The most important deciding factor which distinguishes man of today from the man of yesteryears is the idea of Knowledge. Man accomplished victories on time and space precisely because of his knowledge of the physics, chemistry, and mathematical sciences. And this exploration into the mysterious schemata is still going on unchecked and unguarded, as it is fraught with danger. If eating the fruit of knowledge is considered the Fall of Man, the progression of civilization fueled by explosion of knowledge and information technology only shows how deep we are in the throes of self-damnation.
Freedom and its Limitations
The happiest condition for man which the process of civilization might have brought to mankind was Freedom. Freedom is a very good construct, but it has its limitations. We are circumscribed by several factors. Just see how much freedom we have in the matter of our birth. Can we order a father for us and a mother too? Can we choose the colour of our skin? And our stature? When born, this is a world in which you cannot see your face. You cannot see your back. Pope says in his Essay on Man:
From brutes what men and from men what angels know,
Or who could suffer being here below?
In fact, it is our limited knowledge which is a blessing for mankind, what to talk of total freedom.
Defeating Time
Knowing more than one should is dangerous. Artificial Intelligence is threatening to turn man into a shadow. The day is not far when we shall be able to conserve our mind in a chip and place it in a computer. Already, there are science fiction stories, that man can defy death if his mind, captured in a chip, is connected to another body. When we depart from nature, it is a horrible scenario. Can we forget what happened to Tithonus when he was granted the boon for immortality ? He grew old and old, but he had lost the power to die.
Not to decay with time, is a mortal crime. Everything that is born to this earth is trapped in time. It must age, and finally wither. However, all efforts of mankind are towards defeating time. Birth has been controlled to an extent, but death defies all human logic. We are constantly moving towards death, but do not know the time of the encounter. We also do not know, what lies beyond death.
Although man remains drugged with knowledge and information, still, does he know about himself? Our knowledge of ourselves is absolutely limited. We are just a tip of the Life-berg. It is all a mystery. How much control we have on our sleep and dreams, after we go to sleep? We have tablets which can induce sleep, but do we have tablets which can control our dreams too?
How happy is Man?
Since times immemorial, the human civilization has been on the march. This march is targeted to bring greater happiness to mankind. All our knowledge is directed towards this lofty objective. But what is the condition of man? Is he happy? If we have gathered a thousand things which can bring comfort to mankind and a smile on his face, why is he languishing in the midst of plenty?
Personally also, his stock has been falling. The more we know, the greater is our sorrow. Perhaps that is the reason why God had put a taboo on the fruit of knowledge. Knowledge, we think is the domain of human achievement, but we forget that knowledge is also the favoured domain of Devil. It was Satan who induced Eve to eat the fruit of knowledge. He did so, because he saw immense possibilities of expanding his empire.
Return to Innocence
We need to take a U-turn towards the domain of innocence. Adam and Eve were in a state of innocence which was destroyed by Knowledge. Today, we know so much that it has destroyed our happiness too. The animal kingdom has been blessed by nature with essential intelligence which helps them stay in a state of happiness and also survive all onslaughts. Men too possess essential intelligence. This essential intelligence [read innocence] teaches us to be natural in our responses. But man, courtesy his knowledge, tries to play smart. This is the point at which animal and bird kingdom scores over man in its pursuit of happiness.
Today, personal space of man has been reduced by mechanical operations, his joy has been sucked by poly-conditioning of his mind into hundreds of simultaneous operations. He does not like peace, he does not like to dream. He does not like to have free time. He is busy only in meeting targets. But he has no time to think of himself. He has no interest in nature, no love for literature. Does he know he has a soul too? Does he know he belongs to the cosmos towards which he has certain responsibilities?
Devil used knowledge to drain our divine content. The greatest joy for us is a higher pay package. What determines man’s happiness are money, wealth, power, and transcendence into a world of glamour and beauty. Values like honesty, goodness, truth, loyalty, love, compassion belong to a world which died centuries ago.
Man in the contemporary world needs to press the button of wisdom, which is gathering dust. Scientific research is acceptable, but to that extent only, to which it ensures the happiness and wellbeing of mankind. If we want to save human beings from our suicidal passion for Knowledge, we should have guided research only, that too in fields which are considered safe and essential for human welfare. Otherwise, we shall have around us an inhuman world of robots and zombies.
Dr Jernail Singh Anand is President of International Academy of Ethics. Author of 170 plus books, he is laureate of Seneca Award, Franz Kafka Award, Gorky Award and the Serbian Award Charter of Morava.
