Something from eons back, found while clearing my paper rubbish...

"Technologically Man is a Giant, Morally a Pygmy." Discuss.

Technologically man has made tremendous advancements. From humble beginnings last century, with the Industrial Revolution we have come to the stage where we have invented and built so many gadgets that our very existence is threatened by them--namely the atomic bomb.

We cannot deny that technology has improved the quality of our lives immeasurably. A journey to anywhere on the globe now takes merely a few hours by aeroplane, whereas it may have taken many years to do so before. We communicate with one another with increased ease and efficiency. All it takes is pressing a few buttons and we are able to talk to anyone at almost anywhere in the world. A flick of the television switch gives us news, sports and entertainment in glorious colour. Modern methods of cooking do not leave dirty messes behind. For the even more lazy ones, fast food is always available.

Modern computers have infiltrated into all aspects of business, government and even life at home. City traffic is controlled by computers. Airline booking and air-traffic are also computer-controlled. So it is too with many other things where computers are virtually indispensible. Computer breakown means also the breakdown of whatever system it controls. The computer has become all-powerful. Such is our dependence on it.

In war, our technological expertise has given us super-efficient weapons. Instead of swords and spears, we now have machine guns, heat-seeking missiles, cruise missiles, jet-fighters and other tools of murder and mayhem. Our ability of kill and destroy is frightening. We have become so powerful that the possibility of completely killing ourelves is very real indeed.

It is in the light of this possibility of self-annihilation that we suddenly find ourselves most vulnerable and wanting.

While we go abut creating for ourselves millions of gadgets to fulfill our fancies we heve neglected our basic self. We can make machine guns that fire a thousand rounds a minute but we do not take responsibility for our creation. So these guns fall into the hands of terrorists and warmongers. What is the result? Death and destruction on an unprecedented scale surface. Few are brave enough to stand up to oppose this scourge. Manufacturers make profits from tanks, armies use them to destroy one another but hardly anybody does anything to stop it.

We let our creations run riot. In the name of class, creed and religion we plunder one another with the most powerful weapons available. We kill innocent people without batting an eyelid. Morally we are no better than dumb animals.

In the short span of the first eighty years of the 20th century, we had had two world wars and innumerable other wars. Millions died as a result. Yet the wars go on, unabated. A few great souls, like Gandhi, stood up against this madness, but he, like many others before him, was assassinated. So the majority of us, including so-called world leaders, remain quiet and let the violence continue. Some even aggressively perpetuate it.

The famine in Africa has taken a grim toll. It is continuing to do so. It is not because food and help are not available. They are. It is the political and bureaucratic hindrances that prevent effective distribution of the vital supplies. Some parties involved are too caught up with their own squabbles to really care about the victims. Such is the situation. The means is there, compassion is not. The unfortunate ones continue to die like flies.

Industrialisation has brought us many benefits. It has also brought about environmental tragedy. Air pollution, sea pollution, acid rain and other forms of threat may one day overwhelm our very existence. Yet few of these polluters are willing to face up to reality and do something concrete to end the pollution. They are more interested in making a profit. They do not want to spend their "hard-earned" money to clean up the environment. Let someone else do the dirty job. Such is their moral responsibility.

In other areas too there are crimes committed against ourselves and Mother Earth. We reclaim land from the sea, level mountains and blast each other to smithereens. We do not know how to live peacefully and harmoniously with one another. Nobody wants to be responsible for that. We have no moral courage. Einstein once said that we have " a perfection of means, but a confusion of ends." We are capable of great wonders, but we do not know how to wield such capabilities responsibly.

So we continue in our confusion, committing all sorts of crimes and blaming one another for them. It is high time that we assume responsibility for our actions, strengthen our moral courage and make the world a wonderful place to live in.

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Reads like an A-level GP exam script to me, and it is more than 10 years' old. Looking at our world today in the 21st century, how many of the above claims are still valid?