Are we controlling technology, or is technology controlling us? There’s a universal appeal for discovering how and why things work, how to make our lives easier, faster and thus how to make money through them. The more technologically advanced we become, the more we run the risk of isolating ourselves.

Why leave the house if work, purchasing household necessities, food, communications, transactions — and sex — can all be done at the keyboard? There’s no need for face-to-face contact or personal interaction. And when meeting eyeball-to-eyeball diminishes, socialization suffers. We lose the ability to develop and maintain healthy relationships.

We have allowed technology to pervert sexuality and used it as an excuse to avoid honesty, respect and accountability. We have allowed technology to transform a beautiful thing into a circus act.

The exploitation began with the development of online dating. One of the appeals of this is the anonymity. Participants can create a whole new persona, and thus the illusion of a genuine relationship. Next came “cybersex,” and because it didn’t require any face-to-face contact or touching, men and women could justify online affairs.

Now, we can simply “wire” ourselves for sex.

Such was the metaphor used to name a television documentary called “techtv” that reported the increasingly extensive use of Web cams. The capability of seeing the person you are interacting with via the Internet seems like it would be helpful for education or business purposes, or talking to a loved one from long distance. The first image, a coffeepot, was produced in 1991.

Unfortunately, the adult entertainment industry has taken Web cams to a whole new level.

Some women are making serious cash by creating Web sites that any interested party can log into to view a striptease, or whatever happens to be the viewers’ pleasure for a small monthly fee.

Women never have to leave the “privacy” of their home because cameras can be rigged anywhere. They make a fortune without leaving the house. It’s considered safe sex because there is no physical contact. Welcome to high-tech prostitution of the 21st century.

With rapid technological development comes the additional burden of deciding how to use it. Just because we’ve developed so many capabilities doesn’t necessarily mean we need to use it. Sometimes technology creates just as many problems as it seems to solve. This is especially relevant in the practice of medicine.

A pregnant mom undergoes an amniocentesis to determine if there are any genetic abnormalities.

If the test confirms a congenital birth defect, Mom could choose to abort the baby. Although it’s done only in extreme cases where abnormalities are suspected, for some women, this would be a moral dilemma. Should they abort the baby just because a man-made test suggests something terrible? Before this technology was developed, mom wouldn’t have to be placed in this position.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Why are we on a frantic pursuit to cure every ill, achieve new capabilities and understand every mystery in the universe? In this culture, the more we know, the greater the monetary rewards. It’s an endless race with no finish line. With every medical breakthrough, another life-threatening bug comes out of nowhere.

We have created many monsters that are wreaking silent havoc like viruses in a computer. An innovation developed for one legitimate purpose becomes altered to serve another purpose. First it was radio, then television, and now the Internet — probably the three innovations that have completely changed the world.

The dilemma now becomes the way in which we decide to use the Internet. Do we continue using the Internet to infiltrate pornography, steal musicians’ copyrighted music or as a place to publish directions on how to make bombs, dope or solicit illegal sex? Why not? There’s nothing to stop us, least of all a guilty conscious. The government doesn’t make restrictions.

Are we controlling our technology, or are we allowing technology to control us?