5 Aug 2006 @ 18:04, by Shreepal Singh
In New Civilization's economic management machine must be used to 'Free mankind from the slavery of gross natural laws' and not 'For merely earning profits'. Using machine to earn profits is the singular evil of Capitalism, which must not be allowed in the new civilization's economic system.
Machines and mechanized industries may prove for human beings their boon as well as their scourge. If the culture of human beings is spoiled by inflating their demands to an unlimited proportion and in order to meet those inflated desires and demands, industries are set up, then this chain-process (of first inflating people’s desires and then meeting them) may lead mankind to self-annihilation by her inter-conflicts. This chain-process may lead to a situation where even our planet earth is reduced to an inhabitable place for human beings. But if the culture of human beings is maintained healthy – that is, if the desires of human beings are restrained in the light of higher consciousness – then, machines and industries can very well meet the legitimate needs and desires of human beings. They, that is, machines and industries, can save their (humans’) labor and thereby afford them opportunities wherein they may retreat back to the soothing company of benign Nature to enjoy the pleasure of life’s secrets and make rapid stride to receive the light of higher consciousness on the evolutionary path. In this manner machines and industries may become useful tools to accelerate the slow natural process of human evolution.
Our economics holds that for the production of goods what are basically required are: labor, capital and natural resources. It is correct to say that for the production of goods human labor and resources provided by Nature are required but it is wrong to hold that for the production capital also is required. The necessity of capital as an essential element required for the production of goods is there because of the degradation of human culture. Capital is money. And, money can purchase human labor and Nature’s raw materials. But the truth is that human being and his labor is not salable commodity and collective living of human beings is not market where life’s fruits could be justifiably traded. And, neither can the natural raw materials be purchased from Nature by paying money. The natural materials are freely gifted to us by Nature and, unless human being is compelled directly or indirectly to do so, he and his labor is not available for sale. Capital as a necessary ingredient for the production of goods is needed only in that society and culture where human beings are compelled directly or indirectly (that is, for economic reasons emanating from socio-economic system) to offer themselves for sale in labor market and where the natural wealth is owned and possessed by a few individuals. Such a culture is degraded and such a society is ugly. Such a society is founded on the exploitation of one human being by another. In such a society, the ultimate sinister aim is simply to earn profit to meet the demands of desires. There the earned profit in the form of capital is used to purchase human being and his labor. The defiled culture of such an exploitative society alone swears piousness of sinister machinations of profits, capital, market and sale-purchase of human beings indirectly – that is, through their labor. It is not proper. It is human degradation and fall. It is retreat on his long evolutionary path. It is stepping backward on his forward movement. Human being and his labor is the wonder of Nature, which should not be a salable commodity. Natural resources are the priceless gift of Nature, which should not be the private property of an individual purchased by paying money. There is no need of capital for the production of goods. Capital is a medium of exploitation. To hold the necessity of capital for the production of goods is the sign of a shameful society and its culture.
The problem of unemployment is linked to science, technology and the desire of human beings to earn profit. Science offers knowledge to human beings. It (science) provides them the light of knowledge of the wonders of Nature in the form of scientific hypothesis and laws. Technology utilizes this knowledge to contrive machines. Machines save the labor of human beings. The greater the discovered scientific knowledge, the better would be the technology based on that knowledge. The better the machine, the more saving it would bring in the human labor. This saving of human labor can be utilized in two ways. Firstly, on the availability of better machine, the surplus laborers may be fired. In such a situation, the amount of work done (or, the production made) would remain the same but the profit earned by the owner of the machine would become more. However, in this position many human beings (who were fired) would become unemployed. The second way of utilizing machine is that on the availability of machine the surplus laborers are not fired but their working hours are reduced. In such a position, the amount of work done would remain the same and no laborer would be rendered unemployed. However, in this event the amount of profit earned by the owner of the machine would become less.
The root of unemployment is not in machine but in the desire of earning profit. To earn profit is to earn money and the advantage of earning money is that with its power the owner of the machine is able to satisfy his limitlessly inflated desires. Limitlessly inflated desires and the nitty-gritty of the provision of means to satisfy those desires is the root of the burning human problems – the problems of poverty, disease, ignorance, exploitation, violation of basic human rights, economic and social injustice, wars, discrimination between man and man, and nation and nation etc. With the advanced science and technology that we have at our disposal today, there is no place for these burning problems afflicting mankind, provided machine is used not to fire surplus workforce to yield more profit to the capitalist but to reduce the working hours of workers.
To eliminate unemployment in our socio-economic life there is no need to reject machine – as some utopian idealists hold – but to replace the present system where desires are allowed to control and derive the economic engine with a system where the light of higher consciousness dictates and lays the norms of economic growth. The desire to earn profit as the sole driving force of the engine of economic growth can only be replaced by a better deriving force – life governed by the light of higher consciousness – only when the collective life of human beings – society, government, cultural values – is oriented to the task of helping human beings to evolve further and become better individuals.
Social Justice
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