Of late I've formed a rather dismal view of this world. I've finally realized that the thoughts that we've been fed all day long, day in and day out, that "You can change the world" sometimes seem to be very hollow unless you have muscle strength.
Alvin Toffler in his book "Power Shift" articulated on the 3 basic sorts of power: Brute Power, Economic Power, Knowledge Power. He said that the days to come, the world shall be ruled by those who have the Knowledge Power, but I strongly disagree and believe that Brute Strength has always been, today is & shall continue to be the strength that supercedes all other forms.
Imagine a millionaire with a gun on his head: who has more power? Now if you talk about "knowledge" as a source...what will a "knowledge worker" do when he's in the place of the millionaire?
The governments of the world are powerful because they have brute strength. During the days of cold-war, the USSR had a much more versatile arsenal of traditional weapons than the USA. USA on the other hand had a similar advantage in the nuclear weapons category. But what made them the both more powerful than others was that they had the weapons & others did not. If someone says "Oil is power", ask him what happened to Iraq, Kuwait, Vietnam and so on. The wars involving these countries might not have had a significant conclusion, but it very well proved the point that having oil doesn't mean that your right to live will be safeguarded.
I guess the only weapon that can over-rule brute strength is the “Perspective Gun”. (I must say, this has been my dream superpower even when I didn’t know of the existence of such a weapon, even though it is just fictitious; after all, to make others look from your perspective is the best thing to do to control the world!) It is described in “Hitch-hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” as the ultimate weapon. Whenever fired, it makes the subject see things in perspective of the one who fired the gun. Apparently it was invented by angry housewives, who were tired of using the phrase “You just don’t get it, do you!?”
I have harangued too far. My only concern is that with all the governments laying down the foundations to a police state (oh please, give me a break, don't you tell me I'm wrong. If you're so strong, prove it by leaving a comment.) what is the common man's life becoming like? Can I really change the world without brute force?
Hasmukh :)
3 comments:
the brute force will win someday... Not when it defeats the knowledge or the money force... but when the knowledge force actually concedes defeat...
It is a tragedy of mankind that that the intellectuals have always been critical of one another while the tyrants have always approved of one another's works...
But just by the virtue that the knowledge force has not united till now, it'd be rather unfair and even dangerous to assume that they will never unite in future...
remember, the brute has always been afraid of the nerd... why else would all the tyrant kings of yore try to kill off the artists and writers of that age? It is because the ink of a pen exists, even when the blood on the sword has dried..
Pray you're right, I'd be glad to be mistaken...
Mortals think better on second thoughts:
Who survived? The tyrant kings or the writers & artistes? Remember, what is meant by "A pen is mightier than a sword" is that a pen has more power because it can fire the souls of people and in turn lead to a backlash...but that again is just a form of brute force.
Whatever you say, I am done being hopeful regarding mankind attaining utopia.
Hasmukh :)
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