T his holiday season, smartphones, video-game consoles and other high-tech gifts will likely top the wish lists of many UNC students. This is for good reason — many of these coveted gadgets have the potential to improve the lives of their users throughout the year. But despite these advantages, history shows us that technologies can have drawbacks.
These have been observed for millennia, beginning with the first hominid ancestor to smash his thumb with a crude stone axe and the Roman legionary who cut himself with his newfangled double-edged sword. Negative consequences have followed technologies into modern times, with possibilities for abuse keeping pace with the escalating impact of new inventions. One of the most striking examples of this is a chemical reaction vital to life as we know it — the Haber-Bosch process.
Invented in 1908 by German chemist Fritz Haber and scaled up by German engineer Carl Bosch, this process was the first practical method for industrially synthesizing ammonia, a nitrogen-containing compound used in the production of fertilizers. In nature, the nitrogen that composes 78 percent of air can only be converted to a usable form by bacteria in the soil and lightning. Lack of available nitrogen is one factor that can limit plant growth, especially in the context of agriculture.
The Haber-Bosch process changed this overnight, making possible the production of nitrogenous fertilizers on a massive scale (176 million metric tons in 2013). This has contributed to the increase in agricultural productivity and subsequent population growth known as the “Green Revolution.” It has been estimated that the Haber-Bosch process indirectly supports around 40 percent of the world’s current population.
Now for the downside: Ammonia made from the Haber-Bosch process is essential for the mass production of high explosives and has been used to gruesome effect in the wars of the last century. The same technology that helped feed billions of people has enabled their slaughter on a previously unimaginable scale.
So what relevance could this admittedly melodramatic tale have to those among us who are not German industrial chemists? Every day, we are faced with decisions about how to best use technology. Social media can nurture relationships or breed envy; smartphones can foster or inhibit communication. A camera can detract from a moment or immortalize it, and a video-game console can provide hours of heart-pounding excitement or soul-destroying monotony.
To be sure, I am no Luddite. I do not yearn for a return to “simpler times” as envisioned through the rose-colored glasses of history. The progression of technology is as inevitable as it is exciting (pizza by drone, anyone?) and has the possibility to change the world for the better. A humble plea from your friendly local science columnist: This holiday season, take stock of what is important, and use technology to enhance rather than detract from it.
