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Technology is the Root of All Evil
by
Philip Emeagwali
According to history books, gun-wielding European slave traders
kidnapped one in five Africans and transported them across the oceans to
the Americas. A less visible, but no means less drastic technological
tool of suppression, is the compass, a device used worldwide for
navigation. In the same way that Britain used its maritime knowledge and
the US harnessed its intellectual capital to rule the world, the early
slave traders used the simple compass to wreak havoc on civilization.
It is
a sad fact that the innocuous navigation tool originated during and was
fuelled by the Atlantic slave trade. The technological development of
the innocent compass, invented in China for religious divination 2,000
years ago, allowed Africa to be ravaged in unspeakable ways.
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Philip
Emeagwali
It was
the compass that created the Atlantic slave trade, enabling the early
colonial navigators — and their blood merchants — to chart an accurate
course from Gorée Island, off the coast of Senegal, to Brazil; paving
the way for the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which began on August 8,
1444. This trade in human merchandise covered four continents and lasted
four centuries, and serves as a shameful beacon for the depravity of
human greed and conquest.
The
compass became the de facto weapon of mass destruction, which led
to the de-capitalization and decapitation of Africa. It created the
African Diaspora with one in five people taken out of the motherland. It
was the largest and most brutal displacement of human beings in human
history.
Today,
it is hard to imagine that such destruction and the wholesale abduction
of a race could result from a tool as common as the compass. Yet, as a
people who survived the slave trade, we must draw our strength from
lessons learned from the past and draw our energy from the power of the
future. And the power of the future lies in “controlling” technology and
harnessing it for the benefit of mankind, not for his destruction.
The
people of Africa must take note that the Internet is our modern-day
compass, and within it resides our own clay of wisdom. As we prepare for
our great journey into the cyberspace of the future, with its
technological promise — its clay of wisdom — we must understand the
strategic value and potential of this all-important tool. Our image of
the future inspires the present and the present serves to create the
future.
Africa’s lack of substantial technological knowledge of the Internet and
its potential may lead it to be assaulted or manipulated in unexpected
ways, just as it was devastated generations ago for the lack of a simple
compass. We didn’t recognize the power of the compass then; the danger
is that we don’t recognize the power of technology today. While Africa
merely contemplates the future, the West, the quickest off the
mark to wield technology’s weapons, actually makes the future.
This
fact, and how the power of technology can be wielded against the poor,
was brought home to me clearly when I received the following email
recently:
“About
a year ago, I hired a developer in Africa to do my job. I am paying him
$12,000 a year to do my job, for which I am paid $67,000 a year,” the
sender wrote. “He’s happy to have the work and I’m happy that I have to
work only 90 minutes a day. Now I’m considering getting a second job and
doing the same thing.”
Technology in the hands of others has been used to exploit Africa for
centuries. But now it's time for Africa to grasp technology and finally
embrace the modern age’s clay of wisdom and advancement. Africa has the
chance to show the world how technology can be used for good, not evil.
And the people of Africa can use today’s technology, not to mimic their
own exploitation, but to right the wrongs of the past and empower
themselves with the same tool that has been used to oppress them in the
past. Africa can provide a shining example for the world in using
technology for its own upliftment and the benefit of mankind.
This
time, it is our choice.
Excerpt from a keynote speech delivered by Philip Emeagwali at the
African Diaspora Conference in Tucson, Arizona. For the entire
transcript and
video, please visit
emeagwali.com. |
