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Is scientific development overtaking human foresight?


I think it's important to talk about this situation without blindly claiming that artificial intelligence or any scientific research would ruin human life.

So, human foresight is basically the ability to predict. Therefore, when we think about this topic, I get stuck on a question can a machine really replace humans? Because machines cannot think. So, they can't even predict the future. But if someone invents something like that, he is still the one who is thinking. A human!  He obviously imagines the consequences before building something e.g. A robot. While doing particular research, a scientist has a rough idea of its future results and its effects.

However, on the other hand, we also need to know that he is thinking about only the next 10-20 years. But what about the next 400 years? Next 800 years? We think about our secured future through AI, but what about the future of humans after 500 years? Do we really think about it? If we did, we wouldn't have built launch pads in Sriharikota, because we thought of human safety and not about the Bay of Bengal. All that waste that is dropped in the Bay of Bengal today, might be harmful after 500 years. 40 years ago, NASA’s Skylab space station fell to earth, in the Indian Ocean. This scientific advancement of today is the scientific waste of tomorrow. Do we think about this aspect of the future?

Today we have the option of degradable, recyclable papers, but at the start of this paper-making phase, we had cut trees on a very large scale. For an era, we were using only and only trees for making paper. Did we think of the future of Earth at that time?

I believe that foresight comes when we think, but Google took away from us our ability to think. Even for making a rangoli, we search on Google. We are killing our thinking ability. Many of us might have read about “Tang Yu” the new CEO of the Chinese metaverse company, Net Dragon. A company worth $10 billion. We are talking about human foresight; this robot is overtaking the whole human.  

During covid, we used millions of surgical masks, just as a temporary use item. All those masks and PPE kits are produced in tons… where are they now? If we look at the statistics, 52 billion disposable face masks were produced in 2020. 1.6 billion of these masks ended up in our oceans! This equates to roughly 5500 tons of plastic pollution. India manufactured 2 lakh PPE kits per day. These things are dumped into the sea putting our marine life in danger. According to UNICEF, this can take up to 450 years to decompose. These numbers are really worrisome.

In the temptation for a luxurious life, we are supporting scientific advancement but neglecting human foresight. While buying a phone, we check its RAM but we need to understand that, our brain’s RAM is reduced day by day due to excess use of technology. We are looking for readymade things rather than thinking about them. So now it's time to think because if we don’t think then how can we predict something?

- aditi

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