Technology And Innovation: Boon Or Bane?

Technology Innovation: Sword or Plough looks at key moments in recent history, noting how key technological changes at pivotal moments had unimaginable consequences, both positive and negative.
It makes for enjoyable and insightful reading.

Ajit Balakrishnan, who till recently headed, Rediff.com (earlier Rediff on the Net), a pioneering initiative providing independent news via the Internet, has been at the forefront of cutting-edge web technology.

Setting up Rediff in 1995, it was all about bringing the then newest technology to the people in ways that benefitted them.

His new book, Technology Innovation: Sword or Plough, brings to life these twin passions: Technology, and its benefits (or dangers).

The book looks at key moments in recent history, noting how key technological changes at pivotal moments had unimaginable consequences, both positive and negative.

Here is the issue: Every technological change that benefits mankind also contains the seeds of pain and destruction.

This twin aspect of technology is well known to most of us; what makes the book interesting is the clear writing and strong enunciation of the pluses and minuses. And along the way, there are some interesting insights.

In the book, Ajit looks at the changes through the lens of India. This is perhaps the most riveting part of the book -- the multifaceted India connections.

We all know that India fed the mills of Manchester; Ajit goes further and believes that it was the English's inability to compete with the fine textiles of India that saw the English invent and innovate to set up the Spinning Jenny, the water frame and power loom, machines capable of doing in minutes when dozens of men couldn't do in hours.

The world had changed, and yet this change, as we in India know only too well, brought immense misery to the people, especially in the region of Bengal.

He links the Champaran satyagraha, when M K (he was still to be awarded the title Mahatma) Gandhi fought for the rights of the indigo farmers, to technological innovations in Germany that could produce indigo dye at a much cheaper price.

This is what drove the desperate British landlords to extract what little they could from the farmers in a foundering sector, leading to them turning to Gandhi. The rest is history.

But the lesson is invaluable: political changes are driven by subtle technological advancements,

Why England Took Advantage Of India

The reverse is also true. Ajit writes that the reason England (and later Britain) was able to take advantage of India was because it had the political structure in place for innovations to flourish.

India, by contrast, simply lacked the same structure.

Thus, the granting of patents, the protective tariffs that made Indian goods expensive in England (a model that US President Donald Trump is emulating), and enforceable contracts is what enabled bright men and women to innovate, confident that their efforts would be rewarded. The same was not the case in India.

Similarly, Ajit points that going ahead, the Indian mindset that seeks to control outcomes is why India keeps falling behind.

Giving the example of defence technology, he points out that in the US welcomes competition, even in areas of defence, whereas in India, that is (or was) not the case.

He asks, pertinently, are Indians ready to embrace change? If not, though he doesn't say so, the fact is that India will never reach the heights it dreams of scaling.

Ayurveda And Allopathy

Some chapters are questionable. The chapter on Ayurveda and Yoga, in which he laments about how Indians turned towards allopathy (doctors) and then asserts about the 'increasing appeal' in the West, is neither here nor there.

The fact is that allopathy has been able to cure some of the worst diseases and disorders that bedevil humans.

As humans become increasingly resistant to drugs, the future may lie in gene therapy (which is mentioned in the book).

For Ayurveda to achieve a similar status, it needs to also become much more scientific, much more critical, and much more innovative.

Otherwise, Ayurveda will remain as a palliative care and yoga as a means of well-being (and weight loss), not definitive cure.

The book also needs much better editing. One of the delights of the book are the many references provided in the footnotes, showing the wide variety of Ajit's reading.

That is why it is appalling that such references simply disappear in the middle of the book. This happens twice!

In this not very long book, Ajit covers a vast range, starting from the industrial revolution in England to Steve Jobs to the newly emerging gene therapy and digital platforms in lucid style.

The book does not pretend to be an anthology of technological innovations over the last couple of centuries; rather it provides an overview of some of the most amazing and consequential technological changes, and the joys and sorrows that they have brought about in their wake.

It makes for enjoyable and insightful reading.

Disclaimer: The reviewer worked at Rediff.com, then headed by Ajit Balakrishnan, from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s, and has had many pleasant interactions with him.

Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff