The Grey Zones of Technology

Source: Google

Technology is advancing at the speed of light. Look at our generation and I am sure most of us have witnessed the era of type writers. The nonstop tac-tac noise of the type writers echoing down the alley of the school block only signaled the nearing of exams. The question papers had to be typed and cyclostyled. Zoom past those days and look at the present day. You will see this generation of palmtops, ipads, smart phones. We can even appear exams online. The 1.4 MB floppies were short lived. Today, people talk and work in Terra Bytes (TB). But, that's not the point I am making here.

There is no doubt that technology is advancing and making our lives easier day by day. Today, the earthlings might boast of sending numerous missions to other planets, building neural networks, growing test-tube babies, making near-human robots, constructing bio-computers and so on, but there is a wide area of blind spot which still remains unsolved. Think of the recent tragedy; the mysterious disappearance of the Malaysian airliner MH370 carrying 239 people onboard. It is almost a week now and there is no clue as to what and how it has happened. Despite all efforts, the sophisticated technology has failed to locate the wreckage. When the satellites could capture a tiny space vehicle (Discovery) at the Mar's Gale Crater, which I suppose is thousands of light years from Earth, this gigantic airliner could not be traced which was flying just 35000 ft above the earth surface. Isn't it an irony? By the way, I have my deepest sentiments to those relatives of the victims who are spending sleepless nights with a glimmer of hope. This, I call the grey zone of technology.

Let's look at another case. The modern day pocket size smartphones can even count your heartbeats, analyze your mood, count your footsteps and do lots more, yet, science has failed to find out cure to those primitive diseases like cancer, hypertensions, hepatitis, schizophrenia, asthma, diabetes, etc. What good is it to boast of other things when these life threatening diseases take away our near and dear ones. At times, I feel that we humans have focused too much on the less important areas but have really forgotten to address the critical issues and concerns of humankind. No matter whether we dwell in the land of cyborgs and hybrids or still live in that primitive neo-neanderthal age, we are still humans and humans are mortals. So, the spear-headers and  cheer leaders of science and technology needs to step back, reflect, plan and take smaller steps instead of frog-leaping.
PS: Readers are apprised not to misunderstand me for an antagonist of science. Science have made wonders in my life. It has brought smiles on my face. Look! the camera has even detected my smile now :)