Building the Future Now

Tag: history

  • Is Capitalism Really Responsible for our Modern World, Part 2

    Part 2: The Role of the Public Sector in Innovation 

    One of the primary justifications for Capitalism is that it is the cause behind our modern world, creating the comforts and health benefits we all enjoy. This is the second part of an essay that critically examines that claim. In this part, I will be focusing on the impact of research and innovation that has come from the public sector. 

    The term “public sector” means any sort of research funded by public money, whether through federal, state, or local governance. This means the military, public universities, and governmental agencies such as NASA and the National Institute of Health. 

    Starting with the US military, there have been a multitude of innovations that have come from the Defense Department. Maybe one of the most profound innovations is that of the internet. The prototype for this was developed by DARPA, a highly innovative research arm of the US military. In addition, most of the developments in computer technology and science in the early years of computing were from publicly funded universities.

    So much of our modern world is based upon this foundational development of computing and the internet. Over one trillion dollars of US retail commerce happens online each year. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter exist because of the US military’s invention of the internet in the late 1960s.

    Add to the internet the following list of items that the US military either invented or substantially helped in the development of; the microwave, GPS, jet engines, canned food for mass production, synthetic rubber and fabrics, superglue, jeeps, EpiPens, WD-40, and many other items. The list is pretty exhaustive. And that is just for the US military, not to mention other militaries around the world.

    Another major source of public sector innovation is NASA. Maybe even more than the military, NASA has contributed greatly to our modern way of life. Public funding put a human on the moon and developed most of the technology to put satellites in orbit. Satellites are a critical component of our interconnected world, allowing almost instantaneous communication from almost anywhere on the globe. 

    Beyond satellite and rocket technology, NASA has created or been a major part in the development of the following items: scratch-resistant lenses, memory foam, cochlear implants, freeze-drying, digital cameras, ear thermometers, wireless headphones, advancements in baby formula, cordless power tools, artificial limbs, housing insulation, and solar cells…to name just a few. 

    In the field of medicine, the federal government has played a massive role through agencies such as the NIH, public universities, and research institutions. One of the most notable achievements of publicly funded research is that of the human genome project. Achieved in only 13 years versus the 15 years it was projected to take, this cracking of the human genome has transformed medical research. 

    Beyond this, public funds have funded much of the basic research for medical advancements that is not viable in the capitalist market. A good example is the Nobel Prize winning research of Julian Axelrod at the NIH on neurotransmitters in the brain. This research has led to the development of a wide range of drugs to treat depression. 

    Another major discovery that altered the modern world is that of penicillin. It was discovered by Alexander Fleming, a researcher working on a publicly funded project at a publicly funded hospital in the UK. This discovery is arguably the most significant medical breakthrough in modern history. It allowed for the creation of antibiotics that have saved millions upon millions of lives. The infant mortality rate has seriously decreased because of penicillin, as well as post-surgery deaths from bacterial infections. All in all, the discovery of penicillin has extended the average life expectancy by 23 years. 

    Cancer research is another area where public funding has driven a large share of the innovation. Add to this the fact that insulin was discovered at a public university in Toronto, Canada. Beyond this, I could list a whole host of drugs and medicines discovered from publicly-funded research that benefit people everyday.

    All this shows something very impressive. That we, as a people, have come together and through our elected officials have hired some of the most talented researchers in the world. Researchers who often toil in obscurity, and without the compensation researchers in the corporate world receive, to make all of our lives better. It’s an amazing thing, and it has nothing to do with Capitalism. 

    This doesn’t mean that Capitalism has not come up with innovations and inventions. It has, the automobile is a primary example. But it’s hard to argue that Capitalism is the cause behind innovation when so much of our modern lives was developed through publicly-funded research. 

    In conclusion to this two part series, Capitalism is an economic system where innovation does happen. But it is not the cause of it, and it is not the sole reason that we in the modern world live in comfort and relative prosperity. Humankind has been inventive since we first entered the scene 200,000 years ago. Technology builds upon itself, upon the accumulated skills, experience, and knowledge of millions of unnamed people in the past. 

    That drive for bettering ourselves and our situation is not going to change if we build a new economic system. In fact, a cooperative economy still fosters innovation, and still involves competitive forces. The difference is that the profit from that innovation is not concentrated among the executives and shareholders at the top. 

    All this goes to show that we do not have anything to lose if we give up Capitalism. We can go about our modern lives with the same amount of comfort. But with a lot less poverty around us and a whole lot healthier and wealthier communities. A better future is possible, we just have to build it.  

  • Is Capitalism Really Responsible for our Modern World?

