Book Review: Where will man take us? A bold story of the man technology is creating

The novel, ‘Where will man take us’ gives the readers a delightful insight into how technology created by man is gradually taking control over the human minds; dictating how humans should function. The central theme of the novel revolves around how artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and genetics play a pivotal role as the drivers of change – impacting by large the ways in which the society should function.

The author mentions that technologies, which were invented to ease pain and end sufferings are merging with human biology, to an extent taking control over death. This is what makes man their own Gods.

In this book, Atul Jalan paints a sad picture of how artificial intelligence, nanotechnology and Genetics are weaving the future of mankind – to an extent that the dynamics of human relationship, morality and ethics are changing.

The novel is divided into five sections, each of the sections taking on one of the important aspect and role of technology. All sections are separate from the other and are not interlinked. Through his lucid writing, he has given a comparative analysis of society before the advent of technology, the contemporary times and how it will play a role in shaping the future.

At the very start of the novel, readers are thrown in the vast ocean of information. With the help of chronological instances picked from the history of events, the author validates his point, compelling readers to analysis the situation from a whole new angle.

He highlights that social media has a major role to play where “deliberate misinformation” spread on these platforms. He emphasises that fake news floating and “often gets picked up by lazy researchers and seeps into mainstream media as well.”

It is a novel, which is loaded with information that might be quite fascinating to know for people who are not abreast of the daily advancements in the world of science and technology. Through his crisp writing style, he talks about some of the most important historical events viz-a-viz the history of apple, bitcoin technology, social media, Sophia – world’s first robot with citizenship rights, theories pertaining to an alien invasion and numerous others such engrossing topics.

It would not be wrong to call this book a crash course on the history of technology and how it has enslaved humans in numerous aspects. While everybody likes to talk about the positives he talks about the downsides. The book is not fast reading as it demands evaluation of actions and options. To make it more relatable for the readers, the author picks up examples from real life instances.

Atul Jalan is the founder–CEO of the AI venture, Manthan.