{"id":8705,"date":"2019-10-27T20:13:35","date_gmt":"2019-10-27T12:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/?p=8705"},"modified":"2020-11-24T10:23:15","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T02:23:15","slug":"not-a-book-review-technology-advancement-for-whom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/not-a-book-review-technology-advancement-for-whom\/","title":{"rendered":"Not a book review: Technology advancement for whom?"},"content":{"rendered":"

One afternoon two well-meaning colleagues recommended a\nreading for me. Well, actually there were two reading recommendations. But\nafter a five-minute discussion between themselves, they settled with Ha-Joon\nChang\u2019s Economics: The User\u2019s Guide <\/em>published by Penguin Group in 2014.\nThey must\u2019ve really wanted me to read it because one morning, there was a copy\non my table. Thank you, fellow book lovers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what do I do when someone is kind enough to lend me a\nbook? I try turning the pages and see what adventures lie ahead. And boy, was I\nshocked. I really thought that because there\u2019s \u201ceconomics\u201d in the book title,\nit would be the perfect sleeping pill for those kinds of nights. Yes, mea\nculpa,<\/em> I judged a book by its cover. It was an interesting book about a\nsubject that you thought was best left to experts and economists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As stated above, this is not a book review. I haven\u2019t\nfinished the book yet, but there is one part that has already struck me. In\nchapter seven, Chang shared about reading a book published in 1972 saying that\nthe world will run out of oil by the year 1992. According to him, the book\nturned out to be right. You might be thinking, \u201cBut there\u2019s still oil available\nfor consumption.\u201d Turns out that what Chang was referring to is the oil\naccessible to 1970s technology. Because of technological advancement, it became\npossible and more efficient to locate and extract oil from areas that would have\nbeen inaccessible without the aid of new technology. Advances in technology\nhave also expanded the coverage of what is a resource, like sea waves, now\nbeing harnessed as an energy source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nobody can deny that advancements in science and technology have\ndone mankind good. But we also cannot deny that these advancements are made to\nserve the interests of the powerful few who control the global economy and\ntheir \u201cfairy tales of eternal economic growth\u201d as Greta Thunberg said.\nTechnology contributed to the efficiency of profiteering. And decades of this\nendless chase for maximum profit has resulted in inequality, poverty, and\nenvironmental destruction and degradation affecting everyone \u2013 with the heavier\nburden passed to the poorest of the population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, is technology the culprit? Should we rage against the\nmachine?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, technology is not the culprit, and advancement in\nscience and technology is not bad. But like other things in the economy, its\ndevelopment and use must be anchored on a program for the benefit of the\nmajority and not just a few, and oriented towards contributing to genuine\neconomic development that is sustainable \u2013 that is development that does not\ncompromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs while\nproviding for present needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a recent forum, IBON Foundation launched its People\nEconomics, May Magagawa<\/em> campaign to push for doable alternatives to the failed neoliberal\nframework<\/a> that the current administration still pushes. People Economics is\ncomposed of six pillars, one is \u201cBuild Filipino Industries\u201d under which it is\nproposed that national industrialization should be planned. This entails\nreorienting the country from being import-dependent and export-oriented to\nbuilding the country\u2019s capacity to produce consumer goods including having\nintermediate and capital goods industries. To do this, it is necessary to\nutilize or develop appropriate technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But wouldn\u2019t this entail the further destruction of mother\nearth?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The push for national industrialization recognizes that\nresources will be used and that there will still be carbon emissions.\nDefinitely, there will be an impact on the environment, but science and\ntechnology are crucial in ensuring that this is minimized. For one, cleaner and\nrenewable energy must be genuinely explored, which mean doing away with coal as\nsoon as practical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prevailing pattern of production and consumption\nglobally is very beneficial to the few ruling elite but is very unsustainable.\nThey are also the culprits behind the environmental crisis experienced\nworldwide. But they either deny the existence of such crisis, or deny that they\nare the ones responsible, or they see that this crisis as another opportunity\nto profit from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Philippines badly needs economic development if it is to\naddress the growing inequality and prevailing poverty in the country. And it\ncan do so sustainably. But as our collective experience proves, the initiative\nwill not come from those benefitting from this unsustainable production and\nconsumption. \n\nThe push will come\nfrom us, because People Economics is our alternative. May magagawa<\/em>. \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photo credit: aboveintelligent.com<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One afternoon two well-meaning colleagues recommended a reading for me. Well, actually there were two reading recommendations. But after a five-minute discussion between themselves, they settled with Ha-Joon Chang\u2019s Economics: The User\u2019s Guide published by Penguin Group in 2014. They must\u2019ve really wanted me to read it because one morning, there was a copy on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":8707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-withbanner.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_expiration-date-status":"saved","_expiration-date":0,"_expiration-date-type":"","_expiration-date-categories":[],"_expiration-date-options":[]},"categories":[2048,2049],"tags":[347,1463,116,2425,2426],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8705"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8705"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8708,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8705\/revisions\/8708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}