Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

2
CommentGo Back

Download

CHUMPETER

The Economics Society Magazine

Issue 4

theschumpeter.blogspot.com

The Economics Society Magazine isfunded by member contributions, andrelies on the contribution of studentsand lecturers for articles. If you wouldlike to get involved writing for us please email:fahadmemon_73@hotmail.comdavid.osborne.1@city.ac.uk

Government : Problem or Solution?

Adrian Booth

How Hoarding Helps

Timothy Robinson

Brave New World

Folarin Araromi

En Route to Golden Glory

Fahad Memon

Defending Defence

Balraj Singh Sura

The Sky Wars

David Osborne

From the Department

CHUMPETER

ONTENTS

News & Extra

EconomicsSociety News



If you are interested in joiningthe Economics Society, please

ion Website



In the First week of the Newterm, there will be a social for the Economics Society. Further details of this will be availableat the Re-

Fresher’s fayre on the

of January.

Brave New World

Folarin Araromi

ritten in 1931, Aldous Huxley’s Brave

New World gives a bleak vision of a fu-ture where technology has altered the face of humanity, and people have become nothingmore than cold, empty automatons, existingonly to fulfil a predetermined function. Usu-ally pronounced as a chilling prophecy of thetide of things to come, many tend to overlook its value as a disturbingly poignant commen-tary on the contemporary issues of 20

cen-tury western social climate. Issues that haveamassed even greater weight today in a soci-ety that strives to exist at the cutting-edge.However, with modern science breaking newand hazardous ground on an almost daily ba-sis, there is a fear the rapid advance of technol-ogy in recent years may very well soon bring

us to the brink of Huxley’s nightmare.

One may ask how the byzantine technol-ogy and unbending social Darwinism of BraveNew World relates to economics, much lessthe bright-eyed, happy-go-lucky liberal econ-omy of the modern west? It is in that econom-ics provides the medium to discuss the grow-ing concerns surrounding the increasingprevalence of technology in society, and itsimplications not only on the economy but ourindividual rights and liberties. The digitalrevolution of the 1980s saw the birth of the

personal computer, symbolising humanity’s

evolution from the archaic mechanical ana-logue system to radical new methods of digitalprocessing. Correspondingly, Moore's Law de-scribes a common trend in computing, inwhich the number of transistors on an inte-grated circuit doubles approximately everytwo years. Beyond the desktop, Moore's Law iseffectively a business practice based upon anexponential growth in technology; a growthsociety bore witness to throughout the late20th century. While technology may have ad-vanced humanity beyond its wildest dreams,

how many of us actually know where it’s go-

ing? We are still a long way away from the war-stricken streets customary to many works of dystopian science fiction, but the precipitousadvent of technology has produced gadgetsand gizmos that present the possibility of aworld where technology may infringe uponour identity and freedom.Modern society is built upon a founda-tion of technology that has a long and tryinghistory. A history that stretches beyond the20

century, back to the 18

century and theIndustrial Revolution, marking the transitionfrom manual labour to machine-based manu-facturing. Thus the demand for technologicalinnovation arose from the need to achievegreater operational efficiency, as to therebybetter satisfy consumer demand. But technol-ogy has had just as much to do with economicreform as social reform. Computers were oncepredicted to be able to facilitate complete cen-

tral planning of the economy, but as we’ve ex-

perienced for ourselves technology has playeda far more eminent role in globalisation andthe expansion of the free market. The digitalrevolution radically changed the way individu-als and businesses interact. Small companieswere suddenly given access to much larger