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Episode 8 | Scene 2/5 | Part 1/1

The techno revolution giving birth to global change has already begun. The end of extreme poverty and inequality is possible.

War

Robert McChesney is a professor of Communications and author. In his book Digital Disconnect, he writes that such a "movement will take flight only if it is designed to replace really existing capitalism" (220).

He's right. This is a war.

Capitalism versus Democracy/Progress

Technology is the secret weapon.

  Techno Revolution

Cohenmax93 posts on tumblr.com:

" McChesney depicts the Internet as a failure for not meeting the ideals it was built to achieve. The Internet has achieved some of these ideals though it’s just that we can’t expect the Internet to fix the world on its own. At some point we need to chip in to make a difference."

Jeffrey Sachs would agree.

Jeffrey Sachs is an economist, UN advisor, and author. In a recent lecture in Vienna he had a simple graph. The graph showed a 1 billion fold increase in the ability to gather, store, and share knowledge and information.

We can produce technology that affects real change

Policy stands in the way of progress

  The Visible Hand

McChesney explains that the current system guards against recent protests, the "rampant inequality, corporate domination of the economy and politics, a death like embrace of austerity". It is a system which reinforces stagnant policy and wages wars to protect the status quo (220).

In his book The End of Poverty, Sachs discusses investing in Sustainable Development in rich and poor nations in order to:

  •           Protect against climate change

•           End extreme poverty

Sachs claims in his speech, the super increase in wealth for some results in extreme poverty for others. The scale is tipping.

  Global Spread

Sachs wants global investment that is at odds with capitalist ideals.

Capitalism by nature neglects long term harmful effects. Something that, as McChesney points out, "has no apparent use for young people, workers, or nature" (220).

  The irony of current policy

Profits soar after investing in development.

Developed nations participate in the global economy.

More sustainable nations means more market share.

Investing in sustainability and raw materials is cheaper than invasion and war.

  Works Cited

McChesney, Robert W. Digital Disconnect How Capitalism Is Turning The Internet Against         Democracy. New York: The New Press, 2013. Print.

Sachs, Jeffrey. The End Of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time. New York: Penguin     Books, 2005. Print.

Sachs, Jeffrey. “Jeffrey Sachs.” jeffsachs.org. Web. 17 March, 2014. Accessed 26 March, 2014             http://jeffsachs.org/2014/03/lecture-in-vienna-on-the-age-of-sustainable-development/