Brave. New. World.
M
ost of the Earth’s resources (that are in rotation in
our economy) are transformed by the labours of
some kind of engineer. The engineer’s success in the
global workforce is a testament to the importance
of technology in the development and progress1 of humanity.
Technology has come a long way since the 18th century. The advances made in technology during the industrial revolution gave rise
to economic and social forces that shifted the balance of political
power all across human civilization. While observing the evolution
of science and industry, it is also interesting to note the evolution of
our relationship with matter and our environment. Even the Queen
of Pop is gleefully aware that she is in fact, “Living in a Material
World”. It is clear that the Industry has catered to the growing demand for making labour easier and life more comfortable. Not only
has mechanisation and industrialisation relieved the physical labours
of workers but it has also multiplied productivity. A leap forward in
human development, as seen after the industrial revolution is, however, invariably overshadowed by a cloud of conflict and struggle.
Fortunately, we’ve had great thinkers like Smith and Marx whose
ideals have directed us toward a freer and more exciting existence
today. At the turn of the 21st century as we withdraw our cash from
machines or employ ABB’s finest on our assembly lines, another
advance in technology promises a future free of unnecessary physical labour and menial or repetitive tasks. Just as the interaction of
the human with its environment evolves progressively so does the
experience of the machine or robot. With the advent of automation
we have gained a more precise control over our machines by giving
them a degree of control over their own operations. Although we
have opened many new doors of possibility, the issues of capital accumulation2 and the demand vacuum are bound to affect the social
and political structure of our world.
History has shown us that eventually there have always been
more jobs than there used to be and that with better social integration, standards of living inevitably improve. But this trend does not
definitively indicate a better future for us. The global economy has
still not fully recovered from being rudely awakened in 2008. With
a fragile Eurozone and the US and China jousting over resources,
trade and currency, the nature of the cultural and the political order
of the new global society becomes almost impossible to predict. At
the World Economic Forum, Davos 2012 the topic for one of the
debates was, “Is 20th-century capitalism failing 21st-century society?”. Sharan Burrow, the General Secretary of the International
Trade Union Confederation was the only panellist in favour of the
proposition. She was of the opinion that, “We’ve lost our moral
compass” and that, “unless employers and workers sit at the table
with governments and redesign the system, then we will continue
to fail as a society, and nobody will like the social unrest that will
follow.” One of the issues at the core of the discussion was that of
jobs, both their creation and stability. Raghuram Rajan, then Professor of Finance at the Booth School of Business explained the relationship between innovation and the capability of the workforce.
He believes that we need to encourage entrepreneurs to innovate
and create new opportunities, while simultaneously improving the
capability of the workforce for the new jobs that will be created.
Automated control has already been well-received by the manufacturing and chemical industries. Soon automation will find its
26
The Shoreline
By Prof Rajendra Udupa and Aashish Mane
foothold in the sectors of service and infrastructure and again there
is promise of an evolution in our relationship with our landscape
and each other. This change will reflect in a major reorganization
of what constitutes the global workforce as many old jobs will be
replaced by a few new ones. In this period of transition those who
invest in the new technology gain considerable economic power.
According to Marx, these Capitalists unfairly distribute the increased profits from the improved productivity thus accumulating
more capital to reinvest. Marx believed that this exploitation of labour was the primary cause for social unrest which expresses itself
as the class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie.
Another major impact of such a redistribution of wealth is that the
rich have more money to spend on non-essentials and the poor are
left with little capital to invest in the likes of healthcare, education
and food. This creates a demand vacuum in these essential sectors
which in turn makes these sectors suffer, thus jeopardizing sustainable growth.
Moving forward in the 21st century we must acknowledge that
technology and information have always been incredible forces
when it comes to shaping society and today the engineer finds himself right in the thick of things, whether it is space exploration,
the applica tion of quantum entanglement or developing green mining techniques. As engineers we’ve earned ourselves a very valuable
stake in society. With this power of agency comes a responsibility
toward nature and social justice, not because they seem to be noble
ideals but because they facilitate human development.
1Development as realisation of capability, progress as expansion of capability.
See page 1, Development as Freedom, Amartya Sen
2 See chapter 25, das Kapital, Karl Marx
References:
“Marx and the Mechanical Turk” - J Bradford Delong, Project Syndicate
“Automation needs to be tackled with the economics of the 19th century” - Alex Hern,
NewStatesmen
Dr. K Rajendra Udupa is a professor in the department
of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering. He has been
a faculty member at NITK since 1982, and has vast
experience in research as well as industrial consultancy.
Aashish Mane is a final year student of Metallurgy and
Materials Engineering. He is a member of the football
team and is active in theater as well as literary groups.