Short essay on the speed of modern civilization

Modern civilisation is totally different from the times of yore in many respects in the mode and manner of living, in the nature and intensity of social and family ties, in the means of earning livelihood, the variety of food and in other matters.

But perhaps the most notable and significant distinction is in the speed and pace of all human activity and all devices that are devised and controlled by man, such as the processes of manufacture and the increasing use of more sophisticated machinery. In almost all aspects of life and living, the craze is for speed and for saving time in every possible way.

This craze for speed and fast pace often leads to mishaps, and thwarts the initial aim to get through things as early as possible; haste sometimes delays things. Time is of the essence, so runs the modern adage, and anyone who idles away precious hours is described as a backward, unprogressive human being who does not know how to march with the times.

Speed is most notable in transport and communications. In place of the traditional bullock-cart, the travel on mules pony backs or journeys in caravans, we now have super-fast trains, motor-cars, and aircraft such as supersonic and jumbo jets, airbuses and other types of aero planes that carry people across the seas and continents in a matter of hours, almost in the twinkling of an eye.

Journeys across the seas in olden times used to take months; these were done by slow-moving boats, ships and other vessels; food and other provisions had to be arranged for journeys lasting many weeks and months.

Now, only goods and heavy luggage are carried by ships. In fact, with the manufacture of big-body aircraft, having ample accommodation inside, even cars, jeeps and elephants, not to speak of heavier packages, are carried by air from one country to another.

Speed, in fact, seems to have become an obsession in the modern age; everything must be done quickly and expeditiously, as if the test of man’s progress is the speed at which he travels and the pace at which he works or gets work done in his home, office or factory. The hectic life that people lead in today’s world symbolises pace and progress.

The times when people used to have plenty of leisure and apparently, endless time to do things, to rest and relax, to stand, stare and reflect when they chose.

Science, scientific devices, electricity and electrical gadgets, advanced technology and technological methods of production, all reflect an innate irrepressible desire of the modern man and woman to rush through things anyhow.

In the home of every modern family, the latest electrical and other advanced equipment is used to expedite the processes of cooking, washing clothes and doing a hundred other odd jobs. “Instant cooking” has hardly any flavour, and yet is getting popular.

The aim throughout is to finish the various duties and domestic chores quickly. Life at home, and in offices and factories has become a mad race against time. Interestingly, there is no law or any type of legal compulsion to resort to speedy measures to finish one’s task and reach one’s destination. But speed and hurry seem to have become essential features of human existence.

Without speed, apparently, modern life would become sheer boredom, housework nothing but soul-killing drudgery and unforgettable monotony. Ironically, though quite logically, there is speed even in death and disposal of the dead in an electric crematorium.

Thus, science has contributed materially to speed, which, in modern parlance, stands for efficiency. There can be no efficiency without speed, and perhaps no speed without a fast pace and a high degree of efficiency. Both are inter-connected, and indispensable to each other, almost like the two sides of a coin. Things have changed even in the rural areas.

The farmers want to quicken the pace of existence, resort to quick-yielding seeds, and harvest the nature crop in a couple of days and dispose of it as rapidly as possible, to get the cash returns and spend these too in no time on gold and trinkets.

Living is all marked by speed, which has taken out much of the joy of life. Speed, however, does not necessarily ensure good work, for efficiency implies work done on time, as also on the right lines and intelligently, not merely finishing a task recklessly for the sake of making a display of speed and inflating the data of performance.

Nor does speed facilitate the proper and all-round development of the human personality and human talents. When there is a rush for things, the real cultural and human values take a back seat. Moreover, speed is the direct antithesis of art and works of lasting value.

A hastily drawn painting, or a quickly completed piece of art, statue, a sculpture or a metal master­piece, can never have the appeal of a work done with due attention to every detail (which speed and expeditious disposal virtually rule out). In fact, it would not be wrong to say that speed spoils, while adequate devotion and time ensure quality.

What does it benefit a man if there is a mass production of goods, all of poor quality and liable to break asunder in a matter of days? Don’t we praise old things, pieces of furniture and works of art done by our ancestors, or master craftsmen of their times who worked hard without being hurried or hustled?

Today’s articles and manufactured articles are neither durable nor do they have much aesthetic appeal, because they have been quickly finished, as if the heavens would fall unless the article is completed and marketed quickly. Art never flourishes under conditions marked by rush and speed.

Speed in the modern age has also adversely affected the production of literary works. In a bid to submit novels and collections of poems or stories to the publisher in quick time, authors are compelled to sacrifice quality to meet the deadline (of time and date); Many authors, painters and creators of works or art regard a deadline as their enemy, for it hampers their style and hinders the production of works of quality.

Poetry or drama produced at leisure, and written only when the right inspiration and promptings come, is bound to be of lasting interest, but poems written hurriedly to order are seldom creative in the real sense. They would lack rhyme and rhythm, and they would have the form without genuine content, which is sacrificed at the altar of speed.

In the sphere of education, too, speed has spelt the death-knell of real knowledge. Instant “guides”, instant teaching (without adequate study and preparation), instant evaluation of candidates’ answer books and instant declaration of examination results with the help of computers and other devices have resulted in glaring ignorance and equally glaring mistakes or howlers.

The increasing reliance on machines in the name of speed has also made human beings dull in intellect. It is common knowledge that in En­gland, the U.S.A. and Japan, the use of computers by school students to do their sums has resulted in the production of dull students, who do not know how to make even simple calculations, additions and subtractions on their own. They rely on the computer all the time, even for simple work. Their own faculties remain undeveloped.

Speed on the road, of motor-cycles, scooters, trucks, in air and in space certainly provides thrills, but it also kills. Deaths on the road, because of fast and rash driving of vehicles, have become common and the toll of human life because of speed is mounting year by year. But such casualties are regarded, ironically, as the inevitable price of progress.

How many lives have been sacrificed at the altar of speed, and how many flowers have been crushed even before they bloomed is hard to calculate. But there is no doubt that while speed looks prestigious and attractive superficially, and promises results fast, it also results in much loss to mankind-in art, development of character and personality and inculcation of basic human virtues. It is the lack of human virtues that we deplore today, and the guilt must be laid at the door of the goddess of speed, if there is any.

There is yet another aspect of this question which calls for notice. To what use do we put the time supposedly saved through speed in transport and office work? Do we utilise our leisure for positive and constructive nation-building activity, or do we waste it in clubs, drink parties, card games and gambling? Again, does speed ensure human happiness, and does it re­lieve misery?

In the good old days, an even tempo of life was maintained calmly and quietly, with due attention to the development of human qualities, such as affection, regard for the weak, the aged and the elderly, with sympa­thy for the countless sufferers and for fellow human beings in distress, which are vital. But the age of speed tends to destroy the very spirit of humanity; it makes us heartless and reckless, rushing from one place to another and with no time for friendship and affection. Should we, then, become votaries of the age of speed? It is an open question.