Knowledge is power, and there is no denying the fact. This is why
countries like America and China spend millions on gaining information,
and protecting that which they have.
Look at the Great Firewall of China for one, and then do a search on
In-Q-Tel and read up about their investments in software that can
monitor posts, chats and tweets on the Internet. There is also talk
that In-Q-Tel (investment arm of the CIA) invested greatly in Facebook.
Knowledge and it’s far reaching affects does not stop there. Think
about the invention of fireworks, which eventually led to the discovery
of gun powder and then think about the consequences it brought.
Some nations or groups were just not content with what they had, and I
believe that their quest for more land, more resources and ultimately
more power also drove them to develop and research the technology which
would allow them to acquire the fore mentioned.
History shows us that for those with superior technology anything was
possible when going to war with people with inferior technology, take
for example the natural inhabitants of South America and how their
civilization crumbled before the Spanish, the Native Americans in North
America, and the countless of black nations in Africa.
To quote Martin van Creveld:
War and technology have always been linked very closely.
Indeed, without technology, there would probably have been no war. After
all, without technology, if only in the form of sticks and stones,
man’s ability to kill his own kind is extremely limited.
This should not come as any surprise for anyone, but again, it does not stop there.
It is also here that I have to say that not all colonization were
achieved through the smoking barrel of a gun, but again a lot of it
were, especially if you look at North and South America and a couple of
countries in Africa.
Europeans needed new territory, more wealth, and more power and so
the quest for land grabs started, and the solution was simple. Either
they traded for land from the original inhabitants, and failing that,
they would just take it with their superior technology.
Being of European decent I can’t look past these facts, and I also
can’t help but stare into the legacy these land grabs left us, whom we
have to deal with 300-400 years later.
Retaining the competitive edge meant that knowledge was not really
transferred to the people whom were conquered or subjugated since this
had the potential to open the door for a rebellion and the loss of new
found land and riches, which could not be allowed.
Now, 400 years later we are sitting with a huge dilemma. Masses and
masses of uneducated people who are a drain on natural and economic
resources, but who are a political force of note because of their sheer
numbers.
There has been a lot of social studies as to why poverty stricken
people with low or no education have huge families, but not going in to
too much detail, it is my opinion that it was triggered by the human
desire for survival. More on the topic here.
These people are here, and there is no easy solution for the
problem. I am pretty sure that most of World turns a blind eye to the
human crisis on the African continent, because why fight for something
if you can manipulate from the side and wait until they kill each other
off so that you can come in, be the hero of the day and help them
rebuild their nation … for a price of course, natural resources. I am
also certain that this is one of the reasons why African despots and
dictators do not really worry about education their youth, because it is
much easier to dish out propaganda to the uneducated than it is to a
rational thinking man or woman.
Greed, and the lack of education will be the undoing of the human race and civilization as we know it.
Time to take charge and review our situation before it is too late.
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