Nowadays, when the power and the tools that man possesses are incomparably superior to those of the past, the question of how they should be utilized becomes critical.
Our forebears never could have imagined what is available to us today.
Once, for example, not everyone could be expected to know thousands of books by heart, whereas today we possess machines that put all these books at our fingertips, besides affording many other possibilities.
This progress merely accentuates the imperative and the urgency of the question:
What must be done with these tools? How can we exploit them to their fullest?
Here, however, a different side of progress presents itself.
Many of the awful things in the world today exist as a result of technology.
This is not because the tool itself is awful, but because its use was perverted.
Today, everyone has more free time, but few people utilize this time properly. There are countless examples of things that once could not be done but now are possible.
But what are we doing with all these possibilities? Are we improving the world with these new opportunities, or abusing them?
–Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz
From Talks on the Parasha