What a strange Luddite attitude was expressed by Graham Chainey (Letters, May 9).

Firstly, saying "everything better is purchased at the price of something else"

appears to ignore thousands of years of achievements and improvement in life.

We have better health care, advanced knowledge of the universe, increased life spans, lower infant mortality etc - or would Mr Chainey prefer to live in the Dark Ages?

This anti-advancement attitude is so counter-productive and steeped in misinformation.

Secondly, I assume Mr Chainey is not a physics professor - does he understand we are bathed in electromagnetic radiation every day? The sun chucks the stuff out next to which wi-fi is small potatoes. He wonders what it would be like if electromagnetic radiation were made visible - er, look around. What do you think your eyes detect?

What makes skin tan? What heats up pavements in summer?

Thirdly, the alleged electromagnetic hypersensitivity has never even been shown to exist as described in the first place so claims that "up to three per cent of the population" may suffer from it are misleading at best.

Maybe it isn't advancement that worries people as much as a perceived move further away from the concept of a fantasy agrarian ideal that never existed in the first place.

We have many battles to fight against pollution, disease resistance, poverty etc. But let's not pretend any of us would want to live in a world before improved living conditions.

  • Ashley Simmons, Goldstone Street, Hove