Except that the technology which is developed is determined by the goals of
the economic/political system. If your goal is to do away with human workers
by installing as many computarized automated systems as possible in order to
increase your profit, you'll concentrate on that kind of technology rather
than the kind that will help disabled people function or change to energy
systems that don't depend on fossil fuels or nuclear energy. You might focus
on developing cures for illness rather than war machines. You might develop
durable long lasting products rather than those that must be replaced every
few years. The technology is the tool that the system uses, but it also
tends to corrupt our society. One of its most devastating effects is the
destruction of human discourse.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Friday, May 06, 2016 10:45 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: In Cowboy Capitalism, High Technology Worsens
Economic Inequities
"In Cowboy Capitalism, High Technology Worsens Economic Inequities."
As it is currently being exploited, high technology certainly is widening
the economic gap between the 1% and the 99%. But it is not the high
technology that is at the root of the problem. It is Capitalism.
Especially our mutant international corporate capitalism.
Like a raging cancer, capitalism must devour all that is around it, in order
to expand and survive. And, like a raging cancer, Capitalism has no ability
to know when all its sustenance is gone. We have no ability to signal a
cancer that it must stop growing. Our only hope of stopping its
determination to conquer our body is to either kill it or cut it out.
We cannot "reform" cancer. Nor can we "reform" Capitalism.
The bottom goal of Capitalism is to gather in all existing resources.
It is a single minded goal, no matter how it is dressed up and sold to us,
the 99%. Like a growing cancer, Capitalism has no thought of what comes
after all around it has been consumed and destroyed. Until that point
Capitalism will believe its conquest will go on forever. By the time it
realizes that there are limits, it will be too late. OF course there are
great differences between cancer and capitalism. For example, a tumor does
not attempt to deceive us as to its purpose.
It grows, crowding out our life in the process. Capitalism however, has the
ability to confuse us and sweet talk us into believing that we are
benefiting, becoming healthier and prospering from its relentless growth.
Ending Capitalism is essential for our survival as a species. To do this we
need a combination of medicines; information; education; inter cooperation;
solidarity.
It will take strong determination and a brand new understanding of what
makes a healthy society in order for Capitalism to be relegated to the
backroom of Human History.
Once we have learned what we need to do to live full, comfortable,
productive, meaningful lives, we will then be able to use technology as a
positive force, rather than a threat to our existence.
Carl Jarvis
On 5/5/16, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In Cowboy Capitalism, High Technology Worsens Economic Inequitieseconomy?
Thursday, 05 May 2016 00:00 By Robert McChesney and John Nichols,
Nation Books | Book Excerpt
(Photo: Ars Electronica / RYBN)
What will happen when technology replaces people in the service,
manufacturing and professional industries of an already struggling
In their new book, Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols explore theproblem.
possibility of reclaiming the future for the people, before it's too late.
Noam Chomsky calls People Get Ready "lucid and informed" while Thom
Hartmann says it's an "essential book." Get your copy by making a
donation to Truthout today!
The following is an excerpt from People Get Ready: The Fight Against
a Jobless Economy and a Citizens Democracy:
The growth in the economy's capacity to produce since the 1930s, or
even the 1960s, has been extraordinary, much as these economists
anticipated. If the experts we used as counsel for this chapter are
anywhere near accurate, the next four or five decades could make the
twentieth century look like the twelfth century.
In popular economic theory, such revolutionary increases in productive
capacity are supposed to translate into higher living standards, much
shorter workweeks, richer public infrastructure, and a greater overall
social security. Society should have the resources to tackle vexing
environmental problems with the least amount of pain possible. In
fact, however, nothing on the horizon suggests that this is in the
offing. As automation and computerization take productive capacity to
undreamed-of heights, jobs grow more scarce and are de-skilled, many
people are poorer, and all the talk is of austerity and seemingly
endless cutbacks in social services. There is growing wealth for the
few combined with greater insecurity for the many. Washington, we've got a
(Image: Nation Books)The false assumptions, of course, are that theeconomy?
benefits of the technology accrue to more than the owners of the firms
deploying the technologies. And also that capitalists have incentive
to produce far more than they do to satisfy the needs of people
worldwide. In fact, Veblen had it right: capitalists produce as much
as they do only as long as it remains profitable to do so. Producing
more than that lowers prices and lessens profits. In short, to follow
Keynes's logic to a place he did not go, capitalism would seem to have
little or no reason to exist if the "economic problem" is solved, so
it is imperative that the economic problem remain. For business and
wealthy investors to continue to win, everyone else has to lose.
