Technology more likely to save the world than destroy it, say industry experts

A quarter of IT workers believe their industry is more likely to save the world than destroy it, according to a recent YouGov poll.

Commissioned by the online IT job board CWJobs, over 500 IT decision makers within businesses were asked whether IT and Tech is more likely to save or destroy the world.

25% of those polled said IT and technology could save the world. The majority of these (80%) believed its biggest impact would be related to health and medical advancements. Other ways they believed technology could save the world were:

• Helping the environment (74%) (e.g. combating climate change)
• Artificial intelligence (66%) (e.g. robots protecting humans)
• Space (60%), (e.g. exploration, expansion and asteroid detection)
• Evolution (43%) (e.g. technology making us more intelligent)

Although the majority of respondents (57%) thought IT and technology wouldn’t save or destroy the world at all, 13% were more cautious about the impact of technology in the future, believing it could destroy the world.

Top ways the respondents who think IT industries could obliterate the world included:

• Prevention of evolution (74%)
• Military and warfare (66%)
• Artificial intelligence (44%)
• Environment (38%)

Some of the concerns raised were worries of increased laziness due to reliance, privacy worries, mass unemployment due to automation of human jobs and creating ineptitude of social skills in younger generations.
Over a quarter (27%) even believed the Terminator plot and Skynet (which deploys the army of Terminators against us in the first place) could become a reality in the future.

For the full poll results, including other questions and details, see here.