When Progress Forgets Its Purpose

Our fascination with rapid technological development tends to blind us to what actually counts: the purpose technology is meant to serve.

More than a hundred years ago, John Maynard Keynes predicted that technology would advance so far that humanity’s main problem would be what to do with all its spare time. The irony is striking. A century later, with automation, robots, and now humanoid machines accelerating rapidly, people are not freer—but more busy, anxious, stressed, and depressed than ever.

The mistake lies in confusing means with ends. Technology answers what can be done, but it cannot answer what should be done. When purpose is unclear, every technological gain simply raises expectations, speed, and pressure. Time is saved—and immediately lost again.

A tool illustrates this clearly. A knife can kill a man, or it can remove a tumor and save his life. The difference is not the blade, but the intention guiding it. Power without purpose is blind.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada addressed this imbalance with the principle simple living, high thinking. Especially in peaceful rural Krishna conscious communities, unnecessary complexity is reduced—not out of nostalgia, but to reclaim time, clarity, and peace. And he was explicit about the purpose of that freed time: to chant Hare Krishna.

Technology becomes a blessing only when it serves a clear higher aim.

When development itself becomes the focus, progress accelerates—but meaning disappears.