Technology widens gap between rich, poor
Written by Philip Emeagwali
Friday, 05 October 2007
Oil has made us billions and fuelled our economic stability, but oil has
also become the bane of our existence. For some, it is a curse that has caused
poverty and corruption, but for others it is an essential source of untold
wealth and power. But as the gap between rich and poor countries continues to
expand, it is clear that intellectual capital and technology rule the world,
and that natural resources such as oil, gold, and diamonds are no longer the
primary determinants of wealth.Writes Philip Emeagwali
Surprisingly, nations with few natural resources demonstrate greater
economic growth rates than OPEC countries.
Japan's economic growth, driven by technological superiority, outpaces
that of Saudi Arabia; South Korea is growing faster than oil-rich Nigeria; and
Taiwan's economy has moved well beyond that of oil-rich Venezuela. The United
States and Norway are also rich in oil, yet their staggering economic growth
comes from intellectual capital.
In reality, it is not money but intellectual capital that drives
prosperity. More important, perhaps, is the reality that poverty is driven and
sustained by a lack of intellectual capital. The intimate relationship between
intellectual capital and economic growth is as old as humanity itself, and is
well illustrated by this parable from ancient Babylon (modern-day Iraq). A man
asked his children:
"If you had a choice between the clay of wisdom or a bag of gold, which
would you choose?" "The bag of gold, the bag of gold" the naïve children cried,
not realizing that wisdom had the potential to earn them many more bags of gold
in the future.
Seven thousand years later, Iraq - the cradle of civilization - has its
own private bag of gold as it sits perched atop the world's third largest oil
reserves. Meanwhile, Israel, tucked away in the hostile terrain of a barren
desert, has the clay of wisdom - the weightless wealth of intellectual capital
embodied in the collective mind of its people.
The striking economic gap that persists between rich and poor nations has
increased sevenfold over the past century to what is now an all-time high. The
accumulation of intellectual capital by rich nations has helped broaden this
gap because it has enabled them to control technology and collect hidden taxes
from less affluent nations.
For instance, Nigeria pays a 40-percent "royalty" tax on its petroleum
revenues to foreign oil companies that are ripping out its family jewels - the
huge store of wealth in its oilfields. These oilfields started forming when
prehistoric, dog-sized humans - our common ancestor with the apes - walked
African grasslands on four legs.
It's a shocking reality, but the deep oil reserves laid down by Mother
Nature millions of years ago and nurtured through the millennia in Africa have
been whittled away within decades. And, for the dubious privilege of
surrendering its natural resources forever, Nigeria is required to pay half its
petroleum revenue in the form of "royalties" to the rich kids on the global
block, the United States and the Netherlands. That oilfield has been exchanged
for a bowl of porridge, and the black gold that should serve the underserved in
Nigeria is helping wealthy Westerners get wealthier.
Today, half the world's population - three billion people - live on an
average of $500 a year. In contrast, Bill Gates earns $500 every second. By
controlling technology and taxing computer users, Gates has become wealthier
than each of the 70 poorest nations on earth and using his financial might has
conquered more territory than Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar and Alexander the
Great combined.
While Bill Gates is the new millennium's Prince of Technology, he is by
no means the first to have taken on the huge potential offered by the realm of
technology. The Romans used roads and military technology to expand their
empire. And, for centuries, Britain ruled a quarter of the Earth due to its
unparalleled ability to command maritime technology and conquer the Seven Seas.
Britain undoubtedly established itself as the world's first
superpower through its rapid and ruthless colonial expansion program. The
British raised the Union Jack over Canada and Australia, India and Hong Kong,
Egypt and Kenya, and countless other countries - even the United States. The
Union Jack cast its shadow in every global time zone, giving rise to the
saying, "The sun never sets on the British Empire," a fact that was cold
comfort to the colonized nations.
In the same way, the United States has embraced its technological
supremacy, both offensively and defensively, to build its own global empire
without a physical presence in any of its "colonies." The sole remaining
superpower is at the forefront of every major technological advancement, which
it has used to become deeply embedded in three-quarters of the globe. The US
has accomplished a virtual economic colonization manifesting its presence
throughout the globe by harnessing the power of technology and capitalizing on
its clay of wisdom.
Africa's inability to realize its potential and embrace technology has
left it at the mercy of the West. The time has come for Africa to seize the day
and resist the efforts of America and others to leave their imprint and plunder
its natural resources.
Numerous examples throughout history support the idea that technology can
be used as a tool of oppression. And there's little doubt that America's
technological advancement has allowed it to exploit natural resources around
the world.
This is particularly evident in Africa, where the US is exploiting
oilfields beneath the pristine rainforest - and being rewarded with a
40-percent tax at the expense of the African people. This lends credence to
history's assertion that those who control technology oppress those who do not,
eventually enslaving them and, finally, wielding power around the globe.
Excerpted from a keynote speech delivered by Philip Emeagwali at the
African Diaspora Conference in Tucson, Arizona on September 29, 2007.
Nigerian-born Emeagwali won the 1989 Gordon Bell Prize, the Nobel Prize of
supercomputing. He has been called "a father of the Internet" by CNN and TIME;
praised as an "unorthodox innovator [who] has pushed back the boundaries of
oilfield science" by UPSTREAM, a leading European oil and gas industry journal
Last Updated ( Friday, 05 October 2007 )
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