Information Needed for Assignment: Homeostasis refers to the resistance to chang
ID: 236021 • Letter: I
Question
Information Needed for Assignment: Homeostasis refers to the resistance to change (Alcorn, 2003). It is a desire to maintain status quo. There are many reasons for technological homeostasis. One reason is the fear of the unknown. Human beings tend to avoid change to avoid the unknown. A second reason is anxiety and adjustment. Fortunately, humans have a large supply of defense mechanisms to deal with anxiety. One of those is resistance. A third reason is psychophysiological restructuring. Our brain stores knowledge along certain paths. As we age, those paths become more rigid allowing for less restructuring thus less adapting to new concepts or technology. Finally, specialization, breaking up the labor among a large number of people allows each person to become an expert in their part of the labor, spurs a separation of understanding. It creates a separation between those who understand the science and those who don’t understand it (the general public). Paper Prompt: Suppose tomorrow, scientist creates a new unlimited source of energy. This energy uses natural resources with byproducts that are organic and reusable. What resistant factors would be present in society? Explain your stance. Citation: Alcorn, P.A. (2003). Social issues in technology: A format for investigation (4th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Publishing. Criteria: Essay is to be 250 - 500 words.
Explanation / Answer
According to the definition provided in the text, we would want to summarize the resistant factors that would arise for the given situation under homeostasis. In this situation, a scientist creates a new unlimited source of energy which uses natural resources with byproducts that are organic and reusable. The reasons which might come into play within the society to resist this change can be:
The efficiency: The source of energy, although unlimited as stated, may have a lesser efficiency or output as compared to the then available sources of energy.
Use of natural resources: With a scarcity of resources on the planet (except solar and some others) the dependency on the resources may exert additional pressure on the situation. Also, the exactness of the type of resources has not been stated.
Being accustomed: As human beings, one would need time to adjust to this change. People, who still live in the dark ages, would necessarily feel awkward to adapt to such a change.
Ease of access: Being new and one that probably uses a sophisticated technique, the accessibility of such a source may be limited.
Corroborate: As a new invention, this would face severe criticism from many at first. Some of the criticism may prove to be positive, those which may trigger more involvement from the scientific community to address the issue and reform and enhance the source and the techniques involved therein. Newer and more efficient ways could be designed which would strengthen the belief in the community regarding the usability and outcomes of the source of energy.