The modern age is called the
machine age. For most of the important works of men are done now by machines.
Man no longer writes letters but types them straight from a typewriter. He
books a long-distance personal call over the telephone and talks directly. He
does not walk to reach his friend or relative’s house. He simply drives a car.
He travels by train or aero plane. Various operations are done by machines as
if by magic. The TV screen brings the football or cricket ground right into our
bedroom. Electronics and Telecommunications are helping most of the fields of
industry. Computers are now being used very widely. Every shopkeeper is getting
used to calculators.
So long as the machine is under
man’s control it is good. But if man himself becomes mechanical and loses his
finer qualities, it will be a tragedy. The question is whether man is still the
master of the machine, or just a slave. Man is producing robots’ in factories.
The robots are doing works of drudgery for him. But man himself is not a robot.
There is no doubt that the
machines we make also influence our life-style. The car is now a typical mode
of transport. The aero plane is still another. Two hundred years ago the train
was unknown to man; today we are going to have space journeys. Formerly,
students would write with pens and inkpots. Today ball point pens have replaced
them. The TV has now become a daily habit, just as tea once became in our life.
The machine has rendered life faster. But man should preserve his essential
humanity — love, peace of mind, joy and sociable nature.