    Part 1: The Acceleration of Technology and Capitalism

    When Capitalism is discussed, one of the main justifications given for it is that due to its focus on innovation and competitive forces, it has driven the technological developments that have created the modern world. All the luxuries, comforts, and extended lifespans that we enjoy are due to Capitalism. 

    It can be hard to argue against this. We look around and we do have a lot more comfort, health, and wealth than what people did before Capitalism. And right around the time Capitalism emerged, there was an acceleration of technological progress. So it has to be true, capitalism is the cause of our modern prosperity as it is. Right?

    Well, that may not actually be correct.  I’m going to argue that the relationship between capitalism and technological progress is not one of causation, but rather correlation. I’ll do this by looking at the long-term trends in technological development, and then in part two of this essay I’ll examine the role of the public sector in modern technological development. 

    To examine the role of Capitalism in the development of technology, we’re going to travel way into the past when modern humans, Homo sapiens, first emerged around 200,000 years ago. One of the earliest technologies associated with hominids, which include species before humans, was that of stone tool technologies. And it is a technology that we have ample evidence of in the archaeological record. 

    Before even modern humans emerged, there were stone tool technologies. The first is known as the Olduwan Industry, and it was a basic form of tool making that involved chipping away flakes from a core cutter or chopper. This lasted from around 2.9 to 1.5 million years before present, or for a span of about 1.4 million years. 

    The next development in stone tool technology was the Acheulean Industry, which lasted from about 1.5 million years before present to about 200,000 years ago. For both of these industries, it took around a million and a half years for each of them to develop to the next stage. 

    But once Homo sapiens were on the scene, with the same brain capacity and physical features as we have today, the development of stone tool technologies accelerated. The stone tool industry that modern humans stepped into was that of the Mousterian Industry, which was already being used by Neanderthals. This Mousterian Industry lasted from around 200,000 years ago until the next stone tool industry came about around 50,000 years ago. This is only a scant 150,000 years for a major technological change to occur, compared to the 1.5 million years in previous industries. 

    And this acceleration did not stop until stone tools were replaced with other technologies such as metal working. Looking at the chart below, the exponential rise in stone tool technologies can be clearly seen. 

    Figure 1: Showing the development of stone tool technologies by archaeological phase. 

    One critique of the above chart that could be made is that the phases of stone tool development are ones that archaeologists came up with and may not represent a quantifiable change in technology. So here is another chart looking at the development of cutting edge efficiency, which is a more quantifiable variable.

    Figure 2: Showing development of cutting edge efficiency in stone tool technologies. 

    Inventiveness has always been a part of humanity, and this has been the driver of technological change. As humanity has developed technologies, our base of knowledge has increased and our skills have increased. Each of these factors and more are behind this exponential growth in technological change. Here is a chart showing the development of technology from stone tools until today.

    Figure 3: Showing the exponential growth of all human technology over time.

    When viewed over the long span, we have been on an upward exponential curve really since the Neolithic Era. The invention of Capitalism occurred along with the Industrial Revolution, already far along on the exponential curve. The acceleration was already happening.

    We can see this same exponential growth if we divide technology into certain industries. Here are some charts below showing different technologies and their development.

    Figure 4: Showing the development of transportation technology. 

    Figure 5: Showing the development of communication technology.

    Figure 6: Showing growth of medical technology over time.

    Figure 7: Showing development of manufacturing technology over time. 

    Figure 8: Showing the development of energy technology over time.

    All these charts show the rough progression of technology over time. In the aim of transparency, all these charts were generated by ChatGPT. So they may not be perfect. But they do represent the general trend of technological acceleration. 

    I’m not deterministic, I do not think the acceleration of technology is an immutable law. There are no immutable laws when it comes to humans. But the drive for innovation has always been with us, long before Capitalism. And the acceleration of technological change was there long before Capitalism. 

    Those proponents of Capitalism who state that it is the cause for the acceleration of technology are making a basic mistake. They saw two corresponding trends occurring within a limited time frame, and – without any real evidence – they assumed one caused the other.  

    My argument is that this technological acceleration was already happening, and it was going to happen in some form or the other. What Capitalism did was to take control of this process, and ensure that the real benefits and wealth went to those at the top. 

    It is important to remember, you couldn’t make a Tesla unless some unknown and forgotten person (or maybe a group of people) invented the wheel about 6000 years ago. Or if a long line of people hadn’t figured out how to control fire and concentrate it in blast furnaces to work metal. All that occurred well before Capitalism. 

    The real driver behind this technological acceleration is humanity, with our inventiveness and our compulsion to make things better. We need to unshackle this drive from the control of Capitalists, and use it to build a better future for all. 

    In the second part of this essay, I’ll look at the role of the public sector in the development of modern technologies and innovation. Coming soon!