Perhaps the invention of the wheel initiated the concept of speed; it grew into a revolution of motion. Whether on the earth or the waters or the air, man’s inventive faculty conquered all kinds of distances through motion or speed.
This speed, today, has assumed a new dimension. It is no longer a term that defines only the space covered; it is becoming a phenomenon that seeks to run even ahead of the mind. Ours is, as universally acknowledged, an age of the computer and the Internet.
“Ahead of the mind” is not an idle phrase. The present essay shall bear out the pros and Icons (= points for and against).
In its literal sense “speed” was a source of joy in the past. The change over from the bullock or horse-driven carts and the stage coaches (= a mode of negotiating long distances in coaches and by stages) to the fuel-run cars and steam engines must have been an exhilarating (= sensational or hair-raising) experiences. Speed, mustered up (=gathered) in limousines among cars, boeings among planes and in torpedo-nosed Japanese monorails, became less an enjoyment in proportion as it added in comfort as also luxury. It become a different kind of enjoyment as long distance were covered in nearly hermetically (=airtight) sealed compartments; doubtless enough, it eliminated the pleasures of ‘speed’. babes of
Modern times – especially the last quarter of the twentieth and the twenty first century – seems to be a period consigned (-committed) to speed. We may put it through an epigram (=pointed expression): Speed that was an element for the senses has become one of the mind.
In this age of computers and internet speed has entered the human mind. We feel that gradually the mind of the current generation considers speed to be something of paramount significance. The software technology is a labour-reducing device, both mental and physical. Its fast or speedy output contributes much to making life easy, and we experience it everyday, every moment. Besides its contribution to the work-a-day (= daily) life, it eases much of our intellectual and even imaginative labour and stress.
The speed with which the software contraption (= readymade devices) and hardware inventions are conquering the domains of the mind, seems appalling (= fearfully strange) at times. The secret of the “Command” reveals things; it automatically corrects wrong spellings or perhaps, may even polish drafts. Interviews and appointments, trade and commerce, exchange of ideas are executed with speed and promptness that have almost eliminated time.
But a word of caution! Speed – a gift of the electronic age- is a coveted (= most desired) crown of our age; but carried to an excess might become counter-productive. Literatures are emerging (= appearing) that reflect the darker sides of such a blind passion for speed. Machines that are but the lives of the human brain; that believe only in acceleration and that feed back readymade solution for the tricks of operation – a civilization that is founded on such a cult is bound to flounder (=get lost) in time. And needless to say, the modern age betrays a heady (= over eager) proneness (=bent) towards that kind of a civilization. Hence ‘a word of caution’ is needed.
