Srinagar, Nov. 10 -- There is something deeply paradoxical about the modern world. We live longer, travel faster, communicate across continents in seconds and possess medical and technological capabilities that would have seemed miraculous to our ancestors. We can summon a car with a tap, find our way through unfamiliar cities with a digital map and access more information in a minute than previous generations could gather in a lifetime. By almost every conventional measure, humanity has progressed enormously. Yet, beneath this dazzling surface lies an uncomfortable question- have humans progressed at the same pace as we have progressed as a civilisation?

This is not an argument against modernity, nor an attempt to glorify the past. Ther...