Will technology be the end of humanity?

It’s no stretch of the imagination to say that humans have reached the top thanks to our minds and the technology we created. Even considering their primitive nature, the simple tools we made using stone, sticks, vines, animal bones and fur is what started our journey to the top. In fact, at the time, these tools, this primitive technology, were the most innovative things the world had ever seen.

Technology has and will continue to make it possible for us to go beyond our limits. The wheel made it so that we could travel farther, faster and carry more; scrolls and books made it so that we could keep records and thus learn from the past. Boats made it so that we could traverse the endless void that was the raging oceans and seas, aeroplanes made us able to traverse the skies, computers have made it so that we can process complex problems and devise solutions at speeds unheard of, and the internet has made it possible to communicate with the same speed, maybe even faster.

Technology has made it possible to give ourselves so much, but it also makes it possible to take away so much.

We have knives and guns to hurt each other with, bombs to destroy things, poisons and toxins to cripple, and even computer viruses that can take a country back to the dark ages.

Even the internet, as nice as it can be, is a place where people can spread fear, hatred and general toxicity much faster and more easily than ever before.

The past is littered with examples of humanity destroying itself while using technology, from accidents like Chernobyl, to deliberate strikes like the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

But, the past is also littered with examples of humanity saving itself with technology, from the discovery of the vaccine for rabies, to relief workers air dropping supplies to those in need, to people being able to call the police for help when their lives are in danger.

So, will technology be the end of humanity?

For me the answer is, it depends on us. In quantum physics the idea is that a particle is both positive and negative until it is measured/observed; only then does it’s state become fixed (of course that is a highly oversimplified explanation but you get the gist of it). Technology is the same; it is a tool, which we can use to do great good or great harm. For example, a computer in the hands of one human can be used to share opinions and spread a message, and in the hands of another human it can be used to steal an identity or information or even someone’s money.

In the end it is up to us, on how we use it and only then will the answer become clear. So fellow humans, let’s try to do the right thing, because technology is capable of so much. Let’s make some good and positive use of it.