They were invariably called under-developed countries, third world countries and presently the developing countries but in the face of the latest trends in the world, how apt is the new name?
The world is agog with events, discoveries, and inventions such as 3D Printing, Artificial Intelligence, Automated Vehicles, Electric Vehicles and a host of others.
Just a few days ago it was reported that Volvo will only make electric and hybrid cars starting in 2019 and also that France plans to end sales of gas and diesel cars by 2040.
The whole wide world has been clamoring for the carbon dioxide content as well as other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.The largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from the United States is from the burning of fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation.
Any move made to curb and possibly save mankind from the very disastrous consequences of our polluting the environment should be considered a noble action. It should also be seen as a step in the right direction.
I foresee a time very soon when we won’t need to cook any food, where all bodily requirements will be from one gadget or the other. That will be very good, after all the essence of science is to make the world a better and more comfortable place for the human to survive.
Nobody will want to go back to the stone age despite the fact that we recorded the first prehistoric human technological development then. The world must go on and at a fast pace for that matter.
We don’t need psychologists, sociologists, and the likes to tell us that something is wrong somewhere. In the face of all the developmental trends going on around us, there exists an ominous but deafening silence from the developing countries.
The developing countries are known to fully rely on developed countries for their growth, and rate of unemployment and poverty is very high. The meager jobs they do are dependent on the high industrialization of the developed countries. Citizens migrate to developed countries sometimes in the face of death, for a better standard of living.
It is a non-hidden fact that a country like Nigeria which is the most populous African country depends solely on the export of crude oil to run its affairs. There are a lot of others in that category.
It is also not hidden that as Medicare is improving, infant and maternal mortality is on the decrease. The population is rising and very fast so. It is postulated that by 2050, the population of Africa alone would have risen to about 2.3 billion. But there is hunger and starvation. Source of good water is practically lacking.
I allude terrorism to hunger, unemployment, disaffection, illiteracy, poor standard of living, lack of water, poor health facilities and other basic amenities necessary to live a comfortable life.
I believe what is happening in North Korea is as a result of hunger. I consider anybody who wants to enjoy fresh seafood from Red Lobster in Lakeland, Florida, for dinner but had to make do with hamburger because of financial constraints to be hungry.
All these technological breakthroughs, where will they be utilized and by whom? Where will we get money to purchase our electric vehicles? What will happen to the teeming population in the developing countries that will lose their jobs and possibly the source of meager income as a result of these innovations?
What will happen to countries that cannot meet up with the cost of running their internal affairs? Do we expect them to collapse?
Someone out there may want to say that is the cost of development. That may be true, but the consequences may be catastrophic. We may end up creating a bigger demon than the one we have been trying to conquer.
The world must grow technologically, mankind must continue to strive to make the place more comfortable and more conducive for living. The six simple machines were discovered over a long time ago to enhance and simplify work, as well as to help humans.
The thing to do is to look deeply. Governments should rather sit down and fashion out ways of tackling the problems that could spill over. The richer nations which are expectedly the developed countries should take the lead.
I don’t want to sound as an alarmist and I’m definitely not one, but only a simpleton will take the fury and rage of billions of people for granted.
The truth of the matter is that if we don’t act now and very fast we may only later realize that we were all along sitting on a keg of gunpowder. The reverberations of the consequent explosions will not do the world any good.
For a certainty, there will be spillovers.