SECTION TWO: THE PREREQUISITES FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY RESTRICTION


SECTION TWO: THE PREREQUISITES FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY RESTRICTION

After determining the necessity of restricting further scientific and techno logical development, we should continue to analyze whether or not we can achieve this goal.

One: Countries Are Today’s Social Forms

The social formation of human society has gone through three stages: the primitive migratory stage, the village and tribal stage, and today’s nation/country stage.

In the earliest days, when primitive humans lived in migratory groups, there was very little interaction between groups. The Agricultural Revolution brought about the domestication of animals and plants and allowed humans to settle down. Villages and tribes were formed.

Countries formed a few thousand years after the Agricultural Revolution. The earliest country formed some six thousand years ago. The country stage is the third stage of human society development, and it has lasted to this day.

The formation of countries was an inevitable outcome of human society development, and it was based on village and tribal societies. Due to the extreme selfishness and eternal competitiveness of humanity, villages and tribes engaged in constant conflict. Agricultural production also required large water conservancy projects and natural disaster prevention methods. All of these elements gave rise to the formation of countries. Even though today’s societies retain the basic form of countries, their essences have changed drastically. Human society today is much more rich and vivid than it was thousands of years ago.

As an organization form of human society, countries are not unique. Many other types of organizations are active in the world. In terms of scale, international organizations are the largest groups. For example, the United Nations is the largest international organization in the world. As a universal international organization, its existing 193 member states include almost all the sovereign nations of the world. In addition to universal international organizations like the United Nations, there are also various regional and trans-regional international organizations, such as the European Union, the Southeast Asia Union, and the G8.

Apart from international organizations, smaller forms of organizations exist in abundance; these include various governments, agencies, enterprises, associations, schools, public welfare agencies, social welfare agencies, and various cities, villages, towns, and neighborhoods. These organizations exist all around us and are inextricably linked to all of our lives.

Two other forms of organization exist invisibly. They connect people by blood or belief and awaken a strong sense of belonging within each individual. These unseen organizations are ethnicity and religion. All people belong to their own ethnicity, and most people have their own religious beliefs. Though people may not necessarily be influenced by a particular ethnic or religious organization, they cannot deny their existence.

Despite this, the most stable, sacred, and systematized organization in human society is still the country. Today’s human society exists in country configurations, which are the dominant force in today’s world. All other organizations are subordinate to them.

Various international organizations are actually subordinate to countries as well. It is the country’s decision to join and act in these international organizations according to their individual interests. International organizations are largely influenced by their member states, especially the more powerful ones. Therefore, countries dominate international organizations ... not the other way around. This is a basic fact.

Similarly, ethnicities and religions are also subordinate to countries. Most countries contain multiple ethnicities and religions, and most ethnicities and religions are distributed across many countries. Although each person feels ethnic and religious kinship, they are usually driven by the interests of their country.

The sacred authority of the country began six thousand years ago and has continued to this day. There have been instances where religious power supersedes national power; for example, in Medieval Europe, the Pope held higher power than the secular monarch. However, this was only a brief, transient moment in history, and even then, religious power was used as a tool to achieve state rule. In fact, religion was still subordinate to the state.

We can make one observation: In today’s society, countries dominate all the groups, organizations, and individuals subordinate to it. They also deter mine the ultimate role they play in the world according to their own interests.

Two: Competition between Countries

The inherent weakness of human beings often leads to irrational behavior. Individual irrationality, or even irrational behavior of a normal organization, cannot cause much harm. The case is different when it comes to the irrationality of a country. As the highest form of power in the world today, a country can mobilize all its resources when needed, and no other social form can limit its behavior. Therefore, the irrational behavior of a state will be much more devastating than any other social force.

Due to the coexistence of many countries in the world, countries are constantly competing with each other. Such competition is reflected in all aspects of the state, such as politics, economics, military affairs, diplomacy, and culture. Once conflicts from competition intensify to a certain extent, they manifest in the form of war. This has always been the rule of countries.

