Image: Mahatma Gandhi, historical photograph.
Mahatma Gandhi’s views on science and technology are often reduced to a simple opposition to machinery. His writings were more complex: he questioned technologies and economic systems that he believed could concentrate wealth, displace workers or encourage excessive consumption, while also recognising the value of useful knowledge and appropriate tools.
Gandhi and machinery
Gandhi’s criticism was directed particularly at the social and economic consequences of industrialisation. He asked who benefited from machines, who controlled production and what happened to workers when production became increasingly mechanised.
Technology and human needs
Gandhi’s approach emphasised the human purpose of technology. He generally supported tools that could improve people’s lives without undermining dignity, livelihoods or community welfare.
Industrialisation and village economies
His preference for decentralised production was closely connected to his concern for India’s rural population. This placed him in tension with political and economic thinkers who saw large-scale industrialisation as essential to modern economic development.
Science and ethical responsibility
Gandhi’s broader philosophy raised a question that remains relevant: scientific and technological progress can create new capabilities, but societies still have to decide how those capabilities should be used.
Why Gandhi’s technology debate matters today
Discussions about automation, artificial intelligence, employment, inequality and sustainable development continue to raise questions about the relationship between technological progress and human welfare.
Read NewsNationOnline’s Gandhi and village India feature, Constructive Programme feature and Khadi feature. Explore the Gandhi Heritage Portal.
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