Technology has made possible the following:
- harvesting more food in a day than 100 slaves could
produce all season long.
- keeping my family comfortable by warming up the house --
without having to chop wood and breathe ashes.
- cooling off the house with the push of a button
- having healthy teeth
- traveling on a 4-lane highway, arriving at my destination
hours, maybe days, before I would have in 1804
- flying in a Boeing 757
- driving safely in a car made of steel
- living safely in a home that can withstand a moderate
earthquake or severe storm
- having pure drinking water available with the twist of a
wrist
- keeping food fresh with refrigeration
- having hot water available at all times, for only pennies
- enjoying good health with the help of antibiotics
- enjoying the benefits of instant electricity
- doing more and producing more with gasoline engines
- completing assignments, making calculations, designing
buildings, learning about the world around me, aided by
computers
- watching a NASCAR race
- learning and being entertained by television; seeing
important events around the world as they happen
- The Division of Labor: Producing one item and being able
to chose from 50,000 items made by others and sold at
Wal-Mart.
- eradicating diseases like smallpox, polio, with vaccines
- preparing food quickly with microwave ovens
- watching the Lord of Rings (the movie) in Dolby® stereo
- watching Alabama (the band) in the front row of an arena
with 10,000 other fans
- eradicating pests and disease with DDT
- bringing a symphony orchestra into my living room with a
stereo CD.
Our standard of living has been immeasurably improved by Liberty
Under God, or laissez-faire capitalism.
Before these inventions were imagined, manufactured, and
distributed to markets near your home, Congress did not pass
a law ordering the improvement of your life by the creation
of any technology. Politicians
were clueless. The government does not improve your life;
inventors, capitalists, businessmen and middlemen improve your
life.
Consumers like you have the power to make them wealthy or put
them out of business, depending on what you choose to purchase.
The power of consumers to organize a boycott on the internet is
far more rapid and effective than trying to get a government law
passed -- and a boycott is more moral than a government law. I
have the right to refuse to buy a technology I don't approve of,
but I have no right to threaten you with violence
if you don't agree with me and choose to use that technology
anyway. Maybe I like mega-doses of Vitamin C, but I can't
initiate force against you to compel you to take Vitamin C. I
may not like the fact that you use Tetrahydrocannabinol
to reduce nausea caused by your anti-cancer drugs, but if I
can't persuade you to stop using it, I have no right to
initiate force against you to compel you not to use it. Same for
genetic foods, pesticides, flouride, vaccinations, or any other
technology.
You have the right to live a life of simplicity, close to
nature, without human technology. Others have the right to
anesthesia, electronics, computers, and the infrastructure which
develops voluntarily on private property. Government is an
obstacle to a constantly rising standard of living produced by
technology.
If I am an inventor, manufacturer, or distributor of any
technology, I have no right to use force against my competitor,
nor do I have the right to ask the government to force you to
use my technology. If someone invents a better technology than
mine, I have no right to ask the government to ban this
competitive technology on some flimsy evidence or allegation,
stick a tariff on it, or initiate force against the
manufacturers or consumers of this technology simply to benefit
my business. If consumers want to use my competitor's product,
they have every right to do so. And I have every right to try to
invent an even better technology. And everyone
benefits by the creativity, competition, and progress of capitalism.
Most of government today represents the violation of the
rights of consumers and businesses, and this impedes progress
and lowers our standard of living.
The
Good Old Days by Gary North