#24: august 06
It's a lot more than just another day. The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima this day in 1945. And in 1991, the web we all know so well went world wide. In their own separate ways, they have changed our world.
The atom bomb arguably brought World War II to an end. But it instantly killed 80,000-140,000 civilians and seriously injured 100,000 more – most of whom died a premature and painful death in the next few years. Just imagine – the burst of temperature reaching over a million degrees: concrete, iron, steel, glass, and all living matter seared in that heat. It's too grotesque to even imagine. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the Manhattan Project, said he thought of the lines from the Bhagavad Gita, "I am become Death, Destroyer of Worlds". Lt. Colonel Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the B29 (Enola Gay) that dropped the bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" exclaimed, "My God, what have we done?" as he watched the atomic cloud suck out life from a city of 750,000 people.
I am no historian, politician, or military strategist. I can only reflect on the devastation of war. In the 6 decades since, what have we learnt? Buildings, bridges, and roads can be rebuilt. But what about lives? Those who raise the spectre of war: to them are lives anything beyond a count in their calculus? I see the raging conflicts – from Timor to the Middle-East, from Central-Asia to parts of Africa and beyond, and new ones brewing over Iran and North Korea .... and I have my doubts. Too much power flows from the barrel of a gun.
On to the web: The days prior to an instant link to the world through the internet seems almost unimaginable. In just 15 years we've been so thoroughly "webbed". Education, commerce, information, communication, governance, entertainment – this medium covers it all. It's become integral to our lives; we feel marooned without it. And our dependence seems limitless.
I could have scripted a journal. Instead I am posting my thoughts and beaming them beyond all borders to anyone who can type-in the url address. You and I could be anywhere; the world has just shrunk. How powerful is that! Quite like atomic power, come to think of it. Hopefully it will be harnessed for peaceful productive pursuits only.
The atom bomb arguably brought World War II to an end. But it instantly killed 80,000-140,000 civilians and seriously injured 100,000 more – most of whom died a premature and painful death in the next few years. Just imagine – the burst of temperature reaching over a million degrees: concrete, iron, steel, glass, and all living matter seared in that heat. It's too grotesque to even imagine. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the Manhattan Project, said he thought of the lines from the Bhagavad Gita, "I am become Death, Destroyer of Worlds". Lt. Colonel Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the B29 (Enola Gay) that dropped the bomb nicknamed "Little Boy" exclaimed, "My God, what have we done?" as he watched the atomic cloud suck out life from a city of 750,000 people.I am no historian, politician, or military strategist. I can only reflect on the devastation of war. In the 6 decades since, what have we learnt? Buildings, bridges, and roads can be rebuilt. But what about lives? Those who raise the spectre of war: to them are lives anything beyond a count in their calculus? I see the raging conflicts – from Timor to the Middle-East, from Central-Asia to parts of Africa and beyond, and new ones brewing over Iran and North Korea .... and I have my doubts. Too much power flows from the barrel of a gun.
On to the web: The days prior to an instant link to the world through the internet seems almost unimaginable. In just 15 years we've been so thoroughly "webbed". Education, commerce, information, communication, governance, entertainment – this medium covers it all. It's become integral to our lives; we feel marooned without it. And our dependence seems limitless.
I could have scripted a journal. Instead I am posting my thoughts and beaming them beyond all borders to anyone who can type-in the url address. You and I could be anywhere; the world has just shrunk. How powerful is that! Quite like atomic power, come to think of it. Hopefully it will be harnessed for peaceful productive pursuits only.
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