Marshall Mcluhan’s 1964 concept of the shrinking of our world due to the speedup in our ability to communicate more efficiently, along with the concomitant benefits of faster, more convenient travel amazing communication methods such as email, voice transmission via Skype, incredible advances in commuting such as driverless and electric cars, superfast transport services such as the Autobahn, space travel by ordinary but wealthy citizens, huge advances in health services; the list is endless … is mind boggling and even somewhat scary. #World population is increasing fast, particularly in developing countries. As ‘earthlings” we are galloping ahead in all these areas at breathtaking speed, but I can’t help thinking that there might be a downside to all this profusion of what we see as ‘benefits’.
#Humans are greedy, grasping animals who always want to benefit themselves, sometimes to the detriment of other humans. Motives change; concern for #humanity sometimes takes an ugly twist into more sinister objectives. There are many stories to prove this point. The concept of a world in harmony, if you look at world history, is unrealistic at best. Villains are often seen as driven by a desire for world domination. Clearly, in the world generally, there is a vast gap between the rich and the desperate poor; particularly in the developing countries.
#The poor are generally unable to take advantage of technical innovation. Frequent intercontinental travel, luxury homes and cars, fashionable clothes etc. are completely out of their reach. They are usually unable to fight their way out of the poverty trap. viz. a tin shack in a #squatter camp; so the gap between the rich and the poor keeps widening.
I have heard it said that the #Corona Virus is manmade. I am not discounting this possibility. What if some devious scientist decided that the world’s population is growing too fast, and then decided that certain racial groups in his/her view are worthless, in his/her view? (It is noteworthy and also logical that developing countries where a large percentage of the population is poor and therefore unproductive, sickly and with a predominance of elderly, infirm or unproductive, unemployed youth) – should be ‘pruned’. The motive for this could by financial, i.e. making the rich richer or political, or simply arising out of a desire for power.
I have indulged in some wild speculation, just for the hell of it. Let’s just hope that the Corona Virus threat just goes away quickly, without destroying us all.
Recent Comments