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Man has made tremendous technological
advancements. From humble beginnings last century with the Industrial
Revolution we have come to the stage where we have invented and built so
many gadgets that our very existence is threatened by them, like the atomic
bomb. We cannot deny that technology has improved the quality of our lives
immeasurable. A journey to anywhere on the globe now takes merely a few
hours by airplane, whereas it may have taken many years to do so on foot. We
communicate with one another with increased ease and efficiency. All it
takes is the pressing on a few buttons and we are able to talk to anyone
almost anywhere in the world. A flick of the television switch give us news,
sports and entertainment in glorious color. Modern methods of cooking do not
leave dirty messes behind. For the even more lazy ones, fast-foods are
always available, some twenty four hours a day. Modern computers have
infiltrated into all aspects of business, governments and even at home. City
traffic is controlled by computers. Airline booking and air-traffic are also
computer-controlled. So it is too with many other things where computers are
virtually indispensable. Computer
breakdown means also the breakdown of whatever system it controls. The
computer has become almost all-powerful. Such is our dependence on it. In
war, our technological expertise has given us super-efficient weapons.
Instead of swords and spears, we now have machine-guns, heat-seeking
missiles, cruise missiles, jet-fighters and other tools of murder and
mayhem. Our ability to kill and destroy is frightening. We have become so
powerful that the possibility of killing ourselves completely is very real
indeed. On one hand technology has made life easier to us. On the other,
technology as created weapons of mass destruction that can
annihilate the whole human population.
We have the means to keep making living better or eliminate it completely.
The choice is up to us. |
