April 5th - The speed of change is accelerating

Once I started to read about how our modern-day industrial capitalism is taking over the world I came across some pretty worrying ideas:   This economic-political system which is rolling into otherwise 'undeveloped' areas is based on the twin beliefs  that rationality is superior to spirituality and that the acquisition of material possessions must take precedence over all other considerations in life.  

Change in human life on Earth was incredibly slow during the millenia after the appearance of the first individual who was considered 'human' but it has massively accelerated since the birth of industrial capitalism a little over 200 years ago.

Some of my readings have put the speed of change into perspective:

35,000 years ago Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers used mammoth tusks and bones to support hide-covered tents …  the first sun-dried bricks for house building were not used until  a further15,000 years had elapsed.  But we see an incredible range of new building materials have been brought into use over the past few decades.  

Wheat, the first cereal cultivated by Man, was grown in the Middle East around 10,000 years ago, but it was another 4,000 years before anyone thought of the hand plough.   Yet another 4,000 years down the line came rice cultivation.  As the 20th Century drew to a close we have seen, within a lifetime, the introduction of GM foods and fertilisers producing high-yield crops.

It seems that this speed of change is essential for the growth which industrial capitalism needs.  The need is for new products with built-in obsolescence, new features and new fashions all designed with the aim of selling more and so making more profit.

Of course so-called 'undeveloped' countries provide a wonderful growth opportunity and it is 'development' I'm going to think about next.