Humans—specifically Homo sapiens—have always been in pursuit of a better life. From the hunting-gathering age to the digital era, this quest continues, albeit the tools we use have transformed dramatically. The story of human progress is an account of our inventions and innovations. Yet every breakthrough comes with a price. The steam engine brought industrial prosperity but choked cities in smoke. The smartphone connects us across continents yet isolates us within our own rooms. The internet rendered knowledge limitless, but also unleashed an avalanche of misinformation. Artificial intelligence (AI) has made life easier, but it is snatching both low- and high-skilled jobs.

Human life has witnessed unprecedented progress and prosperity, thanks to technological advancement in various sectors. Earlier, technological change was slow and predictable; now it is rapid, disruptive, far-reaching and unpredictable. Technology generates opportunities and challenges simultaneously. Previously, technological advancement unfolded over generations. Industrial-era innovations—steam engine, telegraph, electricity—changed society at a manageable pace. Today’s technologies—information and communications technologies, AI, biotechnology, automation—transform society in real time. 

Disruption

Hence, the swifter the change, the greater the disruption. Technological advancement has become increasingly ephemeral, creating challenges almost insurmountable. New platforms replace older ones at unprecedented speed. The radio paging system epitomises how innovations can be evanescent. Nepal introduced mobile phone in 1999, revolutionising communications. In 2000, entrepreneurs set up Nepal Radio Paging Pvt. Ltd. Before it could expand, mobile phones swallowed it, as radio paging was one-way communication. Its premature death caused financial losses and taught a costly lesson: technology-based investments are risky, especially in fast-changing sectors.

United Telecom Limited (UTL), a joint venture of Nepali and Indian telecom companies, began operations in Nepal in 2002 with Code Division Multiple Access technology—a hybrid allowing phones to function as both fixed and mobile within certain areas. With falling prices, improved efficiency, and cheaper mobile handsets, UTL could not compete with Nepal Telecom and vanished. Another striking ephemerality is the fall of BlackBerry, once commanding over 40 per cent of the global smartphone market, which shows how quickly dominance can vanish when a company fails to adapt. As touch-screen smartphones surged after the iPhone’s launch in 2007, BlackBerry’s value plummeted, wiping out billions in investor wealth. 

Globally, AI and automation are increasingly threatening both low-skilled and high-skilled jobs in finance, law, journalism, medicine, and software. Restaurants are replacing waiters with robots, warehouses are running fully automated logistics systems, and AI-assisted journalism is reducing traditional reporting jobs. The print of books has declined globally, resulting in massive layoffs, reduced revenue of printers, distributors, shippers, and booksellers across the world due to the rise of online editions. Telemedicine platforms allow doctors to serve more patients remotely, reducing demand for some hospital staff. Diagnosis of critical diseases like cancer by AI has increasingly become more accurate than by medical doctors. Even graphic design and video editing are seeing AI-assisted tools reduce manual work.

Nepal is not insulated from this disruption. Paging companies disappeared overnight. Digital transformation is reshaping banks, universities, hospitals, transportation, and labour markets. The need for clerical staff and branch employees in the banking sector has been reduced due to mobile banking, digital wallets, automated teller machines, banking software, and AI-based fraud detection systems. Automation and AI offer efficiency, reduce human error, and limit fraud. In Nepal, where fiduciary risks in banks are high, technology adoption is likely to accelerate, replacing human resources in critical areas. While this strengthens institutional integrity, it simultaneously displaces jobs and forces workers to reskill.

Nepal’s media sector, historically dominated by print, radio, and television, now faces massive revenue losses, downsizing, and layoffs due to digital disruption. Journalistic standards are eroding, replaced in some cases by sensationalism and clickbait culture—a pattern seen globally, from the US to Nepal. Nepal’s media is facing unprecedented threat from social networking sites, also called social media like Facebook, X, YouTube as majority media consumers cannot differentiate between news media and so-called social media due mainly to the absence of digital and media literacy. 

And the mushrooming digital news platforms have added insult to injury. Online news portals, which are inexpensive, require extremely few human resources and working space, can produce instant content, often at the expense of quality reporting, creating a more fragmented information ecosystem. Social networks have become a threat to political systems worldwide. From the Arab Spring to misinformation campaigns in Europe and the US, social media can topple governments or destabilise societies. In Nepal, the September 8, 2025, Gen Z movement—sparked by the shutdown of 26 social networking sites—demonstrated the power of technology to mobilise action. Protesters ransacked and set fire to government institutions, media outlets, private businesses, and residences of top political leaders nationwide, amplified by online coordination.

Vulnerabilities

The movement inflicted economic losses, devastated traditional media, and exposed the fragility of democratic institutions. Technology reshapes political behaviour and communication, creating vulnerabilities to misinformation, disinformation, infodemics, cyber-bullying, and polarization. Online campaigns have influenced elections, swayed public opinion, and fuelled unrest in multiple countries. If the pace of technology-induced change continues, innovations may reverse progress in various fields and push societies toward a past where people were more self-dependent and less reliant on machines.

Globally, automation and AI are replacing roles once considered secure, from service jobs to highly skilled professions. Meanwhile, political chaos, weakened trust in institutions, and growing conflict between citizens and governments may intensify. Technological advancement is both a boon and a bane. The challenge is not resisting technology but directing it responsibly. Societies that adapt ethically, invest in reskilling, and use technology strategically will thrive; those that fail may face deeper instability. The most dreadful possibility is that technology may ultimately dehumanize the world.

(Sedhai is a freelance writer.)