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Saturday, July 18, 2015

Humanity and Technology- let us not see it as humanity versus technology

Claiming Our Humanity — Managing in the Digital Age

Humanity and Technology- let us not see it as humanity versus technology and fall into the same pitfalls of  Religion versus Science instead of Religion and Science.

The relationship between humanity and technology is so firm that  no one can even disturb it. 

What is meant by Humanity? Is it in possession of someone or somewhere?  Has humanity lost in something so bad that there is an imminent need for  anyone of us to claim it to restore it to golden old days of violent invasions in the frenzy to acquire some additional real estate space to redraw national boundaries, blind beliefs forced to be followed based on certain scriptures, selectively fed information through limited channels etc?

Let us find out the facts as honest human beings, not proceed as academicians with some confirmation bias, even if the process tends to be long and leads us into various territories because we are talking about claiming our humanity [whose?] and managing something we have branded as defining the age itself as Age of Wars, Age of Reason, Age of Science etc ‘The Digital Age’.

So the premise requires covering many facets and a very vast area and depth of aspects /factors to consider understanding Humanity and Digital Age much less claim, manage, unravel them etc.

The topic manifests a few glaring perceptions and blaring declarations:-
     A] Some thought of concern has popped out about humanity,
B] Something is viewed, either real or presumed, as an issue/or a problem/ or at least as something causing greater impact and dominating over the rest, namely the overwhelming digital influence called as digital age.
C] Reactions based on the thought have come into play.

Humanity is more humble, happy, haughty, hopeful and highly connected thanks more due to technology born out of scientific temper meant to make life more comfortable. More importantly and interestingly humanity is better off with greater awareness and consciousness to the whole environment facilitated through more easy access to information to the greater number of people again thanks to the availability of advanced and affordable technologies.

This very theme triggers the usual uneasiness created/assumed due to sense of insecurity born out of generalizing and associating whole of humanity in terms of some ideological identities and incidents.
Let us get it clear whether we like it or not, whether it is right or wrong, whether it is used or misused that technology is religion and gadgets are the new gods. [1]

Life is made of relationships. How we relate with others, with things, with society, with environment etc.

Neither life nor relationships are concrete they are fluid like water with lot of excellent properties but vulnerable to be polluted and misused like water. It depends on the user to prevent misuse and pollution.

There are many other aspects like personal commitment, involvement, responsibilities etc, even if we do not care about social pressures, religious obligations and legal requirements.

The cardinal principal is we can neither deny nor defy the importance of anything. This includes many human activities, sentiments, emotions, thoughts etc each of it is forming some part of the evolutionary process of the jigsaw puzzle of life.

How else can we explain the many stupidities that get glorified for reasons which are beyond any human comprehension?

We did not consciously choose our life and in normal circumstances we won’t consciously choose to die either. Life is not a planned project from the beginning till the end however much we may try or wish it to be. We came from nothing and we go back to nothing. In the interim period we like to decorate ourselves with whatever we can, we want or we are destined to. Sometimes different aspects predominate i.e. what we can do, want to do or destined to do and we too tend to prioritize or to prefer or to influence one/ some of these at different times.

But it would be proper and practical to acknowledge some simple facts without being too hypocritically questioning them like it is better to be unhappy with money than to be unhappy without money; better to be sick with a treatment available rather than being sick without any treatment; it is better to be hypocritical with a socially respectable employment ensuring or survival guaranteeing qualification rather than to be hypocritical without any such qualification etc. [2]

Every age and every walk of life has or involves some steps but these steps are various types of status quo addictions, comfort zones, identity cages which take possession of our psyche and operates through it almost as a matter of habit or sometimes even as an automatic reflex movement. They then manifest in all spheres of our relationships. Our culture, our religious practices, our food habits, our life styles etc and we get used to the comfort of relaxing in these steps without moving up.  [3]

Reactions, sometimes aggressive or fanatical happen due to mass hysteria creating brain washing which push many into some identity cages and if they happen to venerate then they virtually entwine the entire life in that cage and venerate the walls of the cage that and end up getting agitated when someone tries to shake the cage or worse still break the wall of the cage. 

This happens with all religions, ideological, political affiliations and religious practices manifesting itself with varying degrees of fanaticism and intolerance. 

Levels of scrutiny, extent of criticism, limits of tolerance, philosophical consolations etc, everything becomes very elastic or rigid depending upon whom it affects at that particular instant and how the affected people take it. 

Depending on the nature, circumstances, situations, nurtured attitudes etc proportionately the reactions, retributions, revenge etc will manifest. [4]

Life is an unmapped atlas which gets its maps based on our innate attributes, choices, beliefs, actions, reactions, thoughts, attitudes etc either as individuals or as a collective group with some identity, and it is in our hands to make each one of these continents as great and as good as possible.
Greatest contribution that one can make to the pride of ancestry is to not merely give hope for future but bequeath values, comforts, wisdom, wealth, happiness, great wisdom etc to posterity. [5]

Because of digital age people across the globe are at least remotely participating or aware of what is going on in the world, otherwise it was a monopoly of media mafia which censored, controlled, endorsed and directed the whole news. [6]

Digital by itself cannot settle disputes with axiomatic certitude it is more useful at unsettling blind beliefs and help humans to explore and experiment with an open mind.[7]

Digital age has an excess of individual opinions, ideas that inundate the social media space must be followed, observed and encouraged because after all they manifest reactions and participation of individuals.

They can at best produce islands of 'micro beliefs leading to macro behavior' or confirmation bias enhancing group coherence but not homogenizing madness insisting on ignoring variety and marrying  up with specific identity which was what the mass opinion molding and belief manufacturing and marketing domains mentioned above do namely religion, politics, media etc. [8]

Literature and philosophy associate thinking /thoughts mostly with ideas, concepts etc which are not thoughts per se, but intellectualized presentation of thoughts. [9]

While a large volume of data can throw up lot of ideas it cannot interpret or suggest proper utilization of those ideas.

While a large volume of data can throw up lot of thoughts it cannot do the thinking beyond a certain extent and besides a specified path of predefined command.

While a large volume of data can throw up lot of knowledge/information inputs it cannot initiate or ensure to neither enhance understanding nor can even restrict frames of reference for understanding.

While a large volume of data can throw up lot of insights into the working patterns based on permutations it cannot provide the wisdom to choose that comes with churning that life undergoes chronologically in the form of experience. [10]

The beauty of life consists in the unknowns and the unending searches and researches –the unending process of evolutionary trends in everything.

Let us get our facts clear that personal sentiments and emotional binding will impact every human being- only the degrees of impact may vary from person to person and situation to situation. We all must acknowledge that we are neither sure about all the ingredients in the cauldron of life nor can we claim to know the complete process of churning. [11]

Some word about the fallibility of our very perception itself in general. [12]

Every Age acquires its unique advantage and digital is no exception. [13]

Classifying everyone and everything under any single generalization must less expect similar reactions is not at all possible [14] and that [tendency to homogenize has been one of the main reasons for lack of peace. [15]
















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