Untangling the Wires: The One Technology We Might Be Better Off Without

Untangling the Wires: The One Technology We Might Be Better Off Without

There is an odd beauty in asking which technology we would be better off without. It is like holding a mirror to modern civilisation: the glittering innovations, the complex networks, and beneath them, the unseen cracks that quietly widen under our feet. In an age where our daily lives shimmer with scientific marvels—from quantum processors to self-learning algorithms—choosing a technology to forgo feels almost sacrilegious. Yet, introspection is often the first step towards progress.

After much contemplation, one technology stands out as both transformative and troubling: predictive personal surveillance technology—the vast ecosystem of data-mining tools, behavioural trackers, and algorithmic profiling systems that claim to “optimise” our lives while quietly scripting them.

A World Under Watchful Eyes

Predictive surveillance is not simply CCTV cameras perched on lampposts. It is a sprawling system:

– smartphone sensors that follow our steps,

– algorithms that learn our preferences before we articulate them,

– apps that map our social behaviour,

– devices that listen even when we are silent.

Scientifically, it is a masterpiece of data engineering. Terabytes of information feed machine-learning engines, producing predictions with astonishing accuracy—consumer behaviour, emotional tendencies, even potential political inclinations. It has legitimate applications: preventing fraud, enhancing medical diagnostics, and improving urban planning. Yet, these benefits come with a price we rarely calculate.

Technically Brilliant, Socially Burdensome

Predictive surveillance thrives on one raw material: human privacy.
And privacy—unlike oil—cannot be replenished.

The practical viability of removing or restricting such technology is grounded in a simple truth: human beings function best when they have room to think, err, and evolve. When every action is tracked, measured, and modelled, freedom shrinks—not always through force, but subtly, psychologically.

A world without this technology would mean:

– fewer algorithmic assumptions about who we are,

– less pressure to conform to predicted patterns,

– more space for spontaneity,

– reduced risk of mass profiling or exploitation,

– greater trust in human-to-human interaction.

This is not a rejection of technology but a call for recalibration—an encouragement to adopt tools that empower us rather than tools that script us.

The Intellectual and Philosophical Lens

Philosophers from Aristotle to Tagore have spoken of the sanctity of self-governance. To be fully human is to articulate one’s own choices, even imperfectly. When prediction becomes too precise, individuality risks dissolving into patterns on a screen.

Jean-Paul Sartre might argue that predictive technologies dilute existential freedom, reducing us from creatures of will to datasets of probability.

In ancient Indian philosophy, particularly in the Upanishads, the value of internal exploration surpasses the noise of external measurement. To “know oneself” becomes harder when every moment is already being known by something else.

Looking Towards the Future

Futuristic societies will not shun technology—they will refine it, temper it, and humanise it. If we must let go of something, let it be the tools that steal our autonomy under the guise of convenience.

Instead, imagine a society where:

– AI is assistive, not intrusive,

– data belongs to the individual,

– choices stem from human intuition,

– privacy is treated as a fundamental right,

– technology bends to societal ethics, not the other way around.

– Such a future is not naïve; it is necessary.

Closing Thoughts

Stepping away from predictive surveillance does not pull us back into the dark ages. Instead, it might illuminate corners of our humanity that high-precision algorithms unintentionally shadow. Progress need not mean surrender; innovation need not mean intrusion.

And so, perhaps the technology we would be better off without is one that knows too much—more than it should, more than we need it to.

Not every spark must blaze the night,
Not every truth requires a light;
Some roads the human soul must tread,
Unmapped, unknown, by instinct led.

In the silence free from scans,
We breathe, we dream, redraw our plans;
Let wisdom guide the world we build
With privacy preserved, and freedom filled.