Are we the greatest Civilization to have ever lived?

A foolish man told me, “We are not the greatest Civilization; in fact, we are the greatest uncivilized generation.”

(credits to the rightful owner)

I was angry and began to confront that foolish man. But after some time, I began to see the meaning. And that foolish man became one of my greatest teachers.

Probably, we have the most advanced technology today. The power of the internet is unfathomable that it reaches the four corners of the earth. We can talk in real-time with all our friends and loved ones no matter where they are. We build high buildings and towers. We float into waters and seas through fancied ships. We swim underwater through submarines. We fly in the skies and the universe. We cure diseases.

Undoubtedly, technology has paved a way for information flow, economic growth, advanced communication and many others which considerably are good. However, a clearer impact can be seen and revealed at a closer look at the growing technology in human lives. Environmental problems are worsening due to the pollution, over-consumption, deforestation, use of synthetic fertilizers and chemicals on the farm, and many other practices which are attributed to technology. These problems are inevitably caused by the application of technology to the daily living.

There also arises a worsening morality of the people. It can be gleaned by the acts of people becoming more self-centered and less- selfless. These can be seen greatly in Facebook accounts posting status of oneself doing “Selfie” and other post bragging one’s looks and status in life. These are all manifestation of a world becoming less selfless and more self-centered which is not a good quality of a good community dynamic, a feature needed for a community to grow and move forward towards improvement. The power of communication has turned us ill.

We build buildings and houses but not homes. There are hundreds of thousands of people out there who do not enjoy the luxury of even having a small home. There are thousands of people that still live on the squats, bridges, and roads.

We swim underwater through submarines but only to lunch missiles. We fly to the skies not to travel but most are to drop bombs. Note that the most advanced today in terms of airships are not intended for travel but for wars. We traveled into space, according to them in search of another earth to inhabit, but in reality, just to launch satellites that can spy the whole world. Diseases have worsened. Millions died every year because of diseases.Hundreds of millions died over the years because of hunger and poverty, but billions of foods are dumped each year due to food spoilage.

In short, we have turned our generation into the greatest slaughterhouse for men, women, children and the environment. Not withstanding all of these, all these favorable and unfavorable effects of technology can be improved, in the case of the former and minimized in case of the latter’s effects by going back towards the wisdom which has always been taught by the ancients – “If we persist to befriend the world, we less likely making friend with God, The Source, the Cosmic Consciousness, and the Great Void.”

This is the common denominator taught by our ancient fathers from different religion and from different generations. The truth is that we continue to make friends with the world, and forget about the real purpose of life and being a social being. We have become more self-centered and less- loving individual for others.

So how can we call ourselves the greatest civilization?