Monday, January 4, 2010

What do we do with the time saved because of advances in technology?


What do we do with the time saved because of advances in technology?

1. We send the same Happy New Year as a SMS or a bcc.
2. Facebook seems for all those who want connect without ever wanting to meet.
3. We use GPS to find roads, but we don't know where we are headed in life.
4. We watch Barkha Dutt's debates on TV that makes participants raise their hands on issues when they need to raise their voice. We send SMSes on Agree/Disagree when we need to act.
5. We own big cars but are not open to pooling them with others for environment's sake.
6. We showcase Kindle, when we should be buying second hand books to read.
7. We shop online for better cellphones and useless technology gadgets, instead of sending a bunch of flowers or a nice cake to celebrate our favourite school teacher's birthday.

Time has come to rethink what we can do to our life with the various technologies that surround us.

I am enclosing a small para on what Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of worldwide web envisioned the internet to be in 2000:

"Some people point out that the Web can be used for all the wrong things. For downloading pictures of horrible, gruesome, violent or obscene things, or ways of making bombs which terrorists could use.Other people say how their lives have been saved because they found out about the disease they had on the Web, and figured out how to cure it. I think the main thing to remember is that any really powerful thing can be used for good or evil. Dynamite can be used to build tunnels or to make missiles. Engines can be put in ambulances or tanks. Nuclear power can be used for bombs or for electrical power.
So the what is made of the Web is up to us.You, me, and everyone else.
Here is my hope.
1. The Web is a tool for communicating.
2. With the Web, you can find out what other people mean. You can find out where they are coming from.
3. The Web can help people understand each other.
4. Think about most of the bad things that have happened between people in your life. Maybe most of them come down to one person not understanding another. Even wars.
5. Let's use the web to create neat new exciting things.
6. Let's use the Web to help people understand each other."

Think about it.

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