Over-reliance on technology will come back to bite you later - that's a common warning in popular literature (Think Jurassic Park), and there is good reason for it. It happens all the time. And yet, our lives have become very dependent upon technology, again with good reason. A well-designed system operated and maintained by qualified personnel is a verifiable benefit to society.

The problems arise when those in charge of such systems seek to reduce their overhead by eliminating those who know the system best. Sometimes, there is another, more sinister reason to cut down on those in the know.

An easy acceptance of technology's reliability clouds the minds of those not directly involved in its operation and maintenance. They don't understand the requirements and limitations of the Next Best Thing to come off some manufacturer's Asian assembly line. I know of what I speak, for I work with technology in the real world, and I encounter this condition all the time.

There are many examples available to illustrate this scenario, and I'll pick just a few.

A new type of X-ray device which scans the body is being installed at airports all over the country. Some experts downplay the danger of using X-rays in this manner, and yet others ask: why add to the existing risk when there are other technologies available?

Align me with the latter group. Economics alone will eventually cause someone - many someones - injury, especially when the costs of maintaining the calibration of such a system become evident. At some point, the lack of maintenance could cause radiation burns due to over-exposure or a shielding failure. It would then be much cheaper for the maintenance management to pass along to the corporate headquarters the costs of defending against tort litigation than it would be to spend far less money from one's own department budget to properly maintain the equipment. Besides, it could eat up what little money is available for the annual bonus for the department executives. I have seen this happen in my own real-world job, so I know it goes on.

But there are other dangers such a system presents. Check out the photos on the linked page. Despite the so-called security checks that the operators of such a system may put in place, technology always has a way of overcoming such barriers. It will only be a matter of time before someone puts up a website with some of the more salacious views of passengers' physical attributes.

But the bottom line is that such a system is an old sow with some new tech lipstick applied to it. The existing X-ray system was installed in the 1950s, and its limitations are shared with the new. It can't detect the signature odors of explosives, so a "sniffer" system was added on which sampled the air as a passenger went through its detection array. But don't start feeling too secure with this next Richard Reed, for the system broke down too often to be of any real value.