第47回 全国大会結果

高校の部 2位
シーマンズ ひまり(獨協埼玉高等学校)

The Wise Consumer

 When I was 13 years old I fell in love with a sweater and bought it immediately. But when I put it on at home I realized that it made me look like a weight loss success story for Totoro. Just last month I had to have the latest mechanical pencil. But after only 30 minutes of using it my hand started to feel numb. I've had my fair share of buyer's remorse; thinking only of the good that might come from buying something or not considering the cons. To me this sounds similar to the relationship we have with technology. Let's look at 2 dissimilar examples from 2 different times.
 Before 1793, processing cotton was a time-consuming task. First it had to be harvested by hand and then the cotton fibers had to be separated from the seeds. But in that year, the cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney, an American inventor. The cotton gin could separate cotton fiber from seed quickly and easily. As a result, the production of cotton soared giving rise to great fortunes in the American south. As with many technological advancements, the cotton gin's effect sent ripples across the economic landscape. The increased production of cotton led to the demand for more efficient machinery for the production of textiles, which in turn led to the invention of many machine tools. Overall cotton production increased by more than 35,000 % in the twenty years between 1830 and 1850. The plantation owners could earn greater profits and consumers benefited from the wide availability of textiles in countless ways.
 But there was also growth of another kind. During the 60 years between 1790 and 1850 the number of slaves grew by nearly 50,000%. Slaves were forced to keep up with the cotton gin and the expansion of slavery eventually led to the civil war during which 1.26 million Americans died over four years in the 1860s.
 So were the benefits of the cotton gin worth the countless lives lost? Or was it so essential to the industrial revolution that we can accept the darker consequences? Was this another case of buyer's remorse or a good investment?
 Our second example comes from the future. Have you ever heard of CRISPR? CRISPR is a technology capable of changing the DNA inside a living cell. Scientists have found that the system of CRISPR is programmable. All you need to do is give CRISPR a copy of new DNA and the information contained within your DNA will change. A lot of people are showing interest in this technology. But let's be smart consumers.
 What are the cons? Scientists still don't understand the human genome well enough to target DNA with certainty. The system itself is not always accurate. Even if it does work, the long term effects are still uncertain. That's especially worrying because the edited DNA will be passed onto future generations. Most frighteningly, it could be weaponized. Maybe this is one of those things we should cross off our shopping list.
 But let's not walk away too quickly, we haven't looked through the Pros. We can cure genetic diseases such as Cystic Fibrosis. It will be possible to eliminate some forms of cancer. Until now treating these patients was expensive and in many cases ineffective. CRISPR on the other hand is low cost, requires less time and is highly effective.
 So what's it going to be? Is this a purchase worth the price? Wouldn't it be a mistake to pass up the opportunity to help those who have no choice but to suffer?
 We have the responsibility to choose the technologies that we can benefit from and avoid regret. It is us that decides how technology affects our lives, not technology itself. We live in a time booming with new technologies, but are we prepared as consumers to make the right decisions? We shouldn't be worried about how quickly technology develops as much as how we use those technologies. The shelves are always full with new choices waiting for us to grab. The hidden costs may be hard to see but that can't keep us from reaching out to technologies.