice problems. http://www.goodnet.org/articles/4-innovations-that-use-technology-to-solve-social-issues. However, is a big enough slice of technical innovation going to be used for good? If not, technology advances will widen the socioeconomic gap. People with access to the best technology will receive the most benefit, and not just monetarily. Health, safety, quality of life will be hugely impacted by technology but you may only benefit if you can afford it.