COMFORTS AND RISKS COME TOGETHER

Every technology-driven comfort comes with an equal risk. It is time to think whether we should resort to anything easy where our safety is also at stake. Unfortunately, we keep our brains dormant and depend on a machine someone we do not know controls from an unknown location. 

Engineering and technology have been the biggest change agents in the human living ecosystem. They have induced new desires and expectations and led to the transformation of the human world for both good and bad equally. They have changed the shape of our planet since the invention of the stone tools. The human world changed rather slowly when there was no mechanism to connect humans from one end of the world to the other end. Quantum mechanics in the early 20th century, techniques to manipulate memory that led to the discovery of memory devices driving computers in the middle of the 20th century and the internet three decades after. Soon, in 1954, the world saw the first robot getting shaped. The technology world was in a hurry to establish itself with the contributions of logicians, cryptologists, and mathematicians. The world has changed the world at a speed at which computing machines process big data. The velocity of the change has been unimaginable – or rather dangerous speed.

When an atomic bomb or missile can attack and kill people in part of a city or a specific hostile segment, the technology can kill everyone at once, like mass honey poisoning. Many people say if one is not living life properly as a human, it is better to die. The same applies to every human in the age of technology, as it kills the talent nature has rendered. The changes we have seen and are gradually adopting have the potential to displace organic human features from the inside by making them completely dependent on technology. The technology that humans adopt runs under external control. It truly kills a person. Unfortunately, no one is aware of this grave situation. Even if one is aware we have come a long way, too long to resist adopting it.

First, we have seen technology evolving in our lives. Slowly it created space for AI to drive us as we have invented new requirements. While AI becomes necessary for us, it plays a killer role by masking its face as an amazing saver. We let our thinking capacity die. We have kept our natural thinking capacity dormant. At the same time, we always think about what we do not want for a peaceful life. That was to harm ourselves even more.

The human world has harnessed the potential of technology to ensure the end of the human species. It has become an untreatable addiction. Earlier, we used to think by taking our time. We typed a letter after enough homework and thinking. Today, we are simply asking Google and chatbots to do it for us without spending time on paper. Before investing money in the stock market, we search Google sources, take its advice, and invest our hard-earned wealth in securities Google recommends. We are unaware of scams hiding on Google. Scammers also use the same platform – brilliantly using manipulative chances. Companies aiming to draw public investments and investors willing to exit from their securities holding also use the same platform. In this case, whom should Google stand? It stands for itself to promote its commercial interest of generating profit and enhancing value. It is its business. The same applies to every business. Google or AI is not a saint with a spiritual mission. It is a saint with a commercial mission.

Today, we are overly dependent on technology for everything, disposing of conventional methods. Technology charts the course of flights. Information technology controls flying systems. A hacker can take control of the system to bring everything to a standstill. Last month India witnessed a series of delays and cancellations of many flights due to a system error. Recently, Iran paid a huge price for the same, as the smarter Israelis hacked their entire system and stole even military secrets. Israelis broke the complete Iranian government systems. Iran’s awareness about the hacking made it resist a war with Israel. Israel could send this masterstroke as the architect and shipper of such technology to the world. Therefore, it can easily make its enemies its slave. Israel is a smart technology player.

Our complete banking and financial systems are now under internet-driven banking and AI-controlled. Banks offer ever-improving customer comfort for financial transactions. Yet, there is always a risk when a platform has an entry point for someone uninvited. Comforts come at the cost of safety. Technology maintains an inherent risk with hackers having their stakes in it. When banks make systems for an easy way for customers to avoid lining up and save their time, customers are attracted to it. At the same time, they can do everything on mobile in a few seconds, but we forget about our safety.

Every day, there is a lot of news about UPI and bank frauds in which customers lose their hard-earned money. Tech has made life easier but it steals our peace. Why do we need an easy life that holds a bigger risk? When we do things by taking our time and doing them for ourselves, it is a valuable time for us. We land up in new trouble as we try to make life easier. Recently, the Prime Minister himself came into the picture and warned about a new threat called online arrests. Scammers are in a position to threaten and take money. A huge mafia suspiciously works behind such scams. The mafia has technology specialists and support from the architect of the online platform. The PM repeatedly mentioned that no online arrests are possible in India. Unfortunately, highly educated and high-ranking people are falling to be their victims. Technology is a killer for humans and it does not offer any support without corresponding risks. Unfortunately, no one stays isolated from the change and the tech-driven operating ecosystem.

SAJIKUMAR

https://sajikumar.co.in