Through out human history, mankind and technology has developed side by side. With the birth of human intelligence, technology was also simultaneously born. Changes and advances in one sphere instigate and support changes in the other sphere. It is a strange paradox that humans have a rather, what can be termed as a” Classic Fear “of technology – that it will rob us of our humanity, though we ourselves have created this technology... moreover our humanity is to a great extent built and maintained by techonology. In particular, information and communication is infused into human life on all levels of analysis and function – there are personal computer, business and social networks, servers, browsers, service providers, tele-communication systems, computerized industry and products and of course the internet- the biggest machine ever built. The World Wide Web is literally evolving into the nervous system of human civilization.
Our environment is becoming increasingly flexible, intelligent and computerized. Everything from the home, the automobile, the transportation system ,urban centers, industry, businesses, commercial and service centers and networks are being” wired” and progressively integrated. The line between technology and humanity are gradually blurring, as each moves into the other. Even the educational system is becoming increasingly liberalized thanks to technology. Due to the free flow of information available for anyone and everyone who wants to access it, the mode of education has also changed. The teacher no longer dictates from a book, instead the teacher freely interacts with the students, and the student no longer blindly follows what is taught but questions and thinks for himself.
Due to the tremendous rate of growth of the information technology each and every individual is being empowered to create a unique personal and professional niche for theselves. The World Wide Web provides opportunities for the individual to take on different persons or selves. The Internet has become a sort of alter ego According to Drucker and Bell; the entire world is gradually morphing into a World mind or a World Brain. H.G. Wells also predicted a global brain, which consists of a collective intelligence.
Today it is hard to imagine a world without technology. Man has become so dependent on technology, that it at this stage technology were to be completely removed from the lives of man , the world as we would know it would come to a stand still, chaos would reign supreme and we would be plunged right back into the dark ages. The growth of technology has lead to the transfer of major businesses into the cyber world. These days a company without a computer is not even imaginable.
However as with all things, information technology has also its minus points; it has been argued that technology has robbed individuals of personal contact. The Internet hides rather than reveals – the computer is a drug that hypnotizes the mind and numbs the body. It is also feared that the individual will be lost swallowed up into the world mind.
However the overall benefits of information technology greatly outweigh the disadvantages. Its future appears too bright and promising, and the future most certainly belong to man and technology.
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