Tag: prosperity

Categories
- Empowerment - Science Development Discourse

Technology: Good or Bad?

It would be unrealistic to adhere to a retrogressive and romanticized notion of a “simple” life, in which technology is non-existent, and humanity subsists in some type of passively blissful coexistence with nature. It overlooks at once the inter-personal needs that technology satisfies with enhanced communication as well as the life-salvaging benefits of medical intervention, for examples. Retrogressive viewpoints for a romanticized past  are the result of rampant conservativism driven delusional by nostalgia.  It exists in the middle east, with Islamic revolutionary retrogression in the democratized states of the Arab spring, as well as in the United States with the spokespeople of the religious right. Retrogression exists anywhere conservatism blinds people to the evolving needs to which time subjects human societies. Its proponents become entrenched in and bolster the status quo against mounting evidence for desperately required change. An “ever-advancing civilization” is God’s own characterization of the human condition to which we are all contributors. It is this same retrogression that has prevented the recognition of progressive revelation in the manifestation of the various religions that have come to man from God over the centuries. Ever wonder why they don’t call it conservative revelation?

The concept of an ever-advancing civilization, material as well as spiritual, is central to our conceptual framework for social action, where we work for wholesale social transformation. It is inevitable that because of the never-ceasing tide of human needs and opportunities to improve social services and streamline infrastructure that our ever-advancing civilization will require a never-ending form of technological innovation, change, and development. As far as we are concerned, then, the challenge before humanity is not whether it should opt for high and sophisticated technology (eventuating in World War III) or low and simple technology (releasing humanity to care-free co-existence with mother nature) — this is a false choice, a false dichotomy. The question regarding technology, rather, is how to develop and apply technologies that are conducive to spiritual, and not only material, prosperity? And how in doing so does such technology organically extend the benefits of materially and spiritually prosperous civilization to members of the entire human race? Is technology doomed to be manipulated as the instrument of materialism forever? Are technological choices possible? What choices and how as a society can we make them? Share your comments below.

Categories
Justice Oneness

Planetary Unity, Universal Justice, Global Prosperity

Global prosperity will result from the establishment of universal justice. The establishment of justice in turn depends upon the progressive unification of the peoples of the world into a single community, one family, functioning like the fingers of one hand. The existence of structural impediments to the work of the unification of the people of the world cannot be denied. Foremost among such obstacles are: 1) the concept of nationhood, 2) centralized control over knowledge and the flow of information, 3) childhood neglect due to a culture of materialism and selfishness, and 4) inadequate access to an ideology of hope and reconstruction that offers a common identity. Structural improvements to social relationships will need to be made before justice can be installed as a fact of global infrastructure. For the sake of the prosperity of humankind, unity must be achieved.

Unity, is of four kinds: geography, destiny, type, and values. Prisoners that share a cell are united as a result of their physical proximity to each other, ie: their geographical unity makes them united. Workers in all nations feel a certain affinity for one other as a class who labor under toilsome conditions for the production of society’s goods. Workers also share a common destiny of being controlled by those who own the means of production, whatever corporation that may employ them. Their common plight orchestrates a shared destiny that they see in each other. Hence, the popularity of unions, Marxian theory, and the concept “proletariat.” African-American individuals, regardless of their socio-economic status, share a sense of unity with each other as a result of their race, evidenced by the development of shared culture, rights movements, and the affection of brotherhood.  African-Americans experience unity as a result of sharing identity in a common type. These three types of unity (geography, destiny and type) are of limited scope and none is universal in its potential or claim on humanity.

Geography is limited by space, there will always be another location to represent a disunity. Destiny is restricted to those who do not control their own social predicament. Thus, those who do not share the oppression or structural relationship that led to a common destiny cannot be united through it. Finally, unity based on type will always be thwarted by a more refined conception of type, due to mankind’s infinite degrees of diversity. Within every race can be found subsets, ie: ethnic or tribal differences, like in Rwanda’s ethnic cleansing.

Planetary unity cannot be achieved through urbanization, and the movement of millions of acres of rural farmlands to inhabit common geographical regions known as urban centers. Planetary unity cannot be achieved by herding masses of people into a common social role, because those who drive the system remain outside of the destiny of the masses. Finally, planetary unity cannot be achieved by uniformity, because infinitely refined forms of diversity are forever intrinsic to human nature.

Only one type of unity remains to unite people across geographical boundaries, regardless of social destiny, and whose existence celebrates the infinite diversity of human race, culture, language, and tastes. Value unity is the only power that can inspire the minds and attract the hearts of a limitless assortment of human souls – a unity of values can alone unite a beleaguered and disheveled humanity seeking justice and prosperity in the 21st century.

planetary unity