What are you looking for? The latest LCD or the latest palmtop available in the market? Bikes have always been the bad boys’ favourite toy! So which are you going for? The one that can jump from 0 to 90 km/hr in seconds? And what about your latest mobile? Does it have a 4.5 mega-pixel camera with other features like MP3 player, built in recording system that can record any conversation and FM music? Yes! Does it have a palmtop with proper Internet facilities? What would you prefer, 2G or 3G? Not the scams, silly!
Technology today has truly come of age. We have some rare advantages in our life which would have been unimaginable even three decades ago. If we go back just a hundred years, we shall be shocked to see the mammoth changes that our world has undergone. A hundred years ago you did not have planes, superfast trains that travelled underground, trains literally flying with the help of the principle of magnetism, cars and bikes as we know them today, telephones as we know them today, or computers.
Our forefathers of the early twentieth century had no idea about electronic watches, pressure cookers, microwaves, cooking ranges, washing machines and so on. Robotics, space research, nuclear power and scientific exploitation of solar energy were as yet unknown. The examples given just prove the extent to which modern technology has changed our lives. We cannot imagine life without the aid of modern technology today. A kitchen without the microwave in urban India is rare and so is a working man without a mobile.
image source: photo.elsoar.com
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But unmixed blessings in life are rare, if not impossible. The technological revolution in the automobile sector came with its share of environmental hazards. The factories that mushroomed across the world throughout the twentieth century encouraged employment and ‘progress’ of science and technology but they also caused irreparable damage to the environment by dumping toxic wastes into water bodies. Technological progress became synonymous with rapid urbanisation and hence, deforestation.
Global warming was to follow soon. If the polar bear is getting tired of swimming and then drowning today because all the snow in the world is melting, one has to blame the irresponsible regress towards doom that has masqueraded as ‘progress’ in the last 100 years. Nobody can contradict the benefits of technological progress. Rampant destruction of natural resources is, however, too heavy a price to pay.
We talk about advancement in the medical world. Man is trying to play God with the advancement in gene research. Human clones are not too distant a phenomenon! What about the moral implications of such an experiment? Mobiles are necessary. Cheap call rates have made us addicted to it.
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But it has been established quite well that the waves that make the communication possible can cause brain tumour among other things. So shall we perceive this technology a curse or shall we look upon it as a boon? It seems that humanity is desperate to milk technology in terms of instant lucrative results at the cost of irreparable loss in the long run! Instant profit like instant or fast food can be counter-productive.