We live in a time where access to information is restricted despite technological advancements that literally place the world in our hands. Before computers, knowledge was available only for the wealthy because they were the only people who could afford to read books. Knowledge was also restricted because of its location. For instance, Aristotle was lost until Muslim scholars reintroduced his texts to Europe. But we live in globalized information technology world. So, why are people still being left out from learning, despite the technological means to distribute knowledge to all? Well, for some reason humans are still worried about money. Why can we not start thinking about living without money? The truth is this, money is a social construct. We are told that we need money to "survive" when money should be a means to "live." The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swarts (2014), highlights this problem. Aaron does not believed that it has to be like this. He believed that technology could change the world if applied right. He targeted information corporations like JSTOR because college students see and use it everyday. He believed that information should be free and even though JSTOR is a small player in the overall grand scheme of things, it helped open peoples eyes.
It is sad to say but corporations are "gate keepers" to information. They sell their "access key" for thousands of dollars to a small percentage of the world that can afford it. The worse part of corporations that hog all of the information is, that they have the capabilities to distribute this technology. These corporations can help change the world by allowing everyone to have access. There are over 7 billion people on Earth and we are still struggling to develop cures to cancers, diseases, and other health problems. If everyone had access, then maybe these problems would be solved. But this brings us to another problem, power. There are some people with tremendous amount of power and there are a lot of people with little or no power. People with all of the power regulate the world, while those that have no power have to endure the regulations. The disturbing part is that the ones with the money have the power and you guessed it, the ones without the money do not have the power.
However, in actuality the majority has the power, meaning that if we all join together, we can overcome these inequalities.This brings me to my next point, division. The world is divided because of power, wealth, language, and misunderstandings but we are one. Even though we hate, kill, and isolate one another we are part of the human race. We should not let division get the best of us because of our differences, instead our differences is what should bring us together. Everything before us is OUR history and it has lead up to this moment. It is up to us to change our future. I know it is not easy to ignore our past because of what we have done to each other. But if we do not overcome our failures how will we ever enjoy our successes as a human race?
However, in actuality the majority has the power, meaning that if we all join together, we can overcome these inequalities.This brings me to my next point, division. The world is divided because of power, wealth, language, and misunderstandings but we are one. Even though we hate, kill, and isolate one another we are part of the human race. We should not let division get the best of us because of our differences, instead our differences is what should bring us together. Everything before us is OUR history and it has lead up to this moment. It is up to us to change our future. I know it is not easy to ignore our past because of what we have done to each other. But if we do not overcome our failures how will we ever enjoy our successes as a human race?
I like that you point out that the film did a good job of illustrating that we are tricked into believing that money is power because it is set up for us to think that. I also think that open access has a lot to do with power as well, who has the means to get to the most info? And I agree that we all need to realize that money is not the way to make the world a better place but to do things in order to gain equality.
ReplyDeleteI think you make a very good point. We often are more likely to acknowledge money as power because it is tangible, but we do not acknowledge the limited access we have if we have no education. In today's society, many jobs require at least a high school diploma or GED to even be considered for a position. Those who don't meet those requirements are often stuck working low wage jobs. Knowledge is a gateway to power and money. I was most surprised that the government is making internet decisions without consulting an IT team. So what is power really? Title, education or money? Look at the election; someone who has NO knowledge of politics is going to be our president. The definition of power is ever changing.
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