Hello all, thanks for staying tuned. Throughout this semester, I’ll be
writing about different aspects of the continuing Second American
Revolution.
However, I will not tell you everything, for I want each of us to yearn and
search for more questions, answers, and solutions to the problems of our
collective earthly realm. We can no longer continue in our misguided ways:
inhumanity, individualism, capitalism, militarism, racism,
disconnectedness, easy questions and/or answers to life’s problems (hence
the problems of our world), increased and enhanced technology with a
decrease in human values and personal responsibility for all, among other
things.
Technology is not the answer to the problems of the world today.
Technology, as a form and as a word, has changed in meaning since the
“Industrial Revolution in Europe” (the only one that we are taught. But for
what reason?). Before that time period, technology was an art form; it was
not a motivation or an apparatus to bring forth more money and material
wealth.
Technology was understood and it was not treated with “godly” powers as it
is nowadays in this country. Technology should not constrict or confine
personal growth as human beings. It should be a tool and not “the way.” We
must redefine technology as an art form to bring out the better qualities
of each of us as people: consciousness, self-awareness, dignity, respect,
equality and so on. Technology should not be our ruler or master; we should
harness it and use it only for the betterment of all living things for the
future, near and distant.
I admit that modern technology has brought forth some good things, but with
all good things, there are destructive qualities. Technology might have
brought forth progress; however, we do know that it has brought
immeasurable pain and suffering to humans across the world and the natural
environment (the earthly realm) as well. You may ask, how has technology
harmed us? Just look around at the water, the soil, the air, our bodies,
the animal and plant life around us. Look at our homes, our schools; just
look at us. Whatever harm we do to the other organisms of the earth, it is
rippled back to us, as humans, for we are all connected and interrelated
through a common life force and bond. Technology has stripped the humanity
from us here in America, and with the aid of capitalist imperial expansion,
it has made us drones of consumers who only want more and more at any cost,
whether it be human lives or whole ecosystems. The question then becomes,
do we really need more? Getting more for ourselves will not reduce
unemployment, will not provide adequate pay and child care for all people
in this country or elsewhere, will not bring a sense of dignity or respect
or humanity to each of us, and will not increase the value of relationships
between ourselves and all living things. It will decrease all of that. We
need to stop focusing on the individual effort and look at the communal
effort, that worldly effort to put technology in a new light.
An excerpt from “A job ain’t the answer,” produced by the National
Organization for an American Revolution pamphlet: “After (World War II),
U.S. capitalism expanded by leaps and bounds. Using the advanced technology
from the war and cheap energy and materials from the Third World, we were
soon producing more than we really needed. So the corporations began a
systematic campaign to turn us into thoughtless consumers, unable to
distinguish between our needs and our wants. Women, forced back into homes
by the end of war work, were the special target of this campaign.
“We can refuse to accept the slot of Labor and Job-Holder to which
capitalism has reduced us. As human beings and as citizens we can take
responsibility for the struggles necessary to create a new economy, an
economy which serves our deep human need of the kind of Work that develops
our skills, encourages our cooperation and enables both men and women to
work and share in building strong families and communities and in making
political decisions for our communities and country.”
I believe that it is up to all people to look critically at the current
progression of technology for profit and destruction. The decision to use
or not to use technology should not be determined by the “chosen few” in
industry and government. Technology affects us all, and so we all should
have our chance to speak on that issue. Should we concentrate on making
more technology so that we can consume more and more and forget about our
social and political responsibilities as citizens of this country? Or
should we concentrate more on rebuilding our families and communities? Now
is the time to decide.
Irucka Ajani Embry is a junior in civil engineering and can be reached at
