FREE THINKING:
EXPLORE THE REALMS OF KNOWLEDGE

I have often heard people say that the world is getting smaller. Obviously, the planet is the same size as when it was formed. Physical changes have occurred, and humanity has played a part in this process and continues to do so, sadly often in a negative way.

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So, what is meant by the phrase ‘the world is getting smaller’?

In just over one hundred years, there have been inventions like trains, cars, and planes, which have made journeying long distances possible. No longer were people confined to the limits of their localities and how far they could walk or ride.

From the early part of the nineteenth century, technological innovations began to transform the way we communicate.  In 1895, Guglielmo Marconi used radio waves to transmit signals over a distance of several kilometres. Soon after this amazing invention, a ship-to-shore radio was used to apprehend the infamous criminal, Dr Crippen.

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On March 25, 1925, the Scottish inventor John Logie Baird made the first-ever public display of moving visuals on television. In 1952 ordinary people were able to see the Coronation of the late Queen Elizabeth from the comfort of their homes. And in 1962 Telstar 1, the first in a series of satellites, successfully relayed television signals across the Atlantic.

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In 1983, Computer scientists Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn are credited with inventing the Internet communication protocols we use today, and the system referred to as the Internet. In 1989, Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web which now is an important feature for all humanity.

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Of course, many of these inventions or discoveries have benefited all peoples, whether it has been in commerce, medicine, or exploration. Nevertheless, they can also be misused and become tools for abuse and exploitation.

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For example, the splitting of the atom was first accomplished by the Englishman J. D. Cockroft and the Irishman E. T. S. Walton. This discovery was soon developed into an instrument of mass destruction through the work of Robert Oppenheimer, an American theoretical physicist, often known as the “father of the atomic bomb.” In 1945 this weapon was used and devastated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.

In the past eighteen months, we have seen the emergence of Artificial Intelligence or AI for short.  For many of us including me it has been science fiction becoming reality. Artificial intelligence quite simply put is the simulation of human intelligence processes by machines. Together with the Internet of Things, the next few years will see incredible developments in all spheres of life.

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As Christians, we should not fear the future as C S Lewis once wrote, “Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.”