The objective of science and technology was to provide us with ease and comfort but unintentionally they have also become destructive agents. This could have been prevented had we used them wisely and not forgotten its nature while enjoying the benefits of science
Science and technology have been great assets for mankind. They have made our lives comfortable. They have proved to be the main tools in our development. This led to our late President to say, but with a caveat, “Science is a beautiful gift to humanity; we should not distort it.” The caveat of not distorting science put up by the noted scientist has been lost sight of by people the world over as they have kept themselves busy enjoying its fruits. The great scientist Einstein expressed his view on the issue by saying, “The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything, save our modes of thinking and we thus drift towards unparalleled catastrophe.” Einstein revolutionized science by giving one of the greatest equations linking mass with energy when he said ‘E=mc2’ (E being energy, m, mass, and c, velocity of light). This equation has resulted in the gift of atomic power to us but it also led to the creation of the dreadful atom and hydrogen bombs by scientists later. Science and technology if used positively take us to greater heights in our development but if used negatively can also completely ruin us.
Let us look at the most commonly used instrument like the mobile phone, created by technology. There is no doubt about its usefulness. Added to it is the feature of the new way of messaging provided by WhatsApp. In a short time, WhatsApp has emerged as the biggest social media platform. India has the largest number of subscribers with WhatsApp. The popularity of WhatsApp is based on its liking by the people. It has changed the habits of subscribers. But there is a negative side to the use of mobile phones and WhatsApp platform, and the same cannot be ignored as they affect us socially, mentally and physically. Life was more simple when Apple and Blackberry were just fruits, and not smart phones.
Earlier social interaction used to be based more on personal meetings. The new technology has put people in isolation. Messaging on WhatsApp has replaced physical interaction. This has resulted in a lack of social skills among new age people and this is affecting the social side of their personality. Due to the lack of physical movement, the physical health of people gets affected. There is a rise in obesity and lifestyle diseases like diabetes and blood pressure. People become lazy as WhatsApp and smart phones serve their purpose. People become addicted to mobile phones at the cost of their mental health and good sleep. The new technology also causes lack of privacy, as these social media companies know about your friends, your movements and your personality traits. Subscriber data is used for commercial advertisement and also sometimes for the political needs of political parties. It is sad to see small children getting hooked to it which spoils their concentration and affects their studies. In recent times it was observed that social media platform WhatsApp was used to spread rumors which resulted in anti-social activities. Incidents of lynching have been linked to these rumors on WhatsApp. These negatives cannot be ignored while enjoying the usefulness of the new technology.
Industries have proved to be a great boon to the society. They produce products for our use and for development. But there are also some negatives which must be curbed while running industries to enjoy their unabated benefits. One prominent side-effect of the industrial process is the rise of pollution. This can be minimized if the manufacturing facilities use the simultaneous process of pollution control. We all know that pollution directly affects the health of the people and causes several diseases. Large scale pollution can cause global warming, green house effect and climate change. We regularly see droughts and floods in areas which were not affected in earlier times and this is all due to climate change of which pollution is the most important trigger. While industrialization has created a developed world, there is an added problem to it. The problem is required to be nipped in the bud, otherwise it will turn into a crisis.
“The entire knowledge of the world is at our finger tips due to internet connectivity, but at the same time we have rising cases of cyber-crime developed by a scientific mind. Recently a bank in Pune was robbed off Rs.96 crore clone debit cards operated from many countries”
For livelihood, people want jobs. Scientific innovations and technology have created new areas where people can be employed and thus they serve the most important purpose of the people. However, simultaneously people started forgetting their own creativity in carving livelihood for themselves. They started becoming dependent on the new activities started by industrialization. In pre-independent India, we had world class artisans. We produced the best quality textiles by hand operated equipment, like for example, muslin of Dhaka. We knitted world class carpets. Our artisans produced high class handicrafts. In short, people were self-employed very gainfully, based on their personal skills. The British killed our self-created economic initiatives by installing industrial houses and today our people are dependent on these industrial houses for jobs. It would have been best if the self-created activities of artisans survived together with the technology based industries. This way, we would have more avenues for jobs and for earning livelihoods.
Further, things are turning from bad to worse as the latest technology supports automation and artificial intelligence and not labour intensive industries and this is reducing jobs. There is bound to be growing frustration and more unemployment for the labour force which is dependent on industries. The objective of new technology may be good, but it may also hurt people.
Today, we are a more developed world and for this credit solely goes to science and technology. We have gadgets for every use. We have motorcars and aero planes for a speedier and more comfortable travel. We are scientifically much more evolved people sending space missions to other planets and now even in the vicinity of the sun. But the fact remains that the happiness quotient of people has reduced when the contrary was expected in the victorious march of science and technology. There are a growing number of cases of psychological problems and even in the number of suicides. There can be many other causes for such unfortunate happenings but we cannot deny that we have gone far away from nature and this may be one of the many causes for our unhappiness. We have to blame ourselves for this but the fact also remains that scientific gadgets have brought a wedge between us and nature. The objective of technology was to provide us comfort but unintentionally it has harmed us. This could have been prevented had we not forgotten its nature while enjoying the benefits of science, and in the process, adopting a bad life style.
Einstein said, “Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not sure about the former.” We are today on the growing peaks of scientific frontiers and for this we must appreciate ourselves, but we must also acknowledge that our stupidity has been eroding the good things of science. Our scientific quest has conquered space but at the time space is also becoming the battle-ground with deadly missiles. There is a lot of good in science but the same is subjugated by the evils, which are also creations of science. We have created an intelligent cyber-space for our benefit. The entire knowledge of the world is at our finger tips due to internet connectivity, but at the same time we have rising cases of cyber-crime developed by a scientific mind and technological inputs. Recently a bank in Pune was robbed by cyber crime when Rs.96 crore was withdrawn by clone debit cards operated from many countries. We are happy with our software network and computers but our precious data is stolen by hacking which is also a technical process.
There is nothing wrong with science and technology. They are the creation of intelligent minds. They can be seen as knowledge. The problem lies within ourselves. We can use scientific knowledge for the good of the people. But the same knowledge is being used for bad things with an evil intention and resultantly the outcome has been bad for the society. There is nothing like good and bad side of science, it is all due to good and bad thinking of the human mind.
by S K Jha