In our view, the evidence points in one direction: the economy needs
to be fundamentally reformed, if not replaced. Capitalism as we know
it is the wrong economic system for the material world that is
emerging. This is a radical conclusion, but it is not made merely by
radicals. The number of true believers who think leaving firms and
wealthy investors alone to do as they wish will ultimately solve the
employment problem and give us a great economy that can be the
foundation for a vibrant democracy is shrinking, primarily because it
is a faith-based position. There are also some who have a similar
faith that technology is innately progressive and all-powerful, so it
can and will solve capitalism's problems for us. They tell us that all
we have to do is get out of the way, make some fresh popcorn, and grab
a front-row seat as the future unfolds.
But researching this book, what has been striking to us is that many,
perhaps most, of the people who have studied these matters -- from
across the political spectrum -- recognize that if the system is left
alone, it will not right itself. Instead, structural changes are
needed, and government will have to play the central role in
determining and instituting these changes. Even those who believe that
the existing capitalist system provides benefits that make it worth
saving realize that significant reforms and government policy
interventions are necessary to prevent intolerable outcomes. "It's
time to start discussing what kind of society we should construct
around a labor-light economy," Brynjolfsson and McAfee conclude.
"How should the abundance of such an economy be shared? How can the
tendency of modern capitalism to produce high levels of inequality be
muted while preserving its ability to allocate resources efficiently
and reward initiative and effort? What do fulfilling lives look like
when they no longer center on industrial-era conceptions of work? How
should education, the social safety net, taxation, and other important
elements of civic society be rethought?"
Where markets and business and private investment figure into the new
economy is a matter to be studied, debated, and resolved; we only know
that it cannot be the same as what we have had for generations. The
solutions to the employment and economic crises in the United States
are political. The great debate is over what types of reforms there
should be, and what type of system we should end up with. A core
responsibility of the democratic state is to provide the ground rules
and basis for an economy that will best serve the democratically
determined needs of the people. An unavoidable part of this debate is
to take up the issues last taken seriously in the 1960s: How should
technology best be deployed to serve human needs? Never has the need
for such a democratic debate and policymaking been greater than it is
today.
Copyright (2016) by Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols. Not to be
reprinted without permission of the publisher, Nation Books.
JOHN NICHOLS
John Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, has written The Nation's
Online Beat since 1999, is their Washington DC correspondent, and
contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times. He is also
the associate editor of the Capital Times, the daily newspaper in
Madison, Wisconsin. His articles have appeared in The New York Times,
Chicago Tribune and dozens of other newspapers, and he is a frequent
guest on radio and television programs as a commentator on politics
and media issues. Nichols lives in Madison, Wisconsin and Washington,
DC.
ROBERT MCCHESNEY
Robert W. McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the
Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign and the author or editor of 23 books. His work has
been translated into 30 languages. He is the cofounder of Free Press,
a national media reform organization. In 2008, the Utne Reader listed
McChesney among their "50 visionaries who are changing the world."
RELATED STORIES
John Nichols and Robert McChesney: Progressives Ask for Too Little,
Not Too Much in Age of Plutocratic Rule By Mark Karlin, Truthout |
Interview Robert McChesney: We Need to Advocate Radical Solutions to
Systemic Problems By Mark Karlin, Truthout | Interview John Nichols on
Bernie Sanders' Surge and the Rising Power of Movements By Amy
Goodman, Democracy Now! | Video Interview
________________________________________
Show Comments
Hide Comments
<a href="http://truthout.disqus.com/?url=ref";>View the discussion
thread.</a> Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
In Cowboy Capitalism, High Technology Worsens Economic Inequities
Thursday, 05 May 2016 00:00 By Robert McChesney and John Nichols,
Nation Books | Book Excerpt
. font size Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink
reference not valid.Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error!
Hyperlink reference not valid.
. (Photo: Ars Electronica / RYBN)
. What will happen when technology replaces people in the service,
manufacturing and professional industries of an already struggling
In their new book, Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols explore theproblem.
possibility of reclaiming the future for the people, before it's too late.
Noam Chomsky calls People Get Ready "lucid and informed" while Thom
Hartmann says it's an "essential book." Get your copy by making a
donation to Truthout today!
The following is an excerpt from People Get Ready: The Fight Against a
Jobless Economy and a Citizens Democracy:
The growth in the economy's capacity to produce since the 1930s, or
even the 1960s, has been extraordinary, much as these economists
anticipated. If the experts we used as counsel for this chapter are
anywhere near accurate, the next four or five decades could make the
twentieth century look like the twelfth century.
