We have come a very long way since the time of the composition of the Vedas. One of our latest scientific feats, completed in the year 2000, is the breaking of the genome code (the molecular blue print of the human body) for a basic understanding of how our body works at the molecular level. Another technological feat is the development of the world wide web, which allows anyone anywhere in the world to read this article that I am writing in Ann Arbor, Michigan, using a simple personal computer on his/her desk. These are really stunning achievements.
But unfortunately, as the base of human knowledge grew, the purpose of science has changed from ``understanding nature'' to acquiring absolute and total control of nature exclusively for the benefit of mankind even at the risk of the total extinction of other forms of life.
Our knowledge base is now so huge, that any one individual can learn only a small and narrow branch of science in their lifetime. Thus everyone is like a cog in the wheel, specializing in one very small branch of science. For your amusement, I will relate a small story which illustrates how far this trend of specialization has gone these days.
A person has developed ear trouble which was becoming more and more unbearable with each passing day. So, he visited the ear department in the local hospital. There, he found a doctor sitting at a table in a room. He went inside and asked ``Doctor, can you help me?'' The doctor said ``What is your problem?'' Then the person begins a lengthy explanation of his ear problem, ringing in the ear, pain, etc. The doctor stops him and says ``First tell me in which ear you have the problem''. The person tells him it is in his left ear. The doctor says ``Sorry. I specialize in the problems of the right ear. You have to see my colleague in the next room!''.
Because of so much specialization, no one has a clear grasp of the overall developments in science and technology, and which way they are going.
The paradox of our time is that we have:
| More knowledge, | but less judgment |
| More wealth, | and also much poverty |
| More material possessions, | but less happiness |
| More medicine, | but less wellbeing |
| More technology, | but many more problems |
| More leisure, | but less fun |
| More food, | and also much more hunger |
| More housing, | but many more homeless people |
| More degrees, | but less sense |
| Longer lifespans, | but less life in years. |
The following poem which is a freely modified version of one by a high school student P. Chinnu [1] expresses what we are doing to this world with our technology.
| The death of nature, and the rising of concrete |
|---|
| The bulldozers arrive to tear up the soil |
| Giant cranes, noisy planes dominate the sky |
| Steel and concrete replace the pristine wilderness |
| Majestic trees fall and flora is uprooted |
| Nature dies and buildings rise |
| As man takes over another chunk of land |
| for his ever expanding enterprise. |
The already large and still growing human population, and our activities are already causing global warming. The earth's climate is getting warmer. For the first time in 50 million years, the north pole is awash in water rather than ice which profoundly and irreversibly affects the ecological balance. Other effects of our activities are discussed in the following sections.