Exploring the Pulse of Our Planet
Essay 2 – The Rise of Artificial Intelligence: Tool for Progress or Trigger of Mass Dependency?
By Faraz Parvez
Professor Dr. (Retired) Arshad Afzal
Former Faculty Member, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, KSA
(Pseudonym of Professor Dr. Arshad Afzal)
In this age of quantum leaps and digital sorcery, one force has slipped into our lives so rapidly, so thoroughly, that we no longer ask if we control it—or if it now controls us.
That force is Artificial Intelligence.
With one voice command, AI writes our emails, composes our music, predicts our next purchase, and even finishes our sentences. But as we hand over convenience after convenience, we must ask:
🧠 Have we invited a servant into our house—or a silent ruler?
At farazparvez1.blogspot.com, our Exploratory Essay Series is not meant to fearmonger, but to investigate. To awaken. To ask: What are we creating? What are we becoming?
🤖 The Convenience Trap
Let’s admit it—AI is miraculous. A student struggling to write a paper can now generate one in minutes. A business owner can automate tasks that once took entire departments. Even artists, once the last bastion of human soul, now share space with code-generated creativity.
But here’s the dilemma:
The more AI does for us, the less we do for ourselves.
Not just in tasks—but in thought.
We no longer struggle. We simply prompt.
We no longer solve. We simply search.
We no longer imagine. We simply generate.
The tragedy is not that AI is becoming human.
It’s that humans are becoming dependent machines—plugged in, hollowed out, efficient, but increasingly empty.
🧭 Progress or Passive Obedience?
Yes, AI can analyze thousands of legal cases in seconds. It can recommend treatment options to doctors. It can identify enemy movements in warfare. But every system it improves also becomes a system more vulnerable to collapse without it.
We are building a future that’s intelligent—but frighteningly fragile.
A single cyberattack on an AI-run infrastructure could paralyze an entire city.
A manipulation of search algorithms could shift elections.
An AI-powered lie can now look more real than the truth itself.
And yet, most users know nothing about the systems they’re using.
They don’t know how their data is used.
They don’t know how decisions are made.
They don’t even know what rights they’re giving away with every click.
We are sliding into mass dependency masked as convenience.
🔄 Rewiring the Human Spirit
This isn’t a call to reject AI. That would be regressive. This is a call to remember who is in charge—or who should be.
We must build a relationship with AI that is intentional, conscious, and ethical.
We must:
- Educate users about their data, their tools, and their digital rights.
- Preserve human-centered skills like empathy, reasoning, morality, and creativity.
- Encourage the next generation to use AI as a springboard—not a crutch.
- Insist on transparency, accountability, and moral boundaries in tech development.
As I often tell my students and readers:
The greatest technology in history is still the human mind—when it is awake.
📘 A Personal Reflection
As a retired professor and lifelong educator, I have watched generations evolve. But nothing has transformed our behavior, identity, and sense of self as swiftly as AI. It is now part of our daily rhythm, our relationships, our work, and even our prayers.
But technology without Tarbiyah (ethical nurturing) is like fire without direction—it can light the world or burn it down.
Let us not become efficient slaves to a system we built.
Let us stay awake. Let us stay human.
Coming Up Next:
🔍 Essay 3 – “Climate Anxiety and the Collapse of Planetary Patience: Are We Ready for the World We Broke?”
By Faraz Parvez
Professor Dr. (Retired) Arshad Afzal
Former Faculty Member, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, KSA
(Pseudonym of Professor Dr. Arshad Afzal)
🌐 For more thought-provoking essays, visit:
👉 farazparvez1.blogspot.com
