Sir, – Joe Humphreys (Opinion, February 3rd) is right to draw attention to the impact of technological progress on society in general and work in particular. Advocates of technological neutrality often plead that it is how we use technology that is the issue, not the technology itself. This ignores the fact that most inventions are for a specific purpose and only become economically valuable when they are applied to that end. Hence email, as its name implies, is designed to supplant physical letters.
However he does not reflect on the power relations that determine where and how technology is deployed. In a world of impotent, national trade unions, with binding international agreements that give priority of free trade over any social values, it is indeed inevitable that technology will be used to maximize profit, regardless of the loss of jobs, self-worth or social capital. It need not be so.
Recall that for 40 years after the second World War, the social democracies of Europe achieved social equity, security of employment and rapid economic growth due in no small part to the invention and considered application of advanced technologies. Think of Siemens, Bosch, Volvo, Nokia and others.
The first step towards restoring the balance between labour and capital must be to rein in the power of transnational corporations. Only then can we ensure that technological progress supports, rather than subverts, social progress. Indeed this could be a unifying cause for a new Europe. – Yours, etc,
Dr KEVIN T RYAN,
Castletroy Heights,
Limerick