From the perspective of human nature, competition between countries is usually decided by two factors. The first factor is the eternal competitiveness of humanity itself. The inherent competitiveness of human beings means that all countries will constantly seek to surpass their rivals in all aspects. Smaller countries wish to become larger, and larger countries wish to become superpowers. Though competition between nations involves all aspects of the state, the two main areas of contention are usually the economy and military affairs. As long as these two elements are enhanced, the overall strength of the country will improve. Politics, diplomacy, and culture will improve accordingly. Therefore, all countries give priority to economic and military development.

Military and economic strength are largely decided by a country’s land size, population, and resources. For a small country like Singapore, no matter how developed, civilized, and respected it is in the world, it cannot become a major power that dominates world or regional affairs. For a country like India, though it is poor and less developed, its huge land size and population means that it will not be underestimated. It is precisely for this reason that an expansionist mentality will lurk inside all countries. This mentality is closely linked to the country’s competitive mentality. Countries will usually resort to territorial expansion in their bid to surpass their competitors, and territorial expansion can usually only be achieved through war.

The second factor is the extreme selfishness within human nature. Expanding through means of plunder and war is an extremely selfish act. It establishes happiness based on the suffering of others. The casualties in such expansions not only include the people of other countries but also a country’s own people; however, a country will never abandon competition due to the immorality of expansion. Extreme selfishness is rooted in human nature, and it makes the expansion of countries unavoidable.

All countries understand the unavoidable nature of expansion and will take precautions to prevent annexation and plunder from invading forces. The most effective way to prevent such invasions is to develop one’s own economy and military power. Every country has a sense of crisis and urgency; the coexistence of countries means that not all countries can feel a sense of security. Therefore, the constant need to defend oneself and surpass one’s competitors will drive countries into a constant need for further, faster development.

Whenever countries reach a certain level of economic and military development, they will feel constrained by their national limitations. This will drive them to consider expansion. Similarly, countries will also seek to strike first before they themselves become targets of expansion; thus, all countries have the potential to become aggressors and invaders.

To sum up, if proactive competition between countries is caused by the eternal competitiveness of humanity, then humanity’s extreme selfishness is what leads countries into passive competition. It does not matter if the com petitions are proactive or passive—they will all inevitably lead to expansion and aggression. In a society comprised of countries, no country can escape the fate of invading others or being invaded. No country exists in a vacuum.

Three: The Double Strengthening of Scientific and Technological Development

Competition among nations will also lead to the emergence of another phenomenon: the country’s firm dependence on science and technology. The competition of countries depends mainly on overall strength. The main sustaining point of overall strength lies in economic and military strength; however, military strength needs economic strength as its backing. The improvement of economic strength requires continuous improvements in production efficiency and continuous accumulation of economic wealth. We know that a country’s economy mostly relies on enterprises, but the overall development of enterprises decides the overall effectiveness of a country’s economy.

Judging from today’s situation, globalization is the main trend of the world economy. As the world economy further integrates, this characteristic will only be strengthened. What should countries rely on to remain invincible in the international market? In the long course of human history, mankind has been mostly self-sufficient. Our ability to adapt and transform nature has been very limited. It was not until the Industrial Revolution that people discovered the great power of science and technology. The steam engine propelled the train beyond the power of thousands of horses. Planes took humans into the sky; televisions and telephones transported images and sounds across tens of thousands of kilometers instantly; the computing speed of one computer soon exceeded that of millions of excellent mathematicians. Science and technology has created unprecedented potential, and people have fully realized its immense ability to create wealth. Science and technology has come to be regarded as the primary force in productivity; therefore, the competition of modern enterprises has become the competition of science and technology.

Since improving the overall efficiency of enterprises means enhancing the economic health of the country, its military budget, as well as overall strength, science and technology has become the core factor affecting national interests.

In fact, the development of science and technology can also directly provide the military with more effective means of war. The emergence of new scientific and technological achievements has always been prioritized for the military and national defense. Therefore, science and technology not only have an indirect effect on the improvement of military strength, but also a direct and important significance. All of this augments the importance of science and technology to national interests.

Since countries and enterprises have similar interests in the development of science and technology, they will mutually reinforce and promote each other in terms of scientific development, forming this logical relationship:

1. Enterprises will only be able to gain substantial economic benefits and remain competitive in the market through scientific and technological research, development, and utilization; therefore, enterprises will be devoted to scientific and technological research.

