And so, from the previously written we can deduct how
contemporary society defines Progress - as how much a country produces and
spends. And here it doesn't matter if the products produced are such useless
gadgets like iPods and game consoles, or dangerous ones like weapons; it
doesn't matter if the services produced are ridiculous ones like Wedding
planning, or ultimately useless ones like Advertising ( yes, you read that
right - Advertising is the one contemporary industry which if you think about
it doesn't achieve anything at all useful, just on the contrary). We can also
throw in here the financial 'industry' which is bafflingly illogical (and we
could argue - useless and counterproductive again), but at the same time
provides the greatest individual rewards of all industries in our civilization.
Conversely, individual progress is measured with generally
how much a person earns per month/year. It doesn't matter if the person needs
to spend 15 hours per day, 7 days per week, 12 months per year working - he's
making money!
In short, in both individual and public sphere the concept
of progress is related to purely quantitative factors, which fail to actually
represent any sort of real advancement of humanity. Nobody takes into account, for
example, technological advancements, such as new power sources, more efficient production practices, stronger materials, etc.
We talk about how domestic appliances have become more and more fragile in
recent years; how our washing machine today, despite being much shinier and
sophisticated than our grandma's, doesn't last 1/10 of the time our grandma's
washing machine lasted; how our cars, despite shinier and faster, last only
half of the time our dad's car lasted; I could go on and on - the examples are
all around us. The reason - the companies produce intentionally inferior
machines, both to make them cheaper by saving materials, and to make them break
faster so that we buy new ones. Anyone noticed how gradually all appliances'
maintenance centers went out of business in the last 10 years???
The one branch of technological development that really
matters for us is computing, and this has undeniably developed immensely in the last decades; however, the tragic ways in
which we interpret progress and employ computing power is still causing us to
use not more than 10% of the capacities of this development.
Nobody takes into account cultural development in a nation -
new or better orchestras and theaters won't matter an iota to GDP growth,
despite providing to society a much-needed respite from day-to-day drudgery and
elevating the general quality of life. On the flip-side, pop culture is
thriving, based on endless repetition and recycling which actually doesn't lead
to development, just the opposite - all because it's much cheaper to take the most successful old tunes and rhythms and just attach them to a new, fresh
and beautiful young face. Yep, when was the last time you heard a genuinely new
and innovative pop song?
Nobody takes recreational activities into account either,
unless they charge such exorbitant prices for their services that they actually
matter for the GDP. On the other hand, healthcare activities matter a lot - not
bad, until you consider the fact that half of the exams and medications medics
make us do or take today are actually useless; or that another 1/3 of these would be completely unnecessary
if we weren't so stressed out and tired of working.
Everywhere you look into the 'industrialized, developed
world', you see examples of the above observations. After a feeble surge in
concern over the environment some 10 years ago, industrialized countries are
back to old-and-tried energy sources like coal and oil, shunning the advanced
environmental-friendly and renewable energy sources. And because of that,
technological development of these sources has all but stopped, making them even more undesirable economically. Cars running on
electricity are being painstakingly developed, and with the speed of this development
we may be lucky if we have them at good prices in 100 years (when they won't
make a difference anymore). Infrastructure is developing along the same old
patterns as 100 years ago - roads and roads and highways; then some more
highways and ..... oh, did I say roads? All that despite the fact that these
roads are getting more and more clogged with traffic; and despite the fact that
rail transport, for example, is many, many times more efficient both speed-wise
and energy-wise. But of course, we have the entire oil industry to take care
of, and the interdependent car industry - we can't shun these just because they
promote an inefficient way of transport!
As good capitalists we go back and forth between home and
office every single day - and weekends be damned! (I want that promotion!) Yes,
we work on weekends because it's expected of me to show dedication, we are
available during vacations because it shows how much I care about the company
and my own development in it. It's called 'being productive'. I call it 'being
enslaved'. How many times in the last year you've had to endure an hour of
traffic, of millions of bodies squeezed on the streets, in the buses and
metros, of pollution belching from all the cars in the traffic, the noise and
pure stress of it all, just to go spend 9 hours in a cubicle, doing something
repetitive which a good program could also do? Or, which you could also do very
well from home? 250 times? But of course, companies require utter dedication of you, which
means you have to follow the exact orders of your boss; do what they tell you
to do without complaining, even if you know better, all the while you're being
observed cautiously by your co-workers, ready to pounce on you for the
slightest mistake, so that they could get ahead in the promotions race! Oh, and
don't forget to look cheerful and cordial through it all - that's what is
expected of you! And if you speak out against your company, you're branded 'a
traitor' and may well be fired....
Sounds like communism, doesn't it? Like the way they treated serfs in Russia, or peasants all around Europe 400 years ago.... Well,
it's .... capitalism.
Isn't it time to rethink progress?
No comments:
Post a Comment