Technology
The Law Of Diminishing ReturnsLet’s talk about the law of diminishing returns in terms of technology today. Technological advancement is a good thing but at what time the advanced technology stops to be beneficial and in fact starts to be cumbersome? Let’s take the simple example of a lock and a key. Say you live in an apartment building and you have the key to the entrance door like every other tenant. If you lose the keys, you call the janitor, he gets you a new key, you pay for it and life goes on smoothly.
The owner of the building however is very tech-savvy and has noticed that the mean time to stop, find the keys and open the lock is around one minute. He decides to reduce or downright eliminate this one minute by introducing a keyless entry system to the apartment building. The conventional lock is taken away and is replaced by an optical reader. Every tenant is given a badge with a chip and as soon as the badge comes near the chip the door opens automatically. You don’t even have to take the badge out of your pocket or purse, if you have it on your person, the door opens for you. Indeed technology has reduced the time taken to enter the building by introducing efficiency in the system.
Technology Is Fragile
Now one day you drop your set of keys including the badge on the pavement. When you arrive at the entrance of your apartment building the door does not open. You take the badge out and touch it to the reader but the door still does not open. It appears that when you dropped the badge, you damaged it. It would not have happened with an ordinary key. You can drop a key hundreds of time on concrete pavements, it would still open the door but this badge, while facilitating entry in the building, introduces a new set of problems.
Technology Needs Energy
Let’s analyse another scenario. You come back from work and there is no electricity in the building due to load-shedding. The reader does not work and you can not enter the building. This problem would not have arrived with a traditional lock and key. The traditional locks and keys do not need energy to be in a working condition, they work day and night regardless of the energy crisis.
Technology Is Hackable
Your new fancy keyless entry to your automobile brings another new problem to the table in addition to the two problems mentioned above. The computer can be hacked now without even touching the car. Let’s look into the details of it but a sidenote before the explanations. The Guardian reports that alone in the UK, 6000 cars were stolen last year because hackers started them without even entering them by taking control of the car computer remotely.
Fiat–Chrysler In A Massive Recall Scandal
Let’s see how this hacking thing works in conjunction with the key less entry. The car has a reader which keeps on trying to read the signal sent out by your keys. If there is a match then the door opens and you are able to start. Now imagine if you are able to send the same signal by some other means then you do not even need to touch the car in order to open it. As soon as the reader reads the signal, it automatically opens the doors. Furthermore the reader is integrated with the computer inside the car and once the reader is compromised the hacker can easily access the computer and control the car.
Chrysler Handing Out USBs To Car Owners
In fact the problem became so blown up that Chrysler decided to send out software upgrades to its customers in order to protect them from software exploitation. Still the lawmakers were not satisfied and as of now Chrysler has decided to recall thousands of vehicles for fear of them being hacked remotely.
Models In Latest Fiat Chrysler Recall
According to CBSNEWS: following models are included in the latest Fiat Chrysler recall:
1993-1998; 2002-2004; 2005-2007; 2008; 2011-2014; 2015 model years Jeep Grand Cherokee
2011-2014 model years Dodge Durango
2004-2008, 2009-2012 model years Dodge Ram 1500
2005-2007; 2003-2014 model years Dodge Ram 2500
2006-2007; 2003-2014 Dodge Ram 3500, 2010-2014 Ram 4500, and 5500 trucks
2008-2012 model years Dodge Ram 5500; 2014-2015 model years Ram 5500
2007; 2009 model year Chrysler Aspen
2004-2007; 2009; 2012-2013 model year Dodge Durango
2005-2007; 2009-2011 model years Dodge Dakota
2002-2007 model years Jeep Liberty
2008-2012 model years Dodge Ram 4500; 2014-2015 model years Ram 4500
2008-2010 model years Chrysler Town and Country
2008-2010 model years Dodge Grand Caravan
2009-2010 model years Dodge Journey
2006-2007; 2008 model years Jeep Commander
2005-2007; 2008 model year Dodge Magnum
2015 model year Chrysler 200
2005-2007; 2008; 2011-2014 model years Chrysler 300
2005-2007 model years Chrysler 300C
2011-2014; 2015 model years Dodge Challenger
2005-2007; 2008; 2011-2014; 2015 model years Dodge Charger
2006; 2007 model year Mitsubishi Raider
2005-2007 model years Chrysler SRT8
2003-2004; 2013-2014 model years Dodge Viper