We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

China robots signal US challenge

Click here to access article by Joshua Jacobs and Eftychis Mourginakis from Asia Times Online.

This article provides an excellent illustration of minds that have been totally consumed by the addiction to profits or capital accumulation. The authors' considerations of the issues related to the application of recent technological advances are extremely narrow, limited by their desire to obtain their next capital accumulation fix.  

The authors' celebratory comments about the "next big thing" for Wall Street investors looks only at how these high tech applications can be used for the benefit of this small class of people which the system of capitalism guarantees, and the remaining legal restrictions which prevent this class from fully exploiting the new opportunities. 

Indeed, labor saving machines could liberate humans from mindless drudgery and provide opportunities for the enrichment of their lives through opportunities to become better educated, to develop all human capacities, to have better health, etc. But, alas, this will not be the case simply because only one small class will receive all the benefits provided by the capitalist fiction of "ownership", while the great majority will be left to scramble to survive without wage-slave jobs, to exist in ignorance, and to suffer ill health.

Meanwhile, the authors want to eliminate all restrictions on the use of fossil fuels because they refuse to see that their use is destroying our planet's ecosystem.