How technology influences our lives and the future of humanity
Giuseppe Loporchio
Today's technology seems to have revolutionized the way we do things. Many believe that it has improved our lives. If we think of the progress in the studies of artificial intelligence, we can see that huge steps forward have been made. In our modern days, everything or almost everything is done using the Internet. We buy train, airplane or music concert tickets, holidays, food, clothing, electronics, etc. We do everything over the Internet, and in most cases, there is no need for sophisticated knowledge.
What are the implications of this technological progress? The events related to Cambridge Analytica, the British analytics data firm which is believed to have been using tools capable of gathering information of unsuspecting users to influence their minds, are a revelation. Technology can be used to our advantage. But what are the limitations of these benefits? The limits begin where the knowledge of these technologies can change nations electoral trends. The manipulation of the minds is the secret of the present economic systems in the world.
This control can turn into monetization. Is this form of capitalism based on real freedom of choice? The words liberty and power are not necessarily compatible, yet this seems to be the world we live in today. A world in which democracies, in the name of safety can use this control for their own advantage. Knowledge plays a huge part here. Whoever is in power of that knowledge will be able to change the destinies of countries, economies, people's way of thinking. In other words, the Internet is not necessarily the tool of liberalism and globalization; it is more the new tool where the monopoly of knowledge allows the profit of the very few. These operations happened under our eyes for decades, and nobody has ever realized the danger we were sleepwalking into without being aware of it.
The scandal of Facebook and Cambridge analytica surprises us all. As if nobody had ever really heard anything and suddenly a media storm had assailed the public opinion without giving more time to reflect, being taken by total surprise. And now? What should we do?
The Internet and the manipulation/selling of data together with the oil industry and the illegal drug trades are a source of enormous wealth.
To sell information about customers who use the economic platforms of the third millennium is a new way to make a PROFIT. We live in a time where the most industrialized nations in the world want to adopt measures of protectionism to boost their economies (Trump in the United States of America or Brexit in the United Kingdom for example).
In this case, protectionism is implemented by the few who have been able to control the mass with the tools of globalization. That is quite remarkable.
The Internet needs a more ‘democratic’ form of protection. We need to implement rules that are more transparent and just to the mass and not the few. There is a controversial trend here to evaluate. Everyone is talking about borders control, immigration control and tariffs to improve their national interests. Not much has been said about better regulation of the rules over the Internet. After all the Internet does not have any boundaries, and it is the real collagen of our societies at the moment. It does unite people worldwide, it does not need any barriers, and more importantly, it is the best and most important achievement during the globalization era.
Educational curricula worldwide are designed to focus on national identities. National identities will highlight diversity for the benefit of categorizing cultures. There are very few things that at present are common to everyone. One of those things is PROFIT or to be more precise the concept of how to make the profit.
Profit happens mainly under one obvious rule: the control of the markets. It seems to be just like any sports where there are very few winners. Who are the losers in this case? Are these games played with fairness? It seems to be that a tiny minority always wins. More and more people are becoming poorer and poorer around the world. Perhaps those rules are not incredibly fair. Worldwide wealth does not get equally distributed, and this creates social frictions. Why don’t we organize a real democratic debate where everyone sits around the table of tolerance and discuss more just societies based on universal values made of peace and serenity. Cooperation based on understanding the new tools of democracy and the way to regulate them is the key to the success of this project. When we are talking about the future of humanity, there should be only one winner here: PEACE for all. It should always prevail over greed and unregulated competitiveness.
‘Unity into diversity’ should be the motto everyone must follow. It is the real added value to our ways of living. Real tolerance has no national flags. Understanding comes together with compromise and patience. Fake news never helps to assess the truth. Fake news is like dust in people's minds; it creates confusion and unbearable barriers. Very convenient to the few who want to build their sand castles of fake power.
How do we achieve the best level of peace and harmony in the world we live? It is difficult to answer that question in the world we live now, where speed controls our minds. Yes, competition brings speed as a result. Is this always the healthy economic way we need to run our lives? Perhaps this is another standard, set by whoever has created the rules of this present world. In my opinion, the real question we need to ask each other is this: ‘What’s the real way to achieve true happiness?’ There is no answer. Why? Because the answer is already inside the deepest parts of your hearts, and it is waiting for you to be acknowledged again.
