Tech: Bandwagon on back-lash?
New technologies which are cheaper, faster and better have emerged in recent times, giving many the confidence of a brighter future.
The comfort, speed and innovative solutions these new technologies offer make them indispensable.
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Electronic “E” and “smart” are prefixes to almost all activities in recent times, portraying technology’s play in human life.
Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, robotics, biotechnology, nanotechnology and G5 are examples of these modern technologies that are changing our world in remarkable ways.
The expanding scope of technology will definitely bring about certain anxieties, looking at the overwhelming change that they unleash.
Most of these anxieties are centred on smart-phones and social media.
The thinking that technology might be doing more harm than good is not new.
Trap
For any given technology, its drawback is what attracts attention first.
However, more focus on these drawbacks means denying humanity access to the long-term benefits these technologies offer.
Technology unleashes the forces of creative destruction, so it is only natural that it leads to such anxieties.
On the other hand, the effort to avoid the short-term cost associated with new technologies can place humanity in what Carl Benedict, an Oxford academic, termed the “technology trap,” a situation where people become hesitant to apply technology as they emerge.
Choice
The challenge now is how to deal with the cost that technology use imposes on us.
The back-lash is even a necessary step which can help in framing how society comes to terms with innovations and imposes policies and regulations that limit their destructive potential, accommodate change or strike a trade-off (for example, between the convenience of ride-hailing and the protection of gig workers).
Individuals, countries and the entire global society have a choice to make with regard to the use of emerging technologies in this modern generation. What would be your choice in this regard?
Director of Programmes, Institute of Current Affairs and Diplomacy, E-mail: [email protected]