Of Engineers and Technology!

Engineers are said to be architects of the world and make it a better place to live. After all engineers are the ones who invented wheels and brought about cars, can we imagine a world without transport in this day? They invented bulb and brought light to our lives. They invented transistor and made computers, which have now become a gateway to loads of other things. Having done all this, the engineering community is still not satisfied and now they delve into creating men of their calibre through technology. Artificial Intelligence as the name suggests is putting in our intelligence into a machine and trying to make it smarter than ourselves. It is like evolving from a dumb parent to a smarter child.

Is that intelligent or stupid time alone will tell. Haven't we seen umpteen sci-fi movies where the future holds machines invading mankind. Does that mean that we are making machines intelligent today to wipe us away from earth one day? Nanotechnology is another field growing rapidly these days. If anybody has read the book Prey by Michael Crichton, they would know how these nanoparticles could conspire against us. So, does that mean technology is a boon or a bane?

We are so intrigued not by our immediate neighbours but neighbouring galaxies and their inhabitants. The 21st century will probably see us communicating with aliens in galaxies lightyears away from us, but what about the old couple living next doors to ours who need some help during their last few days on planet earth? Have we ever seen or spoken to them, the answer is most probably NO!

How many of us in the next few years are going to remain in touch with our childhood friends? Before 19th century, people used to pay a visit to each other's house and maintained the bond, after that came the telephone which reduced visits but still had friends and relatives calling each other frequently. Now is the age of emails where we send emails to friends and await a response for a few months and after a few years the link is broken.

Life has no doubt become fast and convenient now. If there was a time machine to transport us back to the 14th century, I am pretty sure none of us will be able to survive. We are indeed indebted to the engineers for bringing about so many radical changes with all their unimaginable efforts. But, I just hope that they do not attempt to change the basic laws of life in pursuit of bigger goals.