Is man becoming the machine or is machine becoming man?

Today many people ask, "is technology a boon or bane to our lives?"

Recently, while driving through a crowded road of Delhi, our driver Rajbir saved one absent minded lady’s life by screwing to a stop a few feet away from her almost toppling me out of my seat. One woman emerged from staring into her smart phone, her attention to some unknown destination. I thanked Rajbir for his quick reaction, and also felt sad for  that lady’s addiction, which could have been the cause of her death and endless complications for my driver and me.

These days it is common to see students in class rooms with smart phones on, disengaged from their teacher, fellow students and the study material. In meetings, social gatherings, or while crossing the road, this level of not being where you are is a threat to consciousness. Apart from impoliteness of such behaviour, they become the victim of many calamities, the least of which is chronic depression and anxiety, which is now well proven. This is a form of living death where you are not in your body or your space but 'elsewhere'. 

No doubt, the internet helps us in many ways as well. It can  instantly supply vast amounts of information, or data, or can connect researchers across the globe to allow them to work collaboratively in real time. It can speed up learning or even fund-raising after natural disasters. It has of course, made people more politically aware even if much of it is disinformation. It also can create new types of jobs -  one can now be famous over night on Instagram, though that fame can be as hollow as being rich in a monopoly game.

 Intelligent machines have taken industrialization to a new level. I read an interesting quote, “one machine can do work of fifty ordinary men, but no machine can do work of an extraordinary man.”That extraordinary power of the human being  is the abilities to think deeply in the human context, learn and grow in life, to have a richer experience of it, not just ben more productive. The purpose of human life is not to produce more things more efficiently, it is to evolve as a conscious being. By expanding the imagination, with unconditional love and compassion  to all life , humans are capable of create a beautiful world - within and without. We must be aware that unmindful usage of technology has the power to crush humanity in its wheels of progress. It can cause anxiety, sleep disorder, lack of concentration, poor academic performance etc. Also society has been sickened by the increase in sex crimes, violence, and cyber bullying that affect children and adults alike. Extended screen time can cause many health hazards. It robs our precious time , energy and disrupts our relations with others. Einstein righty said, “I fear the day, when the technology overlaps with our humanity, and the world will  only have a generation of idiots . “

 So the time has come to think deeply about how to make boundaries. To define technological use not with what technology can do but what we want it to do. Children who grow up with pets, play and take care of them, grow as better human beings,  with love , compassion and understanding in life. A robot dog will most likely not have the same effect. 

Long back , Lord Buddha recommended the 'Middle path' as the golden mean of life. It says, neither by indulgence nor by denial, and only by following the middle path, life can be meaningful and peaceful for all. Today to follow the golden path, we all need to apply wisdom and will to life and automation. 

Technology is a choice, not an imperative.  Our relationship with it will define whether we benefit from it to become greater beings that we are or to become lesser beings than we were.