Rethinking the ways to embrace technology

It’s generally perceived that we all have to co-exist with fast-evolving technology regardless of the short-term problems it causes – since progress will allow no one to stand in its way. The attitude is sound, but it’s fundamentally too passive when we actually need to be proactive. Just as importantly, we have to adopt and adapt the technology with a minimum of commercial exploitation or politicisation of innovations and fresh discoveries.
Technological advances are bound to shake up existing social, political and economic paradigms. Chinese engineers’ success in developing self-driving buses is certain to hurt manufacturers of private cars there and overseas and could even have a ripple effect on the economies of China’s trading partners. The same can be said about virtually every other technological leap forward, from alternative energy to smartphones.
If commercialism plays too large a role in the further development of self-driving cars, progress will be slower than necessary as auto companies protect their investments in existing stock and research. Countries that are economically dependent on making cars and auto parts will be resistant too. If politics and diplomacy interfere, discoveries in alternative energy sources will become more remote. And if public sentimentality comes into play, students will continue sitting in conventional classrooms rather than being schooled by online teachers at home.
Some experts expect 2019 to witness more groundwork being laid for future breakthroughs rather than actual achievements, but progress will still be rapid nevertheless. We’ll see more helpful devices jump from the pages of sci-fi novels and into our homes. Gadgets that respond to voice commands are slated to be hot sellers this year. 
If the year does not bring any major, earth-shattering changes, the further development of augmented reality and Net-connected “wearables” will herald a new age of personal computing, say the experts at Fastcompany.com. Smoothing the path will be enabling technologies such as 5G networks, which could be prevalent by the end of 2020. Artificial intelligence will become infused in more kinds of products so that our gadgets can anticipate human needs.
These advances are increasingly bringing ordinary citizens into the equation, yet many key decisions are still made by governments and big companies. A major change of attitude at high levels is imperative. The status quo has, for example, downplayed significant breakthroughs in China. 
For too long, powerful people in politics and business have been controlling the pace and direction of technological progress, and their management has not always been good or fair. There is a tendency to evade responsibility when progress takes an obvious wrong turn and to blame some other segment or society. The results have been unhealthy competition and needless disruption and delays. We should know by now, for example, how our current technology could be helping the underprivileged and we should have begun seeing it happening. Instead, efficient medical care remains the sole reserve of those who are well off enough to afford it.
Without a shift in attitudes, 
technological advancements could cover the world in a political mess. Caution is of course essential whenever new discoveries are made, but it should be a caution over the welfare of mankind rather than political or business interests.