I have argued on various occasions that technology will not have effect on cultures that have long histories. I do not know if these claims are as valid as I thought they might be after thinking about various cultures that belonged to many centuries old empires. Once I start thinking about countries of Japan and China, I do feel that technology has had a dramatic impact on how people live their lives. As we know one time in history, Japan all of its doors to the invasion of the foreign markets so it could flourish within its own soils but it later saw in order to be a world power, it had to corporate with the world and open its gates especially to the Europeans. In the twenty first century, once we speak of these two great powers of the world, we relate to them technologically. Yes, both nations do practice traditional ways of doing things but after speaking to a Japanese friend, traditional customs seem not to be the way they used to be. Young generations tend to respect elderly a lot less than they used to and elderly are concerned about their own health and use their spending on themselves than on their kids or not for the well being of their families. Many years of traditions, cultures, and respect can be given up for the substitute of money. Everything we use from our desks, computers or the chairs are made either in Japan and China. Not that it’s a bad thing to sit on or use Chinese or Japanese made computers but many people work for low wages in big factories long hours and in bad conditions so they can flourish their countries against other world powers like the Europe and the United States of America. Powers of production and labor have placed the centuries long bloodshed for the honor of being Chinese, British, Japan, American, etc. The game has become the question of how much money do you have so I can recognize you as some sort of national identity of the world. Once we speak of any national identity, we first ask the question of how modern are they and where their economies stand? If they do not keep themselves up to the standards of the United States or other Western as well as Eastern civilizations then those countries are considered less modern or in some sense less democratic.
I do not know if this analysis would vary in different religious contexts or traditions but I do believe that people desire for money because money equals power. Once you have the power, you can insert and pursue your ideals into the culture because you have the money to do so and it will look more appealing than those who do not have the power or the money. I feel that as the world gets more globalized each day, it will be easier to capture smaller tribes or village like countries with the introduction of technologies. People can be thought of the magic of technology which produces money in the market place in order for personal and national prosperity. Those who resist technology and other improvements will be eliminated. Good example of such countries would be Africa where people fight various diseases or other environmental factors because they have not learned “how to master the earth.” They seem to us from a Western stand point as hopeless people. I’d like to ask the question to them, I’m sure most of them are much happier than us because they do not suffer from traumatic effects of living in a stressful technological environment. Yet, we continue to steal from their resources and lives and dirty their worlds which they respect.
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