Technological Onslaught
The information age is not free from its
perils. This may sound like an
oxymoron. But there is a growing body
of evidence that clearly raise serious
concerns of increasing influence of
technology in our daily lives. We are
constantly bombarded by an enormous
amount of information flowing from the
Internet, television and other forms of
mass media. Our brains are not tuned to
process a message – dense and often
conflicting stream of information.
Whatever we see, read or hear could be
skewed in one way or another.
Sometimes it is hard to discern relevant
from frivolous, good from bad and
desirable from deceitful. For lack of better skills, we fail to make an independent and critical
evaluation of what we see, what we read and what we hear. The problem worsens when the
information is deliberately distorted to mislead the recipient in some predetermined way. The
dividing line between useful and useless, genuine and fraudulent, just and wrongful, factual and
fictitious, true and false, thus becomes blurred. This is where someone else can take control over our
critical faculties. The lack of critical and independent thinking, for example, makes people extremely
vulnerable. It compels them to seek guidance and personal cure from sources that are hardly benign
and authentic.
At another level, irrational faith can become a breeding ground for collective indoctrination, forcing
absolute compliance to supremacist authority of one kind or another. Uncritical acceptance of claims
results in convoluted thinking and wrong reasoning. Despotic leaders, popular cult figures, religious
heads and soothsayers, for example, often take advantage of basic human psychology and the veil of
ignorance. They appeal to people's deepest fears and irrational hopes before taking control of their
lives.
In recent years, the celebration of religious festivals, superstitions and rituals have become regular
practices in many research and educational institutes in India. The case of the Indian Space and
Research Organization (ISRO) is particularly appalling. The achievements of India's space
programme are commendable, but when it comes to the responsibility of developing scientific
outlook and rational thinking to fight the social ills, the organization perhaps did not quite live up to
the desired standard. Instead of spearheading a campaign (by virtue of its privileged position and
wider resources) to eradicate superstitions and illiteracy, ISRO officials often hit the headlines for
wrong reasons