The Revolutionary Socialist Network, Workers
Capitalism undermines the goal for which technology and science is used
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- and compromises social priorities
- Democratic participation is undermined by the power of money
Capitalism undermines the goal for which technology and science is usedPillay ’18 [Devan; 2018; Former trade unionist, Associate Professor and Former Head in Sociology, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, Co-editor of Labour and the Challenges of Globalization; Climate Crisis, The: South African and Global Democratic Eco-Socialist Alternatives, “CHALLENGING THE GROWTH PARADIGM: MARX, BUDDHA AND THE PURSUIT OF ‘HAPPINESS’,” Ch. 7, p. 152] SPark In other words, science, technology and democratic freedoms can be decoupled from free-market capitalism – indeed, the self-regulated market undermines their essence. When scientific investigations are primarily geared towards market outcomes (i.e. the profit motive), it obscures their intrinsic value and compromises social priorities. As the state withdraws from public education, industry is increasingly engaged in funding university research, thus undermining its independence. A good example is the pharmaceutical industry, which invests heavily in cures for diseases of the rich, such as Viagra or weight loss, and much less for diseases of the poor, such as tuberculosis. There have been massive strides in private fossil fuel-based motor vehicle innovation, but much less in cost-effective public transport based on renewable energy. Investment in socially owned renewal energy innovation has not matched investments in fossil fuel energy systems, or nuclear power (although strides have been made by China and some north European countries in recent years). Democratic participation is undermined by the power of money, including the ownership and control of mass media, which ensures that the power elites control the political sphere.10 Capitalism destroys innovation – abuses the hard work of workers. Progress cannot be made until the abandoning of capitalismCeline Qin 21 [Teen Convo Project, 7-5-2021, "Capitalism Does Not Breed Innovation. It Destroys It.," Medium, https://theteenconvoproject.medium.com/capitalism-does-not-breed-innovation-it-destroys-it-12211c2dd573, smarx, HHW] This is a common argument. “Capitalism breeds innovation!” “There have been so many technological advancements under capitalism!” This idea better suits the era of late to post-feudalism, where the emergence of capitalism allowed the growth of newer ideas and industrial advancements, though the situation is different for life in late capitalism. While it is true that the capitalist system has curated the technology or devices we know today such as iPhone or various social medias, it would unveil a deeper and more complex analysis of this sort of innovation if we considered the component of human labor. The products we are familiar with were not created by businessmen and capitalists, but by overworked and underpaid laboring bodies. Furthermore, if we look at the most common examples of commodities of global food, technology, social network, fashion, cosmetic, familyware, and other corporations, we begin to realize that innovation under capitalism was never the innovation created by the freedom of creativity or originality, but rather the “innovation” of repetition, of marketing and mass producing whatever is in demand, galloping after an endless cycle of finding newer and bigger ways to stockpile profit, at the expense of devouring the planet and stealing from the working class. “Capitalism means production, getting rich, and prosperity!” is a fashionable argument. It masquerades through the assumption that the rate in which the wealth multiplies and accumulates in the hands of so few is equivalent to the conditions of the common people, as if to say, “The economy is doing splendid! Look how much money these ten or so white men that I adore for no reason have in their hands and how charismatically they exploit, extort, appropriate from workers and the poor, the Global South, cultures, colonial subjects, and the environment! They are helping society so much! This is exactly the very essential image of success and we should all fight each other to reach this destination we all so definitely and certainly will achieve!” In reality, the massive accumulation of wealth by the upper ruling oligarchs depends on impoverishing the many exploited. In the same light, “innovation” under capitalism is not some grand motivation stimulated by friendly competition, but rather greed. What is authentically creative and original is excluded from the free market formula. Life loses its flavor. Humans, who naturally breed creativity and are proven to prosper working together with the motivation of bettering society (instead of in oppressive class society controlled by the wealthy elite, go figure!), become controlled under the capitalist system. We exploit ourselves through mundane routines and oppressive work. The people’s desire to accomplish the capitalist image of success (climbing the corporate ladder, owning staggering amounts of capital, and achieving as much of a bourgeois lifestyle as possible while stepping on the backs of the poor) destroys our interpretation of the words “freedom” and “innovation.” The debate around innovation sparks the question of whether or not rapid innovation is truly necessary. Would it be necessary, given that the incentive for profit, the supply and demand market, and the very need to compete for the sake of capital accumulation are all abolished, to have the degree of “innovation” as it is defined, 1500 brands of the same type of cereal? As this type of capitalist “innovation” is provoked by nothing other than profit, this uncreative and unoriginal transnational trope would no longer need to exist if there was no such competition and no longer such as system that depends on the uneven distribution and hoarding of wealth and the destruction of equality. Instead, it is not until achieving an egalitarian society, one in which the human race is no longer driven to climb the corporate ladder over the bodies of the impoverished, no longer controlled by Big Capital and wage labor, and no longer marginalized by class hierarchy, humans can be free to express creativity and work towards helping one another, cultivating a better world. Universal access to resources, collective ownership, and collective work would benefit all. What is created and enjoyed by human hands would no longer have to serve as items that are “profitable” or “unprofitable”, or better put, “exploitable” or “unexploitable.” Download 2.09 Mb. 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