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In
the Hindi film Swades (My Country) released in December
2004, there is a situation which captures at once the lack
of awareness of modern technology and the self-assuredness
in their own methods of rural folk. The protagonist in the
film, a NASA scientist, explains the high-tech weather-prediction
project he is working on, to the people of a village in Northern
India. Their reaction: "We too have a person in the village
who takes a look at the sky, and can predict if and when it
is going to rain". For someone brought up in an urban
area, such a reaction would seem an anachronism in a modern
world. Yet, there are a number of people on the planet who
look at new technologies, scientific ways of addressing problems
and issues as unnecessary.
The
evolution and progress of mankind is to a large extent the
story of advancement in technology in various spheres of human
engagement. From the days of the hand tool to the wheel, considered
the first most significant invention, to the steam engine,
one that flagged off the industrial revolution, to the current-day
Internet and high-tech manufacturing, every age has been witness
to the seemingly limitless ingenuity of the human mind. Much
of this advancement has come from the developed countries
of the world, which have been the rightful beneficiaries,
although, with the passage of time, emerging technologies
and their benefits have found their way to other parts of
the world as well.
Despite
this spread of technology and its all-pervasiveness in the
world today, it has not reached or been embraced by everyone
in society, especially those in the rural areas and those
with little or no economic and social opportunities. Even
in urban areas, there are groups of people for whom adopting
new technologies remains a challenge. It is a paradox then
that even while new technologies continue to emerge by the
day, making everyday lives of people more comfortable than
ever before in human history, they still remain out of reach
for a great number of people. |
