Human beings are very different from other creatures. According to evolution, we started living on our own a few million years ago. Humans of that time were no different from other animals. There was a need to fight and hunt food. Obviously, humans being more intelligent than the rest of the animal kingdom, went against the instincts – instead of hunting food and getting frustrated when it was not available, the earlier humans decided to solve the problem. A different style of thinking, called problem solving was born. From then on, humans invented many many things – from wheels to wells and farms to air crafts. Invention is so unnatural to this world that even humans regard it highly prestigious. But are all inventions so very necessary? Do the inventions solve all the problems in our life?
The whole point of inventions were to make life easier. But it seems now we are living in a point in time where inventions are not based on necessity rather based on luxury. The economy of the world has taken over science and dictates what needs to be the next big invention.
It is no more left to the scientists to decide what they can invent, instead it is the venture capitalist who has the final word. If we were to live a life similar to that of 1950’s then we need to work for just 2 days a week. That was the idea behind creating machines to do the work for us. But now we try and create more and more machines – especially the ones that dictate luxury. Where would we stop?
I personally think there is no end to this. Every industry hires very talented business graduates and spend millions in making people believe that their next invention is the biggest necessity. Everyone in business is solely focused on making money. And the only way to make money is by selling their product. And the only way to sell their product is to make people feel it is very much necessary for their life. Peer pressure is another factor that businesses try and create. A latest gadget is a must though it would do almost the same job as its predecessor. They infuse this thought into every human to make sure their business gets going.
Almost all business nowadays go to great lengths of lawfully destroying the world and claim to create a better one. The world is what nature has given us and humans are trying really hard to rewrite it with a new meaning. Does it make any sense to see 10000 sq. km. of the amazon rain forest deforested every year to make this world better? The economy and politics that surrounds the world have made sure all the luxuries are perceived as necessities and have tried really hard to make us all prisoners of these new inventions. Decades ago, I don’t believe an average person would have spent a month without a car, a fortnight without electricity a week without gas and a day without all three. But we are not far away from the day where we say, we cannot spend a day without the television,game console, mobile phone, a PC – not all of them but just one of them.
The only final way out of this man made mess is when our civilisation collapses! That way the earth can give itself a fresh start – possibly a better one without humans.
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Posted on November 8th, 2009 at 7:26 pm by admin
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