Unfortunately, the Internet does not make the world a better place

A brave new digital world appears along with how the Internet, smartphones and other technologies are rapidly spreading even in the not-richest countries. But can it do more harm than good?

Reminder

A new report from the World Bank examines the impact that digital technology is having worldwide. And this report was a sobering reminder that the spread of high technologies is not a panacea, which they are already considered to be.

Digital dividends

Of course, in the course of the study, positive aspects, called "digital dividends," such as new economic growth and improved access to education, were also discovered. However, it should be noted that these dividends are distributed unevenly, especially in developing countries. Poorer countries and people who do not have access to modern technologies will lag behind others, and in some cases this can seriously increase social inequality.

Contradictions

However, according to the New York Times, this is contrary to the basic ideas behind the foundation of Silicon Valley, involving the spread of Internet access in poor countries - for example, the Internet-by-balloon "Google" action, the Loon project or a social platform sponsored by Facebook An Internet service called Internet.org. For example, the "Facebook" project in India, which gives residents without access to the Internet only very limited opportunities outside the very social network itself, has already been seriously criticized.

Is there any reason for technological optimism?

This information is also a serious counterbalance to the world-wide philosophy of technological optimism, which has already become a cornerstone in the high-tech industry. Rich countries also need to pay attention to this. The proliferation of more advanced high technologies, such as artificial intelligence and robotics, can begin to give major enterprises serious advantages, while simultaneously completely destroying a huge number of jobs or radically changing the essence of certain professions.

What will happen next?

So what can you say about this? Does the digital revolution do more harm than good? This question is asked by so many people, not only scientists, but also the average inhabitants of the planet who can no longer imagine their lives without a smartphone and a computer. They are now completely dependent on gadgets, and high technology keeps them under full control - it's hard to imagine what will happen to the world if suddenly all this disappears. Of course, as already mentioned above, positive aspects also exist, so do not categorically judge technological progress. With its help, people explore new areas of activity, open up new opportunities and so on. Therefore, the question is rather, what are the rates necessary to develop high technologies in which direction, and also whether they should be planted as soon as possible to the whole world.

The fact is that high technologies in themselves are not just harmless, but very useful - humanity has moved far ahead after the digital revolution, and the world has completely changed for the better. But, as well as after the technical revolution, positive factors first appeared, and after them people began to extract negative ones, as specifically, with certain goals, such as influence on the target audience, and accidentally. As a result, there is already a huge gap between developing and developed countries in the area of high technology, and attempts to eliminate this gap are controversial and offer rather meager opportunities for the laggards. Thus, the Internet, beloved by all, can, in the first place, prove to be something much more impressive in the future, which can harm humanity. Of course, we are not talking about an uprising of cars or something like that, but there are already aspects that threaten people and their everyday life. And secondly, the rapid development and dissemination of high technologies in an already not too equitable world creates an even greater amount of social inequality. Accordingly, people should think about where the path of development that they are now following is leading to, then not to regret, when the road back is no longer - as it is now happening with the environment.