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The proponent and opponents of tech innovation argue about the
blessings and harms of the expanded technological advancement in
the global arena. From Hunter-gatherer societies to modern-day’s
post-capitalist societies; the art which has indisputable progress for
humanity is the art of technology and change. Technological change
provides the economic base and societal revolution in the general.
Regardless of unprecedented changes in facets of communications its
expansion could turn into cyber warfare, data privacy rights, political
malice, and a threat to democracy.

Discussing the inverse logic in the first place; there is not an iota of
doubt that expanded information technology has revolutionized the
healthcare industry across the globe. The people from Nigeria can
connect to New York for medical consultancy with little effort. It has
changed the paradigm of the health sector with potential phase.
Secondly, in the Political arena, the concept of e-governance evolved.
Automation and information technology can be used to collect records
and data statistics to make new and efficient policies for the public by
using evidence-based policies. Regardless of robust socio-economic
and socio-political changes in the structure of society information
technology posited a major setback to the overall growth of society.

The threat of individual liberty due to mass surveillance is circulated


everywhere with the dawn of excessive information technology.
People have lost the true independence and liberty to choose and to
decide about themselves. Google and media giants have placed the
autonomy. The cannibalization of jobs is also a melting point with the
advent of information technology. Humans’ cognitive skills are
outperformed by artificial intelligence. One of the most lethal problems
which are caused by expanded information technology is inequality;
the flow of information technology led revenue from the south towards
Silicon Valley. All the data of the world is owned by a minutus majority
which is problematic. A small data elite can capture the entire globe
within clicks. The autocratic hold of data by companies can put a
major threat to the independence and rational decision-making of
individual as well as collective states. The prior economic inequality
was less potent than the subsequent data inequalities between North
and South.

Democracy which is based on the trust factor is plagued by cyber-


attacks and disinformation. Public opinion is engineered in the firms
where the analysis of public behavior through different apps like
Candy Crush can be used to mold and shape their opinions of the
favorite leader. The democracy which stands over the general will is
compromised by manufactured consent. Boot camps and lobbying big
data tailor-made the wishes and preferences to make political
campaigns for voting and triumphing the preferred members. The
manipulated biases are justified through echo chambering by
advertising all the biases and prejudices of humans to confirm their
biases for political agendas. Democracy replaced by populism due to
expanded information technology. The other side of democracy is
based on communication. It was the improved communication in the
society that established the democratic governances in different parts
of the world, but with time, the malfunctioning communication due to a
matrix of misinformation can halt the global growth and sustainability
of democracy.

Yuval Noah Hariri argued that the biggest threat to the working class
is not exploitation but irrelevance in the 21st Century. In the past
technology couldn’t replace human intellectual abilities but artificial
intelligence can overshadow the cognitive skills of human beings.
These cognitive skills were peculiar human traits that empower them
to main positions in companies and firms but the modern expanded
technology has outnumbered this peculiar trait. Now robots and
automated machines can do a good job of hiring and recruiting people
than humans. Due to this reason, humans have become irrelevant
with the cannibalization of jobs.
Every decision is owned by algorithms which are moral decadence.
Google owns preferences and likes and dislikes mechanisms for
humans. It is a big moral dilemma that expanded technology posed
over human authority and autonomy. The unique decision-making of
humans is replaced by tech-based decision powers. The margin of
independent thinking has declined in the 21st Century. It is argued by
scholars that the ultimate goal of Google is to outsource every
decision of humans to Google.

Due to expanded technology, multi-national companies and firms are


becoming stronger and more sovereign than entire states. For
example, the Apple Market Value in 2021 was $2274.34 billion and
Microsoft’s net worth was $1988.67 billion quart triple the entire GDP
of any nation in Asia. The digital elites have become super humans
which is a global threat to governance in third-world countries. The
owner of big firms can sabotage and challenge the governance of any
small country for the collective goodwill of their companies. State
sovereignty has been diluted and replaced due to the more powerful
Leviathan traits of big data firms.

The possible remedies to expanded technology are many. The


democratization of data is a way forward in which the concentration
and autocratic hold of all the data chains can be diluted into different
units by breaking up Big Data like Google and Facebook. For
example, Rockefeller Oil Company was diluted into 34 companies
when it became a giant holder of all the oil supply in Europe. In the
same vein, Big Data can be distributed into different units for
democratization purposes. Secondly; strict government regulations
and oversight mechanisms can be used to control Artificial Intelligence
research. The expansion of IT should be controlled and ethical
otherwise it can be a potential threat to humanity.

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