Humanity Is Reaching Outer Space, Yet Struggling to Find a Place to Live on Earth!
Humanity is moving towards the peak of scientific and technological advancement. Artificial Intelligence (AI), robotics, digital technology and space exploration are transforming the world at an unprecedented pace. The achievements of human intelligence are truly astonishing.
Tasks that once required years of human effort can now be completed by AI within minutes. Productivity is increasing. Factories are becoming increasingly automated. Millions of new technological products are being manufactured across the world.
But amidst this extraordinary progress, an important question arises:
Is scientific progress truly improving human life, or are we merely increasing our technological capabilities?
These two things are not necessarily the same. This is something we must understand.
Production Is Increasing, But People's Purchasing Power May Be Declining!
Imagine a factory that previously employed 1,000 workers. With the help of AI and automation, it can now accomplish the same work with just 100 employees.
Production costs decrease. Corporate profits increase. Production capacity expands.
But what happens to the remaining 900 workers?
If they lose their jobs and income, how will they afford to purchase the very products that the factory manufactures?
This is one of the greatest contradictions of the modern economy.
Millions of electronic devices, electrical appliances, plastic products and automobiles may be manufactured across the world. But people must have sufficient purchasing power to buy them.
Money may exist as a piece of paper or as a digital number on a screen. However, real wealth consists of food, water, land, housing and natural resources that sustain human life.
A person cannot survive merely because they possess money if food is unavailable. Similarly, what is the purpose of increased production if people do not have the purchasing power to buy what is produced?
Survival-Based Economy
vs
Consumption-Based Economy
To understand this problem, we need to examine two different economic approaches.
1. Survival-Based Economy
2. Consumption-Based Economy
A Survival-Based Economy prioritises the fundamental requirements of human life. A Consumption-Based Economy focuses on continuously producing more goods and creating new consumer demands.
Survival-Based Economy| Consumption-Based Economy
Food| Electronic products
Water| New gadgets
Agriculture| Excessive production
Conservation of natural resources| Consumption of resources
Essential needs| Continuously expanding consumption
Food security| Market expansion
Human survival| Growth in product sales
This does not mean that all consumer products are unnecessary. Technology that improves human life is certainly essential.
However, there must be a balance between producing what humanity genuinely needs and manufacturing excessive quantities of goods merely to sustain consumption.
When a person has no food, a new smartphone is of little use. When drinking water is unavailable, expensive electronic gadgets cannot quench human thirst.
Therefore, the first priority of any human economic system should be survival. Luxury and excessive consumption should come afterwards.
From Agriculture to Artificial Consumption!
Natural agriculture fulfils one of humanity's most fundamental needs.
A farmer cultivates paddy. It is harvested and processed into rice. Rice becomes food. Food sustains human life.
However, the modern economy continuously manufactures new products and creates new consumer demands.
Every year, we see new smartphones, televisions, automobiles and electronic gadgets entering the market.
There is no doubt that many of these products contribute significantly to human progress. Technology has brought enormous benefits to medicine, education, agriculture and transportation.
However, excessive production, exploitation of natural resources, plastic pollution and electronic waste are creating new environmental challenges.
There is a fundamental difference between producing goods to fulfil human needs and transforming human beings into consumers whose primary purpose is to sustain production.
Even in Scientifically Advanced America, People Are Living in Cars!
Even in the United States, one of the world's largest and wealthiest economies, hundreds of thousands of people are experiencing homelessness.
Some families are forced to live inside small cars because they cannot afford proper housing.
A car is designed for transportation. But for these unfortunate families, it becomes a bedroom, a kitchen, a storage space and sometimes their only shelter.
They are exposed to heat, rain and extreme cold while struggling to live within the limited space of a vehicle.
Humanity is exploring outer space. It is developing artificial intelligence. It is constructing skyscrapers that reach towards the sky. Yet the same civilisation struggles to guarantee a safe home for every human being.
Humanity has reached outer space, yet struggles to find even a few square feet of space to live on Earth!
This is one of the greatest contradictions of modern civilisation.
Concentration of Wealth and Economic Inequality!
There is a growing concern that wealth may become increasingly concentrated in the hands of a relatively small section of society.
If the profits generated by artificial intelligence and automation primarily benefit those who control technology and capital, economic inequality could become even more severe.
This raises two important questions:
Who receives the benefits of scientific progress?
And who bears the consequences of technological advancement in the form of unemployment and loss of income?
On one side, technology companies may experience enormous increases in profits. On the other, ordinary people may struggle to secure employment, housing, food and healthcare.
This is not an inevitable future. However, without appropriate economic policies and social protection systems, it is a serious possibility.
Is Science for Humanity, or Is Humanity Becoming a Servant of Science?
Scientific advancement was originally intended to make human life easier and better.
Machines should reduce physical labour. Artificial intelligence should assist human intellectual activities. Technology should provide people with more leisure time, opportunities to spend time with their families and a healthier quality of life.
However, when technological advancement reduces employment opportunities and leaves people without sufficient income, we must reconsider the very purpose of that advancement.
If AI increases production in the future, the benefits should be shared across society.
Universal access to basic income, food security, affordable housing, quality education and healthcare should become the priorities of humanity.
The true progress of human civilisation cannot be measured merely by the number of products manufactured. It must be measured by the quality of human life.
Once, humanity struggled against the challenges of nature. Today, we proudly celebrate scientific advancements that enable us to overcome many of those challenges.
But if the benefits of scientific progress cannot be enjoyed by everyone, what is the real social value of such progress?
Technology created by human beings must improve human life. It must never become a system that leaves people unemployed, without income and without a safe place to live.
Humanity created technology; technology must never become the master of humanity.
Let us remember one fundamental truth:
Rather than celebrating scientific achievements that promise to establish human settlements in outer space, the true mark of an advanced civilisation is its ability to guarantee food, clothing and shelter for every human being living on this planet!
-𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐚 𝐒𝐚𝐭𝐠𝐮𝐫𝐮 Yozen Balki
