Only the Few

We are living in the age of technology. Technology for the masses. That is the story of modern capitalism, the way that technological innovations work their way down from the upper classes to the lower classes. Technology is ubiquitous.

Solid state technologies such as we find in cellphones, gameboys, mp3 players, pda's, notebook computers, large screen televisions, etc. are the most ubiquitous. There are many other technologies that are starting to enjoy the economy of scale deriving from ubiquitous silicon technologies seen in information, communications, and entertainment devices. Medical devices, research devices, security devices, energy related devices. The improved productivity and efficiencies from the diffusion of this technology has only just begun.

Technology is expensive to develop. Wealthy people tend to utilise technology initially, helping to finance the transition to better designs and mass production methods. Then the middle classes start to buy into the new technology, lending the support that allows even less expensive design and production methods, and pulling in more competition, further lowering prices.

Price is not the only bottleneck restricting acceptance of new technology. In more regulated and litigious areas of commerce, the threat of lawsuits or heavy fines may cause a company to avoid entire areas of research and development. This is good for the families of the trial lawyers and high level bureaucrats, but the millions whose lives are lost or harmed from being deprived of new technologies are invisible ghosts among us, unmourned.

Technologies of higher intelligence and longevity will eventually make their way down from the wealthy to the middle class. Trial lawyers, government bureaucrats, political activists--all will do their best to stop it, while attempting behind the scenes to acquire the benefits for themselves or their loved ones. The technology will nevertheless become widely available, due to human nature and the everpresent desire for a better life. This will not automatically lead to a more mature human, or one more wise.

At that point, what will be the bottleneck preventing the transition to the next level? Almost the entire intellectual thrust of the modern western world is oriented toward the idea that all world cultures are essentially of equal value, except western culture which is inherently racist, oppressive, and controlled by evil white males. This is the basis for the curriculums of western schools from the lowest level to the highest. This is the basis for every news broadcast, almost every motion picture, much popular music. It is the editorial stance of most western newspapers and printed journals. It is the invisible substrate of reflexive ideation that guides most politicians, labor activists, university professors, journalists, and civil rights activists.

The rejection of rationalism, the insistence that the creed of postmodern multiculturalism is sacrosanct and not to be analysed by modern scientific methods, is at the foundation of this pseudo-intellectual movement that has come to control the schools, the media, the entertainment industry, most government bureaucracy, labor unions, the legal sector, and much of the commercial sector of the western world.

This idiocy will prevent most people from transitioning to the next level. Many will come to live longer and be more intelligent. Few will become wise enough to make the transition through to what is possible.

How many rational and wise next level humans would it take to guarantee the survival of next levels? The answer may surprise you.