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Upping the Ante
North Miami Beach, Florida 9-22-2000 Aaron H. Schectman
THINKING ALLOWED
Essays on issues, ideas and reflections on the times. Published now and
then. Opinions pro or con are welcome.
UPPING THE ANTE
What are the chances of your being seriously injured if you step out into
traffic at 4:00 a.m. on a bright moonlit night? Would you up the ante - the
betting on success - if you chose noon in New York City to cross an
intersection against a traffic light? You must agree that it would be
stupid to do the last. Yet, why do we increasingly add to the odds against
us with no one seeming to care about what is apparently taking place every
day?
No one remembers the science-fiction story about an old curmudgeon who
walked about the streets in lead lined garments. His helmet, protecting his
brain, was very heavy having more protection than his extremities. This old
guy was worried about the invisible radio transmissions, short waves and
frequency modulations as well as the new television just appearing on the
scene when this story was written. Just ignore sun and moon shine.
Skip up to today. There is a new craze out in Japan about handheld devices
that allow people to chat at distances and exchange messages on tiny screens
by pressing their thumbs on tiny keys. We have two mobile "cell" phones.
We also have wireless telephones that go over telephone lines. Last night,
visitors trying to find our home called from the wrong address and down in
the parking lot on their cell phones. I carried a wireless telephone from
its cradle, went outside and directed them to our home - they calling from
distances and I standing outside my door. All of this is wireless
technology. Invisible rays connected us.
We own "infrared" remote controls for each of the three televisions in our
house. We have a microwave oven. I could have chosen a "wand" to remotely
operate the electronics in my hearing aids. Besides x-rays, what kind of
emissions are shot out to us from the monitors of computers and the
television screens we raptly adore?
What this adds up to, and only in the instance of two people, is a vast
number of invisible rays passing back and forth and ultimately going through
our bodies. What the old guy in the story at the beginning of this was
afraid of about a half century ago is giga-multiplied today.
Should you be concerned about this? Carol's Evaluation: 10 out of 10.
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