TECHNOLOGY: Cause and Solution to Terrorism

Written by Kolade Malik Ademola
Edited by Yusuff Ademola Adesina

Over the years, technology has rendered to human, one of the greatest supports of living one could ever imagine, it made life easier and worthy of living, it solved the problems we never thought we had in ways we do not understand and none whatsoever of the things we enjoy now would not have existed without technology. Not only do we enjoy every benefit that technology has brought us, but we exploit it also. Consequently, the exploitation of technology led to what we can refer to in today's language as TERRORISM; which has posed and will continue to pose great threats to the security of the world if treated with an indifferent attitude.

We might not accede to this, but our entire way of life depends on electricity. So what would happen if it just stopped working? Well, like a switch turned off, the world will suddenly thrust back into the dark ages. Planes fall from the sky, hospitals shut down, cars stop working, communication altered and life, back to what it once was long before the industrial revolution: no carbon monoxide contaminating the air, no depletion of Ozone layer by some gases, no weapons of mass destruction, no threat to life, and people living in quiet cul-de-sacs. When the sun set, lanterns and candles were lit, when the need for transportation arose, legs, donkeys, horses, and camels were used, when the need for communication surfaced, pony expresses were used, life was sweet then and also very slow.

 Again, before the industrial revolution took place, many countries traded with political network, but after the era of industrialisation, many countries started having in possession, powerful weapons and massive steam boats, which aided them in their conquest of conquering other parts of the world. The industrial revolution brought along improvement in the standard of living of an individual as some economists stated, life became enjoyable and less stressful as the old  ways of living has been replaced with new ones, so also the security being bridged and fear of  being imperialised evolved among the less powerful nations.

By 2000s, the future of technology sounded so  promising. Unprecedented advances in computing, robotics, artificial intelligence,  genetics and biotechnology held the potential to radically transform our world for better and create abundance and sustainability for all. But the aggressive use of technology for information management, communication and intelligence  has ignite terror activities which caused a great setback of the revolution. Technology has made perilous weapons to be readily available, and the ready availability of trained personnel to operate it for any client with sufficient cash allows the well funded terrorist organisations to equal or exceed the sophistication of counter measures laid down.

Almost all the tidings that technology brought about has good and bad effects. One of the greatest of all is MEDIA. It sounds naïve that media is performing a very paramount role in proliferating terrorism, and it is not being noticed, how? Major media compete for ratings and also the subsequent revenue realised from the increase in the audience size and share has provided a platform for terrorists to increase the impact and violence of their actions having taken the advantage of the sensationalism. Terrorism now requires a greatly increased amount of violence or novelty to attract the attention it requires with which technology (MEDIA) has provided them the medium. It is no doubt we are at the dawn of an exponentially advancing technological arms race between people who are using it for good and those using it for bad. As stated that the battle to counter terrorism has started since the beginning of time, but what has changed in this pace of innovation? Nothing, as technology proliferates terrorism at an exponential pace and despite the adequate measure deduced, terrorism has grown unabated.

We as individuals need not to be economical with the truth again, that irrespective of the cause of any terrorist organisation, what keeps them in place is technology, now are we to scrap technology so as to win the war over terrorism? No, it is not possible, and never can it be. So, from my perspective as a writer, terrorism can never be curbed but the only unending solution it could attain is reducing it to the minimum bearable.