“118. Conservatives and some others advocate more
“local autonomy.” Local communities once did have autonomy, but such autonomy
becomes less and less possible as local communities become more enmeshed with
and dependent on large-scale systems like public utilities, computer networks,
highway systems, the mass communications media, the modern health care system.
Also operating against autonomy is the fact that technology applied in one
location often affects people at other locations far way. Thus pesticide or
chemical use near a creek may contaminate the water supply hundreds of miles
downstream, and the greenhouse effect affects the whole world.”
Not to mention that the competition caused by
technological progress is very strong. It’s the very first reason other
countries started to build industries of their own after witnessing the changes
England was undergoing during the 19th century.
“ 119. The system does not and cannot exist to satisfy
human needs. Instead, it is human behavior that has to be modified to fit the
needs of the system. This has nothing to do with the political or social
ideology that may pretend to guide the technological system. It is the fault of
technology, because the system is guided not by ideology but by technical
necessity. [18] Of course the system does satisfy many human needs, but
generally speaking it does this only to the extend that it is to the advantage
of the system to do it. It is the needs of the system that are paramount, not
those of the human being. For example, the system provides people with food
because the system couldn’t function if everyone starved; it attends to
people’s psychological needs whenever it can CONVENIENTLY do so, because it
couldn’t function if too many people became depressed or rebellious. But the
system, for good, solid, practical reasons, must exert constant pressure on
people to mold their behavior to the needs of the system. To much waste
accumulating? The government, the media, the educational system,
environmentalists, everyone inundates us with a mass of propaganda about
recycling. Need more technical personnel? A chorus of voices exhorts kids to
study science. No one stops to ask whether it is inhumane to force adolescents
to spend the bulk of their time studying subjects most of them hate. When
skilled workers are put out of a job by technical advances and have to undergo
“retraining,” no one asks whether it is humiliating for them to be pushed
around in this way. It is simply taken for granted that everyone must bow to
technical necessity. and for good reason: If human needs were put before
technical necessity there would be economic problems, unemployment, shortages
or worse. The concept of “mental health” in our society is defined largely by
the extent to which an individual behaves in accord with the needs of the
system and does so without showing signs of stress.”
I agree with this on one hand. On the other one I do
believe the system benefits the needs of a certain segment of the population,
expecially in terms of power and money. Faith in progress is spread in order to
make people want and support a system that produces for them things they
actually don’t need at all. But those who produce these things (industrial
groups) ultimately gain a big advantage out of this. I believe the reason is
that technological progress hasn’t yet occurred in a form that allowed it to
exist without capitalism (the only possible alternatives, such as soviet Russia,
eventually died).
“120. Efforts
to make room for a sense of purpose and for autonomy within the system are no
better than a joke. For example, one company, instead of having each of its
employees assemble only one section of a catalogue, had each assemble a whole
catalogue, and this was supposed to give them a sense of purpose and
achievement. Some companies have tried to give their employees more autonomy in
their work, but for practical reasons this usually can be done only to a very
limited extent, and in any case employees are never given autonomy as to
ultimate goals—their “autonomous” efforts can never be directed toward goals
that they select personally, but only toward their employer’s goals, such as
the survival and growth of the company. Any company would soon go out of
business if it permitted its employees to act otherwise. Similarly, in any
enterprise within a socialist system, workers must direct their efforts toward
the goals of the enterprise, otherwise the enterprise will not serve its
purpose as part of the system. Once again, for purely technical reasons it is
not possible for most individuals or small groups to have much autonomy in
industrial society. Even the small-business owner commonly has only limited
autonomy. Apart from the necessity of government regulation, he is restricted
by the fact that he must fit into the economic system and conform to its
requirements. For instance, when someone develops a new technology, the
small-business person often has to use that technology whether he wants to or
not, in order to remain competitive.”