Blessed Technology
Apr. 25th, 2005 08:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
learnteachJust finished reading a book "King Leopold's Ghost" about the hue and cry and terror in Africa over rubber at the turn of the last century. Basically, the population was reduced by 50%, horribly killed, etc. all to produce rubber--cars needed them for tires, it was needed for raincoats, it was a vital material for early electronics.
ANd it's a horror story oft repeated in history, from cotton raising in southern America to cane fields in the Caribbean to the slavery in Brazil to ...
We don't have slavery anymore on that scale, I believe. Killing and ethnic cleansing, yes; as historians write more we get a clearer view of this. BTW, those of you who say the biggest killer is "God" aren't seeing it clearly; it's "Us and the Other" and religon is just part of the definition. And it's not "Christianity" as the biggest killer; just ask the Pakistani drowned in the water wars, or the Tibetians shot by the Chinese.
And it's technology, in the advancement of techniques and machinery, that has taken from us the need to do back breaking work gathering food or basic materials or mining--we have machines to break; there still is work to be done but thousands are replaced by engines.
The food we get is better, cleaner, fresher--packed in advanced materials such as corrugated boxes (1894) and shipped in refrigerated trucks (1895, first home use refrigerator, 1922, first vehicle) which makes a huge difference.
Technology in the press and reporting areas has made a difference as well--now you can take pictures and transmit them electronically, even via satellite.
Technology has given those countries who wish it control over their fertility, and as a result, crime rates and population pressure have decreased.
Thank God for Technology!
ANd it's a horror story oft repeated in history, from cotton raising in southern America to cane fields in the Caribbean to the slavery in Brazil to ...
We don't have slavery anymore on that scale, I believe. Killing and ethnic cleansing, yes; as historians write more we get a clearer view of this. BTW, those of you who say the biggest killer is "God" aren't seeing it clearly; it's "Us and the Other" and religon is just part of the definition. And it's not "Christianity" as the biggest killer; just ask the Pakistani drowned in the water wars, or the Tibetians shot by the Chinese.
And it's technology, in the advancement of techniques and machinery, that has taken from us the need to do back breaking work gathering food or basic materials or mining--we have machines to break; there still is work to be done but thousands are replaced by engines.
The food we get is better, cleaner, fresher--packed in advanced materials such as corrugated boxes (1894) and shipped in refrigerated trucks (1895, first home use refrigerator, 1922, first vehicle) which makes a huge difference.
Technology in the press and reporting areas has made a difference as well--now you can take pictures and transmit them electronically, even via satellite.
Technology has given those countries who wish it control over their fertility, and as a result, crime rates and population pressure have decreased.
Thank God for Technology!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-04-26 04:03 am (UTC)