by Brett Stevens on January 10, 2019

As we speak, 5G technology is rolling out across the globe, but industry seems a wee bit touchy about criticism of it. Longtime and often-prescient technology columnist John C. Dvorak was fired for a column about 5G which in all analysis was fairly mild.

Consider the content of the column which seems more questioning than critical:

If you read the barrage of scary literature about 5G mobile phone technology, specifically the use of millimeter wave frequencies to transmit data, you must conclude that it is a bad bet. I’m not saying this because the technology does not work. It’s a bad bet because so little is known about the effects of millimeter waves (30GHz-300GHz). While these frequencies only permeate a small fraction of the human epidermis (the skin), the effect on the cornea, in particular, needs serious research. Because the industry is too cheap to study the health effects of the technology itself, it lets this sort of product out the door despite the fact that it has already been weaponized by the military. These frequencies are so poor at travelling long distances, they need a transmitter on nearly every telephone pole and light pole to make 5G work. One of the ways the industry has made this all work in the past is by quick implementation followed by a “Hey look it works! Nobody was killed” approach. That cannot happen with true 5G, which needs all these mini-towers all over the place. That leaves plenty more time for the public to get a clue and be freaked out.

He concludes with the thought that the marketplace will react badly to 5G based on all of the spin against it, and points out that by keeping criticism demonized while not providing any studies into its safety, industry is giving 5G a bad start in life.

Despite that, the column was promptly replaced and Dvorak fired. For one who does not go in for conspiracy thinking, it makes me wonder how much the industry perceives itself to be at risk to defend this product in such an aggressive way.

Tags: 5G, john c. dvorak, Nerdcore

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