Charlie Brooker Quotes
We humans are great at creating tools with unforeseen consequences. For instance, when we invented the wheel, we had no way of knowing we were also laying the foundations for the TV show 'Top Gear.'
Brooker, Charlie. How TV Ruined Your Life. BBC Two, 2011.
What Mises says in this quotation is true. What he does not say that by the time the automobile was developed and then the airplane, the Railroad monopoly had impeded and destroyed so many different entities that the governments had cracked down and curtailed much of the ability of the Railroads to exercise monopolist power. If the Railroads had as much power in 1920 as they did in 1870, there probably never would have been a thriving auto industry and the airlines would likely never have succeeded. Mises again exaggerates a basic point that large monopolistic companies and industries often have not been able to stave off new technology and approaches. While true in many cases, the cause is not necessarily fundamental to economics but has sometimes (as with the railroads) been caused by Government regulation and reform. A better example is that the large sail dominated shipping industry was not able to stop the coal fired steam engine ships. Indeed the shipping owners embraced the new technology. The best examples of Mises point occurred after Mises died. For example, Microsoft was not able to prevent Google from dominating many of Microsoft’s positions in the IT world.
He made this quotation in a discussion about nuclear weapons, but the principle is valid for many areas from the Internet to pharmaceuticals. In the nuclear weapons case there have been a number of accidents – including fatal ones – over the years and on several occasions a nuclear weapon came close to detonating near populated areas. In one case, radiation damage from a crash of a nuclear weapons equipped bomber have made an area in Spain unusable for years into the future.
The nation was in the midst of a long debate over whether or not new bio-technology was appropriate and desirable for use and there were various efforts to legally curtail their application. These included cloning, stem cell research, radiated foods, fish farming, hydroponic agriculture, hybrid development and cross species organ replacement.
Most of the communications technologies were not necessities but were conveniences which so changed society that they became necesseties years after they were ivented and first deployed.
Hine was emphasizing the importance of the worker, However, since 1932, there has been technological change. Behind the building of modern machines are still the brains of men, but not so much the toil anymore. Most machines are made in modern times by a combination of the “toil” of men and robots, and the proportion done by men is steadily decreasing. And this change has been a large factor of the loss of dignity and respect that the American manual worker has undergone.
Charlton Brooker is an English television presenter, author, screenwriter, producer, satirist and social critic. He is the creator and co-showrunner of the sci-fi drama anthology series Black Mirror, and has written for comedy series such as Brass Eye, The 11 O'Clock Show and Nathan Barley.
