Technology often informs our lives seamlessly. Technological advancement has become a part of the regular news cycle with updated versions of mobile phones, vehicles and personal gadgets becoming available every day. However, some technologies have the capacity to completely change our lives. They completely replace the systems they were invented to enhance or improve. Crypto-currency is one example. This new technology operates on block-chain data processing and threatens to replace traditional currencies, make government controls on investment ineffective and change the way cash is perceived.

E-commerce is another example. It has taken over the concept of traditional business models. In Pakistan, almost 89 percent of businesses have adopted the model. Ali express and Daraz.pk are increasingly available and convenient. E-commerce has gained territory quickly during the pandemic as the traditional market suffered due its requirement of physical interaction.

Another technology that has become a part of everyday life is ridesharing through mobile applications. The need to buy an expensive car in order to be driven around at one’s convenience has been eliminated by the ride sharing apps. Anyone can now afford call a driver and a car to take them places with minimal investment. There is no need to be driven around in a yellow taxi. These apps have also created job opportunities for millions of people or modified the working conditions for the workers. A cab driver no longer needs to lease a car or drive around needlessly. The convenience and ease of disruptive technologies is what gives them the ability to dramatically alter our lives.

Some technologies, such as gender selection through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) have given consumers the ability to control major aspects of their lives such as the gender of their unborn child. This was absolutely unimaginable a few years ago. However, with great inventions and life altering technologies come new risks. The IVF-facilitated gender selection, for example, poses the risk of societal imbalance and gender devolution. Other disruptive technologies such as online news websites and hacking aids such as virtual private networks (VPNs) hold the risk of losing the positive aspects of the status quo.