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Global Technological Equalization
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14781 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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11 / 1988 |
3,338 Words |
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Richard L. Rubenstein
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In spite of technology's hopeful promise to improve the condition of humanity, it has been at best a problematic boon. For those committed to a religious view of the place of the human race in the order of things, science and technology are God-given gifts intended to be used for the improvement of all peoples. These gifts, however, have all too frequently been used as instruments of political, economic, and military domination. Nevertheless, it is in the long-term interests of the technologically advanced nations to work toward global technological equalization. In fact, any vision of a future peaceful world must include the process of global technological equalization. Moreover, this is no longer an unattainable goal because, as we shall see, a sound educational system and intelligent management are more important than automation or the assembly line in fostering technological progress.
Historical Development
From a global perspective, technology has fostered extraordinary inequality of human condition. In 1750, at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the per capita gross national product of what we now consider the developed nations was roughly the same as that of the countries we today identify as the Third World. During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the gap between the industrial nations and the Third World widened dramatically. By 1880 the per capita income of the nations of the industrial West was twice that of the Third World; by 1950 the per capita income of the former was five times that of the latter; by 1970 it was seven times as much. The gap continues to widen, and at an accelerating pace.
Science and technology gave the industrializing nations an enormous economic advantage. It also gave them an insuperable military advantage that led to the domination of the technologically underdeveloped peoples of the world by the industrial powers of the Northern Hemisphere. A crucial turning point in the relations of the industrial nations with the rest of the world came with the great depression of 1873, which lasted until the 1890s and afflicted all of industrializing Europe, North America, and Australia. At the risk of oversimplification, the depression can be seen as a consequence of the West's extraordinary technological progress. Although productivity increased dramatically during the depression years, prices and profits fell. Hence, the period was experienced as a severe depression. Price deflation was largely due to scientific and technological progress in industry, agriculture, communications, and transportation. Ever fewer peasants were needed to work the land, which yielded an ever more abundant crop. At the same time, reduced transportation costs made it possible to import cheap grain and other foodstuffs from overseas. Between 1873 and 1896, food prices in Great Britain dropped by 40 percent. The situation was no different elsewhere in Europe.
A similar process was evident in industry. As Europe industrialized, outmigration accelerated. Between 1871 and 1885 almost 35 million people departed from Europe, mostly to settle in the United States. The situation was further complicated by intense economic rivalries between the industrializing states. As a result of technology, the advanced industrial nations were able to produce far more goods than their populations could consume. This was especially evident in post-Bismarck Germany. In 1891 Leo von Caprivi, Bismarck's successor as chancellor of imperial Germany, observed that "Germany must export goods or people.” Without foreign
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