2. Economic efficiency will lead to corresponding increases in the economic, military, and overall strength of the country. The state can obtain corresponding benefits through the development of science and technology.

3. The state will then support the enterprises’ research and development of science and technology with its own resources.

4. The enterprises gaining further economic benefits through scientific and technological innovations enhances the overall strength of the country and gives the country more ability to support and promote further research and development.

This mutually beneficial relationship between the state and the enterprises further promotes the development of science and technology. We will call this relationship the double strengthening of scientific and technological development, or “double strengthening” for short.

Double strengthening is an inevitable phenomenon in our country-based society; it is the inevitable result of competition between coexisting countries. After the Industrial Revolution, this double strengthening became more obvious and stronger in effect because the great power of science and technology became apparent through the Industrial Revolution. This has led to the consolidation of the double strengthening effect.

Although the main factor for scientific and technological development lies in both the countries and the enterprises, enterprises are still subordinate to countries, leaving the fundamental responsibility with the countries. As supreme powers of the human world, countries have a sacred duty to manage the world in a responsible manner. Any act that goes against the values of mankind should be stopped by the state. This task of preserving human interests cannot be accomplished by enterprises. Enterprises can only be respondents and participants at most— they cannot be the leaders of change.

The competitiveness between countries means that no country can shoulder such responsibility. Science and technology is at the core of economic, military, and overall competitiveness between countries. It determines whether or not a country can hold supreme power in the world. Not only will countries not restrict scientific and technological development, but they will do everything to promote it. The overall threat to mankind cannot undermine the attitude of countries. Human extinction is a future matter for everyone, while any failure in national competition would lead to individual demise. The more immediate and personal matter will obviously win out. All countries must be constantly prepared for war; only by improving their competitive strength can they avoid tragic demise.

Three: Uniting the Human Race

The restriction of scientific and technological development involves many aspects. It is an arduous and long-term goal. Only the utmost commitment from the highest powers of the human race could achieve this goal. The most supreme form of power in human society today is the country; without countries, the move to restrict scientific and technological development is inconceivable.

Countries today put their own interests first and are in constant competition with each other. They are obviously not in a position to lead the charge. What conditions must be met to achieve the goal of scientific and technological development restriction? In order to propel countries into action, there must first be a strong motivational force. The threat to human survival is not strong enough of a motivational force. All countries must receive equal guarantee that their survival and safety will not be threatened due to individual restriction efforts. The rules for restriction must be universal and absolute so that none will benefit from breaking the rules and none will have cause for personal worry.

In order to satisfy these demands, the highest forms of power cannot have divided rule. Whenever power is divided, competition and confrontation will quickly render all efforts useless.

It is logical to conclude that the restriction of scientific and technological development cannot be achieved when the highest powers are divided; the only way to achieve the goal would be through unified global action.

Unified global action refers to the unification of the human race. It requires that the world be unanimously unified and unswerving in its commitment to restrict scientific and technological development. No regional dissent can be allowed. At the same time, the restriction of scientific development has to be long-term and consistent for the future billions of years.

Since countries are the highest forms of human society, the unification of the human race is essentially the uniting of countries. All countries must adhere to the above requirements, and no individual deviation can be per mitted. If any country deviated from the common goal, its impact would be multifaceted. Not only would it cause direct harm through potentially dangerous scientific research, but it would also create a domino effect that would erupt the entire system.

The weakness of humanity ensures that eternal competitiveness, competition, vanity, and aggression will always be a part of human society. If one country opened the dam on scientific and technological development, others would follow suit to avoid being surpassed. The increase in national strength brought on by leading scientific developments would propel a country into a superpower, and it could easily order around and determine the fate of other countries. No leader would allow their competitors to gain such an advantage. Moreover, once a country lifted the restrictions on the development of science and technology, it would achieve high levels of economic development, far surpassing that of other countries. Its citizens’ standard of living would be far ahead of the rest of the world, and many attractive technology products would appear. Due to this, people of other countries would demand the same improvements from their own governments, and restrictions on scientific and technological development would be abandoned.