‘Unintended Consequences’ is a term that is used when a particular policy intervention (or positive action) leads to unintended and often negative reactions. One of the most common parable is set in British era India. The Governor of a province wanted to reduce the cobra menace and offered a cash reward for every dead cobra submitted to the authorities. You would have assumed that this would have led to a steep fall in cobras and cobra bite related accidents. The opposite happened. People started breeding cobras and then were killing them to win the reward. In the process the number of cobras multiplied and the associated negative consequences.

Ajit Balakrishnan in his latest book on ‘Technology Innovation’ draws inspiration from Hebrew prophet Isaiah’s quote: ‘They shall beat their swords into ploughshares’. The author has also said that parallel moral distinctions occur implicitly in Indian thought and Chinese philosophy. Mahatma Gandhi too applied this moral binary directly to industrial technology, framing innovation itself as an ethical choice rather than a neutral tool.

Ajit Balakrishnan needs no introduction to the readers of this business paper. He is an entrepreneur, technologist and public thinker who has spent decades examining how innovation reshapes society. He is a pioneer of India’s early internet era and has also played an important role in the evolution of management education in this country.

He writes often on technology, automation, artificial intelligence and the future of work. His first book, The Wave Rider: A Chronicle of the Information Age, was published by Pan Macmillan India in 2012. The book chronicles his experiences as an internet entrepreneur, detailing the founding and NASDAQ listing of Rediff.com, while analysing the broader impact of the information technology revolution.

In this new book Ajit has done meticulous research and takes a broad, expansive view of technology and how it can be a force for good and can also become a negative force.

The book is so relevant today since artificial intelligence is posing great opportunities and also big threats to jobs, careers and even industries. Instead of writing about just AI and its many ramifications, Ajit traces the historical relevance of the ‘Plough-Sword’ paradox.

‘Plough-Sword’ paradox

The first chapter introduces the concept using the invention of the loom which revolutionised the making of cotton clothing. The spinning jenny (1764), water frame (1769) and power loom (1785) turned cotton into a mass commodity. A plough indeed. But in the process the cotton industry destroyed the handloom sector of India.

Ajit points out that the term ‘Industrial Revolution’ was coined by Arnold Toynbee who he calls the foremost myth-maker of his time. In his ‘Lectures on the Industrial Revolution in England’ he declared that Britain had undergone a ‘revolution in men’s methods of producing wealth which altered the whole face of society’. The cotton textile industry also created jobs but opened the doors to exploitation of labour and unhealthy working conditions. In India it destroyed a thriving industry. The sword effect indeed.

The invention of mass transport powered by an internal combustion engine by Henry Ford gets a chapter.

Ajit has astutely observed that ‘the paradox of Fordism is that both it liberated and confined. It democratised ownership while standardising desire. It offered workers higher pay, but in exchange for their imagination’. Readers are probably aware of the Charlie Chaplin movie Modern Times that vividly captures the sword effect of labour automation in American factories.

The following chapters look at War as a driver of tech innovation. Steve Job’s Yogic Insights, yoga and technology get a chapter. The chapter on Google looks at how it re-engineered businesses.

The succeeding chapters look at Y2K Bug and how it created a giant industry (in India), how emigration became a path for the brightest Indian minds, rise of yoga and ayurveda, gene therapy and its untold promises, rise of the platform industry and more.

Emigration phenomenon

This author was witness to the ‘emigration’ phenomenon that gripped the top tier institutes of technology. We did lose some of our brightest brains to the allure of America. Was it all a loss? Not really if you consider the immense goodwill this community has created for India. A sword. A plough. May be a combination of the two.

The book is light in terms of number of pages (around 175 only). But it is packed with interesting information about technology across multiple domains.

For example during a smallpox epidemic in Bengal ‘tikadars’ were pricking children’s arms with tiny amounts of powdered smallpox scabs? Discovered by the East India Company surgeons, this ‘Indian trick’ of variolation travelled back to London, starting a debate. And there are many more such interesting historical trivial to keep you riveted to the sword-plough narrative.

The book is an engaging tale about technology. And unlike books that either extol the virtues of technology or books that rant and rave about the ills of technology, this one takes a balanced view, plough or sword? You can read and decide which team you want to join.

The reviewer is a best selling author and independent brand strategist. His latest book ‘Marketing Mixology’ looks at four essential skills for marketing success

Title: Technology Innovation: Sword or Plough

Author: Ajit Balakrishnan

Publisher: Inkscribe

Price: ₹549

Meet the author

Ajit Balakrishnan, a graduate of IIM Calcutta, is the Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Rediff.com

Published on February 22, 2026