With each and every new or modern technology, there are typically those who, perhaps through either a lack of understanding of that technology or even an antipathy for it openly oppose its establishment and advancement.

This is something we here at Lintbox have encountered before. There are plenty of opponents to new technologies who argue that things such as microwave-emitting cell phone towers cause horrible diseases such as leukemia, autism and birth defects. We learned from our adventures exploring Bill C-51 that there are people who believe pharmaceuticals cause harm rather than treat it. In both examples, the hysteria surrounding these technologies had eventually mutated into incoherent conspiracy theories, arguing that the government establishes cell-phone towers and poisons us with pharmaceuticals to control the population.

This story may not have reached that point yet, however it is still based on hysteria, bad science, and an antipathy (or at the very least, an ambivalence) toward new technology.

Excerpt:

A group in Santa Fe says the city is discriminating against them because they say that they’re allergic to the wireless Internet signal. And now they want Wi-Fi banned from public buildings.

Arthur Firstenberg says he is highly sensitive to certain types of electric fields, including wireless Internet and cell phones.

“I get chest pain and it doesn’t go away right away,” he said.

There are many possible explanations for this phenomenon– hypochondria, a form of confirmation-bias, is the most likely. The most unlikely explanation would be an until-now undocumented allergy to radio wave emissions. The claim is virtually the same as that surrounding cell phone towers: Radio waves harm our bodies.

The prevalence of the 2.4GHz radio band has increased dramatically within the past decade. Commonly-found household appliances such as the microwave, the cordless phone, Bluetooth electronics, cellphones and WLAN routers all use this band in their operation. In short, it’s everywhere. Were Mr. Firstenberg suffering from anything other than the power of suggestion, he would be experiencing chest pain 24/7, as radio waves on the 2.4GHz bandwidth bombard us virtually everywhere, all the time, whether he’s aware of it or not.

Therefore, the claim that his chest pains were caused by the presence of a WiFi signal is quite a clear example of the post-hoc ergo propter hoc logical fallacy (A WiFi signal was present, then I got chest pains, therefore WiFi signals cause chest pain). Should we then abolish such an incredibly useful technology as WiFi based on virtually no reliable evidence? City Councilor Ron Trujillo summed up the answer quite succinctly:

But City Councilor Ron Trujillo says the areas are already saturated with wireless Internet.

“It’s not 1692, it’s 2008. Santa Fe needs to embrace this technology, it’s not going away,” Trujillo said.

Link.