Technology
Widens the Rich-Poor Gap
by Philip
Emeagwali
"Natural
resources such as oil, gold, and diamonds are no longer the primary
determinants of wealth."
Oil has made us billions
and fueled 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.
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.
"It is clear
that intellectual capital and technology rule the world."
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 accumulation of intellectual
capital by rich nations has enabled them to control technology and collect
hidden taxes from less affluent nations."
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.
"Bill Gates
earns $500 every second."
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.
"The US is exploiting oilfields beneath
the pristine rainforest - and being rewarded with a 40-percent tax at the
expense of the African people."
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. The
entire transcript is posted at emeagwali.com.
Nigerian-born Philip
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; extolled as "one of the great
minds of the Information Age" by former US president Bill Clinton, and voted
history's 35th greatest African by New African.
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