What are the implications of this technological progress? The events related to Cambridge Analytica, the British analytics data firm which is believed to have been using tools capable of gathering information of unsuspecting users to influence their minds, are a revelation. Technology can be used to our advantage. But what are the limitations of these benefits? The limits begin where the knowledge of these technologies can change nations electoral trends. The manipulation of the minds is the secret of the present economic systems in the world.
This control can turn into monetization. Is this form of capitalism based on real freedom of choice? The words liberty and power are not necessarily compatible, yet this seems to be the world we live in today. A world in which democracies, in the name of safety can use this control for their own advantage. Knowledge plays a huge part here. Whoever is in power of that knowledge will be able to change the destinies of countries, economies, people's way of thinking. In other words, the Internet is not necessarily the tool of liberalism and globalization; it is more the new tool where the monopoly of knowledge allows the profit of the very few. These operations happened under our eyes for decades, and nobody has ever realized the danger we were sleepwalking into without being aware of it.
The scandal of Facebook and Cambridge analytica surprises us all. As if nobody had ever really heard anything and suddenly a media storm had assailed the public opinion without giving more time to reflect, being taken by total surprise. And now? What should we do?
The Internet and the manipulation/selling of data together with the oil industry and the illegal drug trades are a source of enormous wealth.
To sell information about customers who use the economic platforms of the third millennium is a new way to make a PROFIT. We live in a time where the most industrialized nations in the world want to adopt measures of protectionism to boost their economies (Trump in the United States of America or Brexit in the United Kingdom for example).
In this case, protectionism is implemented by the few who have been able to control the mass with the tools of globalization. That is quite remarkable.
The Internet needs a more ‘democratic’ form of protection. We need to implement rules that are more transparent and just to the mass and not the few. There is a controversial trend here to evaluate. Everyone is talking about borders control, immigration control and tariffs to improve their national interests. Not much has been said about better regulation of the rules over the Internet. After all the Internet does not have any boundaries, and it is the real collagen of our societies at the moment. It does unite people worldwide, it does not need any barriers, and more importantly, it is the best and most important achievement during the globalization era.
Educational curricula worldwide are designed to focus on national identities. National identities will highlight diversity for the benefit of categorizing cultures. There are very few things that at present are common to everyone. One of those things is PROFIT or to be more precise the concept of how to make the profit.
Profit happens mainly under one obvious rule: the control of the markets. It seems to be just like any sports where there are very few winners. Who are the losers in this case? Are these games played with fairness? It seems to be that a tiny minority always wins. More and more people are becoming poorer and poorer around the world. Perhaps those rules are not incredibly fair. Worldwide wealth does not get equally distributed, and this creates social frictions. Why don’t we organize a real democratic debate where everyone sits around the table of tolerance and discuss more just societies based on universal values made of peace and serenity. Cooperation based on understanding the new tools of democracy and the way to regulate them is the key to the success of this project. When we are talking about the future of humanity, there should be only one winner here: PEACE for all. It should always prevail over greed and unregulated competitiveness.
‘Unity into diversity’ should be the motto everyone must follow. It is the real added value to our ways of living. Real tolerance has no national flags. Understanding comes together with compromise and patience. Fake news never helps to assess the truth. Fake news is like dust in people's minds; it creates confusion and unbearable barriers. Very convenient to the few who want to build their sand castles of fake power.
How do we achieve the best level of peace and harmony in the world we live? It is difficult to answer that question in the world we live now, where speed controls our minds. Yes, competition brings speed as a result. Is this always the healthy economic way we need to run our lives? Perhaps this is another standard, set by whoever has created the rules of this present world. In my opinion, the real question we need to ask each other is this: ‘What’s the real way to achieve true happiness?’ There is no answer. Why? Because the answer is already inside the deepest parts of your hearts, and it is waiting for you to be acknowledged again.
Giuseppe Loporchio
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