Demonization of Science, Sanctification of Poverty

One of the marvels of modern society is the general adoption of technologies that only a few decades ago were not only unknown but unthinkable. Advances have come with dizzying rapidity. Innovations in medicine such as knee and hip replacement have become routine and we are at the cusp of personal genomic analysis for medical forecasting. Nowhere is this technology more visible than in information technology. In the last 20 years we have seen the almost universal adoption of the personal computer, the expansion of the Internet, and the universal use of the cell phone. We are seeing the replacement of the library by internet information services such as Google and Wikipedia. Manuscripts for scientific journals are now sent and edited electronically and the entire scientific literature may soon be available online. Some of these technological advances have resulted in the leapfrogging of established technologies in the developing world such as standard telephone lines and hard copy.