HAVE W E BECOM E SLAVES

OF TECHNOLOGY ?
"We live in a society exquisitely dependent the highest order and was highly
on science and technology, in which hardly regarded as one of the most
anyone knows anything about science and prominent explorers of visual
technology", said Carl Sagan, an American communication and sight-related
astronomer, astrophysicist; cosmologist, author theories as well.
and highly successful science populariser "It has become appallingly obvious that our
and science communicator in the Space and technology has exceeded our humanity", said
Natural Sciences. During his lifetime, he Albert Einstein, often regarded as the father of
published more than 600 scientific papers and modern physics whose great intelligence and
popular articles and was author, co-author, or originality have made the word "Einstein"
editor of more than 20 books. Unfortunately, synonymous with genius. A witty man too, who
what he said has a smattering of truth in it. How had a penchant for delivering gems like the
many of us can claim to have a deep one mentioned above. Well, Einstein's
understanding of the workings of a remarks were made with the dark
television? Even graduates from Mr. Pratheek Youth Contest
Praveen 2011
Pratheek Praveen Kumar Kumar
(2) : Topic
is a resident
2 shadow of nuclear weapons in mind, but
professional colleges sometimes do of Bengaluru, Karnataka.
First prize winner of CSRHe B.E. in the same holds true even now.
is aBrain
Super With
not understand the nuanced workings Telecommunications and uses a very lucid technology expanding now at a
of the gadgets we use in our lives with language to express his ideas. He chooses surprising pace, there is no telling
regularity. Even technical subjects his words very carefully and succeeds in what may be discovered now, or more
harped upon by the media, and thus establishing a rapport with his readers at importantly, how it will be used. Nuclear
brought to the attention of hoi polloi once power is both destructive and useful.
in long drawn-out debates and Several apocalyptic yarns have been
discussions by news channels, like the woven over the years of scientists'
3G standards are not well-known to developing technologies that can be
the public. In this milieu of universal ignorance, we are cataclysmic to the world at large. The basis of all these
practically blind. "Omne ignotum pro magnifico", is an stories deals with mankind's lust for power and
old proverb which means everything unknown is individuals trying to control the world for their own ends
magnificent. We seem to be following it faithfully, and with the hero trying to stop the villain. While this may
are so much in awe of this rumbling colossus .called sound too frivolous to happen in the real world, one can
technology that we stare at it, impressed and open- mouthed, never say.
ignoring the fact that this ignorance may get us trampled With, life now becoming synonymous with computers,
down. mobile phones, ipods and other gadgets, we seem to
With ignorance so common, we seem to be at the mercy consider their presence as ordinary and their absence as
of technology and not the other way round. For how can something unnatural. "I am sorry to say that there is too
one be the master of something one does not know much point to the wisecrack that life is extinct on other
anything about. With technological advances taking place at planets because their scientists were more advanced than
a breakneck pace, it looks like the "aam admi" cannot ours", said John E Kennedy, the 35th President of the
keep up. However, one facet of this technological U.S.A. Kennedy's youth, energy, and charming family
development to be noted is .that the development seems to brought him world adulation and sparked the idealism of a
be accelerating. generation, for whom the Kennedy White House became
If we lie back and relax for some time and watch, or known as "Camelot". A charismatic personality that he
rather observe the world around us, we get to notice a few was, his life was tragically cut short before his time, by
things. With technology moving ahead by leaps and bounds, Lee Harvey Oswald. Supposedly, anyway. Murky rumours
we try to take advantage of these advances. We buy various still abound as to his murderer or murderers, but well,
gadgets arid try to incorporate technology into our lives that is beside the point. He was also known as a brilliant
so that our lives become simpler. We become used to orator and had a way with words. Technology can be very
having things easy and with time, we lead lives utterly dangerous too 'as can be evinced from Hiroshima and
dependent on advanced technology. Whien new technology is Nagasaki. Recent efforts to decrease the number of
developed, we try to introduce it into our lives and make nuclear warheads notwithstanding, we still hold our own
it easier. "Technological progress has merely provided us with destruction in our hands, but the question is how long?
more efficient means for going backwards", said Aldous With rogue elements and terrorist groups hankering after
Huxley, an English writer and one of the most prominent weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), logically it looks
members of the famous Huxley family. By the end of his like it is only a matter of time before they get a WMD.
life, Huxley was considered, in some academic circles, a There is a theorem called as the infinite monkey theorem. It
leader of modern thought and an intellectual of states that if a million monkeys are given typewriters
(Continued on page 154)
 S U P E R B R A IN Y O U T H C O N T E S T 2 0 1 1
(Continued from page 46)
and set to work, they would eventually come up with the
complete works of Shakespeare. This frolicsome theory
basically shows the power of large numbers. It we factor in
a large amount of time, who knows what terrorists will be
able to do, or get hold of, taking in human error also into
account? Pretty much, as one can imagine. So here we
are at the mercy of terrorists, where we cannot destroy
them completely as they are mutable and fluid in their
approach, but they can deal out heavy damage to the
world at large. Here technology is dangerous to both the
sides.
"All of the biggest technological inventions created by
man—the airplane, the automobile, the computer—says
little about his intelligence, but speaks volumes about his
laziness", said Mark Kennedy, an American businessman
and politician who was a Republican member of the United
States House of Representatives from 2001 to 2007.
Technology as the above-mentioned statement implies has
made us a lazier and lazier. With technological advances
making our life easier, we tend to take life easy, depending
almost entirely on these devices and we feel lost, if these
devices are taken away from close propinquity. Life seems
impossible sans these devices. We are heavily
inconvenienced, if there are power shutdowns and we feel
helpless. Technology, these days, directs our actions and
our decisions and sometimes, we do things based only on
technology. This has become especially prevalent over the
last few years. Reading the last few lines, if we replace the
word 'technology' with 'master', doesn't it read Like the
words of a slave?
It will not be prudent, however, to say that we have
become slaves of technology. After all, it is man who has
created all the things, which collectively account for
technology, for his own comfort and to make his life worth
living. Even if technology looks like master sometimes, it is,
in fact, a puppet in the hands of man who is actually its
master. If man had not been its master, technological
advances would not have continued with each passing day.
Every year, man succeeds in achieving some new milestones
and moves a step further in the direction of perfection. It
will be cynical to call technology something having a unique
identity of its own. We have brought it into being; we have
nurtured it, we have given it a shape. It is up to us whether
we use it for the common good or destruction of our own
race. In fact, we should be a bit serious while discussing it.
Nuclear energy, for instance, can be a good source of power
we need for development and we can cut our carbon
emission to a great extent, but it will bode ill for humanity, if
we do not put an end to our lust for global political power
by engaging in the nuclear arms race. Humanity looks
forward to even newer technological developments, no
doubt, but shudders at the thought of another Nagasaki or
Hiroshima. Aldous Huxley did not dislike science or
technology, nor did Albert Einstein. Actually, what they
tried to bring home to us was the idea that technology
should not be used for destructive purposes. They wanted us
to remain human not unscrupulous in our approach to
science or technology. We had been, we are and we will be
the master of technology, never a slave of technology. It is
all a matter of perception. If we think that we are slaves
of technology, we become. Similarly, if we think that we
are its master, it is bound to be at our beck and call. We
can use it as we will, according to our need.