“Uparwala sab dekh raha hai”
the saying is as old as the hills, but what’s new in the TV commercial is that ‘Uparwala’ here refers to ‘CP Plus’ CCTV.
Earlier days, a child was told “God sees all, knows all, is all powerful and he knows what you are up to , anywhere, any time, so better behave…..” As one grew up either the conscience took over the role of God or one just concluded that as an adult one had only his boss or the policeman to watch out for.
Today, be it a child or an adult, we have Technology watching over everyone. The Omnipresent,omniscient, and omnipotent God is in the form of CCTVs, databases and drones armed with all kinds of sensors and weapon systems.You may receive a challan for overspeeding and you may not even be aware as to where and when you broke the speed limit. To compound the issue thee is no human face, call it cop, to negotiate or reason with. You may receive a demand note from IT dept for arrears of tax dues along with fine and you may be blissfully unaware of any tax evasion on your part; nor is there any other human being aware; it is just as “What God giveth, He taketh back”
With the kind of digital foot print you leave of every activity; details of your movements, telephone calls, money transactions, shopping habits are all saved in some server and some software is forever crunching the ‘big data’ to catch you with ‘hand in the cookie jar’.
So have we finally invented a God, as Voltaire had wished we should ? But so far we have seen this God acting as a policeman, faithfully enforcing man-made laws.
May be some day we have Technology used to locate a hungry child and direct a food-laden drone to feed her; providing the proverbial “manna from the heavens”. Till then , God is God and Technology is just Technology.