Human frailty and perils of technology
AS I am the sole retired banker in my neighbourhood, fellow residents often approach me for advice on matters related to banking and finance. About a month ago, a tailor who plies his trade near my house sought my help regarding a personal loan he wanted to take. Since I was busy making arrangements for my son’s wedding, I told him to wait until the event was over. He readily agreed.
Later, when I asked him about the loan, he happily offered me sweets and told me that it had been approved. He showed me the loan documents, a perusal of which revealed that he had been duped. It was obvious that what he was counting on was nothing but a false promise. The harsh truth of my words left him stunned, but there was no doubt that his problem was of his own making. The lure of easy finance had proved to be his Achilles’ heel.
I wanted to reprimand him for his haste in seeking a loan rather than waiting for me, but instead offered solace, assuring him that I would see how the situation could be salvaged. In another case, a repairman told me that his gullible son had raised a crippling amount of debt through dubious loan apps without his knowledge. He wished that some checks were in place to prevent such fraud.
As I sat pondering his misfortune, my thoughts went back to the days when computerisation was introduced in our bank. It was the time when data entry machines marked the advent of the technological era. Soon, these machines were replaced by the ubiquitous computer terminals. I remember my colleagues sitting proudly in front of their computers, mesmerised by new-found avenues in the banking landscape.
A colleague’s son, awestruck by the digital world, would visit the branch regularly. He played virtual games and caught a glimpse of a promising future. Ironically, the pace of technological progress has been so fast that even educated people have not been able to catch up with it. Nothing illustrated this better than a senior doctor’s desperation. When his transaction got stuck, he began shaking the cable of my computer, thinking that it might set things right!
Like a curate’s egg, new-age technology — particularly artificial intelligence (AI) — is partly good and partly bad. To make it largely good for humanity, we need to ensure that it makes people’s lives easier and comes in handy for performing hazardous tasks. Those extolling the virtues of AI tend to forget that the creator is always greater than the creation. An artificial brain cannot match the cognitive powers of the human brain, which is gifted with intuition and instinct. The way forward is to not let technology blind the soul’s sight, for in its glare, we may lose the all-important light.
