We Are On the Road to Destruction

Reader Submitted Essay: We Are On the Road to Destruction

TR is a personal associate of mine and frequent contributor to The Cryptogon. He holds a BS in Computer Science and is about to earn a PhD in Psychology. It is requisite, when posting the type of essay that follows, to make sure the reader is also aware of Bill Joy's, Why the Future Doesn't Need Us. Additionally, if the concept of externalization of costs is new to you, please research that further as it provides one of the keys to understanding the structure of global political and economic power. David Korten's, When Corporations Rule the World, is the single best reference on globalization that I am aware of.

Written by TR

The whole economic system is a lie. Take a look at the computer at your
desk and imagine the pollution that was produced in making that thing.
Now, consider what happens 2 years from now when your current computer
is no longer cutting the virtual mustard and you HAVE to buy another
one. What happens to your old dream machine? Well, it's now food for
worms. But, unfortunately for us, worms don't eat plastic and silicon.
Look at everything we use. Look at the paper we write on and so
carelessly discard. How cheap and readily available it is. Yet, we
never consider why it is so cheap. The economists know why--although they
will rarely admit it. The answer is "externalities". Products are
cheap, not because the economic system is efficient, but because
corporations can pollute the environment and exploit people for cheap
labor without bearing the burden for these destructive practices. They
merrily produce and pollute away, lining their pockets and leave it up
to society to cover the costs. And these costs to society, in term of
pollution and quality of life, are not reflected in the price of their
product. These hidden costs are merely absorbed by our society and
ultimately paid for by all of us. We pay for them anytime we try to
breathe unpolluted air, or anytime we go to war in a far off land to
kill its people and steal its resources. Yes, we eventually pay dearly
for these cheap products.

In our current economic system, corporations routinely produce products
without concern for how their production will affect us. How much
pollution will these products create over their lifetime? How will they
be disposed of? Do the people who produce these products benefit from
them? Are they fairly compensated? Do they produce them freely, or are
the coerced? These are the important questions which are not even
considered before the assembly line cranks up and Walmart lines its
shelves with the latest, "necessary" technological gadgets. Thus
corporations create products, like gas-guzzling cars, that foster
international mayhem, and produce more pollution than anything we know
of, all without factoring their destructive elements into the price.
Perhaps that new SUV would really cost $1 million dollars instead of
$50,000 if we factored in its negative impacts on society. That's a
huge difference in price. There will come a day when we must pay this
price. Right now we are all living on borrowed time.

And what of technology in general? Does it really empower individuals?
Or does it serve other masters--the powerful, moneyed elite who create
it? And to where does technology finally lead us? Are we heading for a
technological, utopian paradise? Or will it be an Orwellian nightmare
world? Technology cannot lead to a good end when it is being developed
at such an alarming rate and by powerful, greedy institutions. Consider
that human civilization is only 6,000 years old and that we've only had
jet planes, atomic weapons, computers and television for the last 50.
And we are now developing new, more powerful technology at an
exponential rate. Nanotechnology, nuclear power, robotics, and genetic
engineering are currently progressing by leaps and bounds. Any one of
these new technologies alone has the power to destroy all life on this
planet. Together their impact on our lives will be devastating. Now I
ask, who controls and funds all these technologies? Mom and pop? No,
it is large, greedy, tyrannical institutions. And in the hands of these
institutions, these technologies will never serve humanity. They will
enslave it, or destroy it. Technology developed to serve the interests
of large institutions simply accelerates us toward fascism and
self-destruction.

But what can individuals do? Protest? Change laws? Yes, these are
always helpful but they do not directly address the problem. The only
way out is to cut the fuel that is feeding this technological terror.
This involves eliminating the dependence on high-tech, corporate
industry for our livelihood. We must develop villages that are
self-sustaining. That do not rely, and do not contribute to a system
bent on control and self-destruction. We must reconnect with the
natural world so that we realize that we are part of it; that we cannot
afford "externalities." Everything we produce comes from somewhere, and
must eventually go somewhere. The products we produce must fit into the
natural renewal cycles or we are simply fooling ourselves--burying
debris under the rug and pretending its not there. Understanding
natural cycles and natural sources of energy and using these in a wise
way is the model that must be developed. Local economies, permaculture,
simplicity, and ecologically-sound, human-scale technology that can be
created by small communities is the goal. This approach will not be
convenient. It will not be easy. It would be much easier to get a job,
hop in an SUV and buy pre-packaged pap from Walmart. But that, in
essence, is the challenge we face: one of rejecting the false appearance
of convenience for a true connection with reality and a positive future
for humanity. Ultimately, humankind might have to employ a force that is
contrary to its own nature: self-restraint. If we cannot invoke this
restraining force then all life on this planet is doomed.