My first work week at the Ministry of Education and Culture is finished. Some things were as I expected, and some others quite different. People there are great, but that wasn't a surprise, as every second or third person I met on the first day was someone I already knew at least by sight.
What I was thinking today while walking and taking photographs is the sad situation we have in society, when nothing seems to have an intrinsic value. Human beings are just for profit, and so is nature, and any other thing you care to mention. Everything is measured in terms of how much profit it can make.
I'm a techno-optimist, but still I feel bad about this. And this may also be why I have sometimes got the feeling that humankind is slowly but surely going extinct. Innovation is the word for today, and valuable things like science, education and culture are just fuel for the engine of the industry, geared for rapid profit.
But maybe humankind will find wisdom, learning from failures. If it isn't too late already?
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A moment of profound silence followed.
4 hours ago
2 comments:
It is true that the industries of the world, tech included, are profit driven but I tend to see it in a slightly different way. I tend to see society's current obsession with money as the means to drive science and technology (including the Internet) to a point where technology will make the concept of money as we know it today (in terms of economy) redundant. This is a phase, a necessary evil if you will that will eventually lead to a better paradigm.
The Internet is, in a manner of speaking, alive. It's like a massive brain with billions of neurons connecting at a fantastic speed. We're the neurons and we're connecting and communicating like never before and this can't help but change the world. Governments may know about what we do but we're also learning about what they do. Everything is becoming more transparent. Take SOPA, it's a perfect example of powerful groups losing their grip on people. Governments and corporations can con us as easily as they once could. That, is game changing.
Of course I could be totally wrong and in another 100 years we may indeed be back in caves beating our chests and throwing sticks and stones ;)
@Cedric: I'm not sure about "governments and corporations can't con us as easily as they once could".
I think one always underestimates how easily people are conned. At least I'm constantly fooled by things being other than they appeared to be.
But I hope you are right!
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