IS THE HUMAN RACE GETTING EXTINCT?

We are today mostly hooked to our televisions, smartphones and computers (even at the workplace) totally delinked physically with other humans. In the process, it appears human beings are losing their thinking and feeling capacity just like robots. This raises the question whether humanity is on the threshold of a world controlled by robots and interconnected devices and machines. 

Human social interactions are becoming less and less at the physical level. Social media has taken over for social interactions, but this appears to be at a superficial and impersonal level and the interaction is remote in cyberspace. We may soon miss the little joys that we used to have earlier, the intellectual discussions that we indulged in accompanied by disagreements, fights and even walking away, later to return, apologize and reconcile. 

TOO BUSY
Today we do not have the time for others. Young people do not even have time to consider marriage or raising a family. Pornography and short liaisons have taken over as the outlet for instant sexual gratification. Romance is fading away and is being relegated to the background as a waste of time. The family is already becoming an outdated concept for the new-gen.

Everyone appears to be busy,chasing money, wealth, and power.  This raises the question whether we are in a totalitarian regime ruled by money. In the bargain, we are losing all that makes human life worthwhile, the fellow-feeling, friendship, pursuit of things beyond one's own self, the pursuit of truth, knowledge, and beauty.  We seem to be losing the capacity to be kind and compassionate and to share one's wealth with others who are suffering or who are less fortunate.  

IS MORALITY OUTDATED?
Organized religion also is ruled by money and corrupted by power, relegating to the background morality, social justice, and what unites humans irrespective of race, religion, beliefs, color, nationality, or gender. In the process, religions of all shades appear to be dividing humans from humans and building walls instead of building bridges to promote and sustain human fraternity. 

THE MARCH TO SELF-DESTRUCTION
The 1981 movie 'My Dinner With Andre' echoed sentiments similar to these. The observations made in the movie are applicable to the world today.  Soon all that may remain on planet earth may be the faint memory of the times when human life existed on this planet when we had time to sip a coffee with our friends and family members and chat with one another.  T.S. Eliott in his masterpiece 'The Wasteland' spoke on similar lines, of a civilization that is becoming a wasteland. Quoting Brahadaranyako Upanishad, as the cure for the ills of the modern world, he exhorted 'dattam' (give, be generous), 'daya tvam'  (show kindness) and 'damyata' (show restraint and tolerance). 

Are we on the march to self-destruction and extinction from this universe?  Are we in a prison of our own making? Is it not the time to press 'escape'?  Is it not the time to go back to ancient wisdom to preserve human civilization?

-Ponnoly