Digital exclusion in this digital world is a real danger (Mint)

Mains Paper 3: Science and Tech
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Impacts of digital inclusion

Context

• The use of smart technology is a critical part of our evolution, but it needs to achieve mass relevance.

Positive side of digital inclusion

• The smartphones today are a radio, phone, television and even the power of the internet, all put together.
• They help us stay in touch with our family and relatives, transfer money, buy goods, pay our bills, and even monitor our blood pressure and heart beats. Digital technologies are revolutionizing healthcare.
• Doctors are using smart devices to remotely monitor the health of patients, and even perform remote surgeries with the help of robots of course, not the Terminator or SkyNet ones made popular by sci-fi films.
• They are also using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies like machine learning and deep learning to seek patterns and diagnose diseases better than any specialist could do.
• Gene-editing tools like CRISPR-Cas9 (and variants of it), too, are helping doctors find treatments for life-threatening diseases.

Digital evolution from past decade

• Youngsters born between 1995 and 2015 and better known as Gen Z take electricity, gas cylinders, phones and the internet for granted.
• But even for Gen Z, for whom programming is almost second nature and who are familiar with terms like the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, robotics, virtual and augmented reality and drones.
• This is just the beginning of a very exciting but challenging journey.
• We are already seeing the onset of driverless vehicles, hyperloops, bullet trains, low-cost satellites, flying copters, quantum computers, bendable and foldable screens and robots that care for the elderly, clean our rooms, move goods, serve food and even issue parking tickets, among other things.

AI integrated technology

• With 5G on the anvil, practically every device will potentially be able to communicate with another and we may soon see the advent of smart walls that become our screen when we point a device at them.
• These smart screens will provide us with entertainment, infotainment (with augmented reality and virtual reality built in) and many other interesting possibilities.
• Retail will dramatically change once devices begin ordering goods for robots to deliver.
• People will routinely walk in front of smart mirrors and buy customized clothes, and robots at counters (or counters with voice AI) will recognize you and even alert you if you miss an item on your regular grocery list.

Challenges behind misusing technology

• The challenge is that there is always the grave danger of having too much data passing into the wrong hands be it the hands of cybercriminals who can steal our identities (ransomware is already the bugbear of individuals and companies) or even governments that can (and do) use the data to connect the dots with the help of AI to govern our social media habits and introduce policies to instil in us what they deem as “proper" behaviour and police people with the help of Face IDs.
• Further, genetically-modified designer babies (scientists will find a way to make them live longer) with enhanced memories and information downloads could redefine education and monopolize highly-skilled jobs.
• This, even as smart robots continue to make routine jobs redundant and those who can’t be reskilled fall by the wayside.
• Despite of strong belief that the melding of science and technology is a critical part of our evolutionary road map, smart technology has to become cheaper and be made relevant to the masses, failing which it could end up increasing the digital divide.
• A tacit admission by governments that this technology disruption due to AI, automation and robotics will impact and alienate many people is borne by the fact that we are mooting the idea of a “Universal Basic Income".

Conclusion

• With three billion people predicted to still be offline in 2023, and many more failing to reap the internet’s full potential.
• The time to address digital exclusion is now, insists the Pathways for Prosperity Commission on Technology and Inclusive Development, which is hosted and managed by Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government.
• Solutions are not just about shiny technology," the Commission notes, “but rather about diagnosing and fixing systemic problems first and using technology appropriately.
• India, with its increased focus on digital India and AI and a 1.3 billion population, surely has its work cut out.

  Online Coaching for UPSC PRE Exam

  General Studies Pre. Cum Mains Study Materials

Prelims Questions:

Q.1) Consider the following statements with reference to India’s extradition laws:
1. There is no law in India for countries with which India does not have an extradition treaty and every extradition with such country is dealt case by case bilaterally.
2. India does not have an extradition treaty with Pakistan, China and Afghanistan.
3. Nodal body for extradition cases is the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
a) 1 and 3 only
b) 2 only
c) 2 and 3 only
d) 3 only

Answer: B
Mains Questions:
Q.1) What has all this got to do with digital technologies increasing the digital divide?