Science and Technology Today

We have come a very long way since the time of the composition of the Vedas. One of our latest scientific feats, completed in the year 2000, is the breaking of the genome code (the molecular blue print of the human body) for a basic understanding of how our body works at the molecular level. Another technological feat is the development of the world wide web, which allows anyone anywhere in the world to read this article that I am writing in Ann Arbor, Michigan, using a simple personal computer on his/her desk. These are really stunning achievements for the human intellect. But unfortunately, as the base of human knowledge grew, the purpose of science has changed from ``understanding nature'' to ``acquiring absolute and total control of nature exclusively for the needs and pleasures of mankind even at the risk of the total extinction of other forms of life''. This is regretable and reprehensible.