Friday, October 9, 2009

The New Dark Ages: Open_Notes 5

institutions and wealth (industrial) created by the first world society are now being moved to and supported by the 2nd and 3rd world (enabled by the rapid rise of a critical mass of a new middle class, - market extension - with billions for mass exploitation while needed) -- human work is being systematically phased out as computers and information technology replace human hands and minds - the first world being replaced, segmented (sifted) into a new wealth creation model - knowledge workers, new levels of technology, technopolises to override, manage, enable the 2nd-3rd levels -- the loss of jobs and persistent unemployment in the industrial countries is due mainly to changes in technology - "... it is misleading to blame job loss on the shift of corporations from the industrial countries to the Third World, as this is only a secondary factor, and minor compared to the elimination of jobs by technology - the present technological developments amount to a Third Industrial Revolution - the first industrial revolution (in the 19th century) was characterised by coal and the steam engine, the second(in the 1920s) by oil and the electrodynamo - the third is driven by information technology and the new biotechnologies ..." [-Jeremy Rifkin, "The End of Work"]

unemployment is "hard coded into (a flawed) capitalist system," and it has been one of the "features of capitalism" - wealth is organized and creates most of the existing want and insecurity - "by its very nature, the capitalist system is compelled to exploit the resources and labor of society for the purpose of maximizing profits" - there is a subsequent "neglect of social needs, privation, wastage, and general economic oppression and inequality that bring so much wealth to a few and misery to so many." -- [Dr. Michael Parenti, read also: DEMOCRACY FOR THE FEW (5th Edition), by Michael Parenti 1988, St. Martins Press]

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