In popular economic theory, such revolutionary increases in productive
capacity are supposed to translate into higher living standards, much
shorter workweeks, richer public infrastructure, and a greater overall
social security. Society should have the resources to tackle vexing
environmental problems with the least amount of pain possible. In
fact, however, nothing on the horizon suggests that this is in the
offing. As automation and computerization take productive capacity to
undreamed-of heights, jobs grow more scarce and are de-skilled, many
people are poorer, and all the talk is of austerity and seemingly
endless cutbacks in social services. There is growing wealth for the
few combined with greater insecurity for the many. Washington, we've got a
(Image: Nation Books)The false assumptions, of course, are that the
benefits of the technology accrue to more than the owners of the firms
deploying the technologies. And also that capitalists have incentive
to produce far more than they do to satisfy the needs of people
worldwide. In fact, Veblen had it right: capitalists produce as much
as they do only as long as it remains profitable to do so. Producing
more than that lowers prices and lessens profits. In short, to follow
Keynes's logic to a place he did not go, capitalism would seem to have
little or no reason to exist if the "economic problem" is solved, so
it is imperative that the economic problem remain. For business and
wealthy investors to continue to win, everyone else has to lose.
In our view, the evidence points in one direction: the economy needs
to be fundamentally reformed, if not replaced. Capitalism as we know
it is the wrong economic system for the material world that is
emerging. This is a radical conclusion, but it is not made merely by
radicals. The number of true believers who think leaving firms and
wealthy investors alone to do as they wish will ultimately solve the
employment problem and give us a great economy that can be the
foundation for a vibrant democracy is shrinking, primarily because it
is a faith-based position. There are also some who have a similar
faith that technology is innately progressive and all-powerful, so it
can and will solve capitalism's problems for us. They tell us that all
we have to do is get out of the way, make some fresh popcorn, and grab
a front-row seat as the future unfolds.
But researching this book, what has been striking to us is that many,
perhaps most, of the people who have studied these matters -- from
across the political spectrum -- recognize that if the system is left
alone, it will not right itself. Instead, structural changes are
needed, and government will have to play the central role in
determining and instituting these changes. Even those who believe that
the existing capitalist system provides benefits that make it worth
saving realize that significant reforms and government policy
interventions are necessary to prevent intolerable outcomes. "It's
time to start discussing what kind of society we should construct
around a labor-light economy," Brynjolfsson and McAfee conclude.
"How should the abundance of such an economy be shared? How can the
tendency of modern capitalism to produce high levels of inequality be
muted while preserving its ability to allocate resources efficiently
and reward initiative and effort? What do fulfilling lives look like
when they no longer center on industrial-era conceptions of work? How
should education, the social safety net, taxation, and other important
elements of civic society be rethought?"
Where markets and business and private investment figure into the new
economy is a matter to be studied, debated, and resolved; we only know
that it cannot be the same as what we have had for generations. The
solutions to the employment and economic crises in the United States
are political. The great debate is over what types of reforms there
should be, and what type of system we should end up with. A core
responsibility of the democratic state is to provide the ground rules
and basis for an economy that will best serve the democratically
determined needs of the people. An unavoidable part of this debate is
to take up the issues last taken seriously in the 1960s: How should
technology best be deployed to serve human needs? Never has the need
for such a democratic debate and policymaking been greater than it is
today.
Copyright (2016) by Robert W. McChesney and John Nichols. Not to be
reprinted without permission of the publisher, Nation Books.
John Nichols
John Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, has written The Nation's
Online Beat since 1999, is their Washington DC correspondent, and
contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times. He is also
the associate editor of the Capital Times, the daily newspaper in
Madison, Wisconsin. His articles have appeared in The New York Times,
Chicago Tribune and dozens of other newspapers, and he is a frequent
guest on radio and television programs as a commentator on politics
and media issues. Nichols lives in Madison, Wisconsin and Washington,
DC.
Robert McChesney
Robert W. McChesney is the Gutgsell Endowed Professor in the
Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign and the author or editor of 23 books. His work has
been translated into 30 languages. He is the cofounder of Free Press,
a national media reform organization. In 2008, the Utne Reader listed
McChesney among their "50 visionaries who are changing the world."
Related Stories
John Nichols and Robert McChesney: Progressives Ask for Too Little,
Not Too Much in Age of Plutocratic Rule By Mark Karlin, Truthout |
InterviewRobert McChesney: We Need to Advocate Radical Solutions to
Systemic Problems By Mark Karlin, Truthout | InterviewJohn Nichols on
Bernie Sanders' Surge and the Rising Power of Movements By Amy
Goodman, Democracy Now! | Video Interview
Show Comments
