Rage Against the Machine

‘Magic is just science we don’t understand yet’ - Arthur C. Clarke.

Is this statement accurate, at least to a certain extent?

The purpose of the technology that we have become privy to in our daily lives was once regarded as the incriminating cause of many long-winded series of mass interrogations and prosecutions. As a result, we find that there’s coherence and comprehensibility behind every phenomenon.

At first glance, any piece of technology might as well be deemed magic - where there is science such as gene modification or space exploration, there is technological advancement that makes it possible. As a result of this development of science and technology, our world has changed more in the past century than in the previous 100 centuries! Going back about a million years - just a blip in the evolutionary timescale - exists a buoyant sense of becoming more advanced to blur the lines between the science and magic we know now, that we know would never exist as it does today.

However, these advancements of artificial intelligence might as well be wizardry to the vast majority of people who do not understand it. Emerging ideas of holographic technology, seemingly implausible, might be closer to sorcery.

On the sidelines we anticipate the advancement of ever complex and powerful robotics and the potential that nanotechnology will solve many of the world's problems. We look forward with hope and optimism for the eradication of disease and the opportunity for humanity, augmented by or in tandem with new technologies. It may keep us fascinated for a certain period of time but also slightly unsatisfied and so vaguely thirsty for the next advancement, the next big thing.

Stephen Hawking warned that “humans need to colonise another planet or face extinction” in the next 100 years. There have been times in history where the entire populace or almost all species have been wiped out from the face of the Earth - these range from asteroid impacts to ice ages to volcanic activity. Can it be possible that these onrushing and life changing technologies are emerging in the nick of time to avert the possible ecological threats that we may face?

For once, what if we aren’t able to combat the next crisis?

By Aashi Taori