patth@dasys1.UUCP (Patt Haring) (02/15/88)
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER AND THE THIRD WORLD* Joaquin G. Tan** There are very few paper coming from the third world and thus we will not be able to hear their experiences on how the new information technology is being transfered under 3rd world situation. Because of this, the points I will discuss this morning about technology transfer and the third world are based largely on the perceived effects of technologies hitherto introduced in most 3rd world countries. However, I feel that at this point it's a foregone conclusion that the new information technologies like the computers will have the same effects as I will discuss below. First of all we must look at technology not merely as a mode of production with hardware (tools, machinery) and software (skills and knowledge, organizations) components but also as carrier of codes or social genes. These genes or codes is manifested in the economic, social, cultural and even cognitive aspects of society. "In the economic sphere Western technology demands that industries be capital intensive, research-intensive, organization-intensive and labor extensive. Socially, it creates a "center" and a "periphery", perpetuating a dependency-forming structure of inequality." Moreover, it tries to recreate aspects of the social system which produced it. So it is not just tools that is recreated but also institutions that produce tangible commodities and systems like schools and hospitals and intangible ones such as education and health. "In the cultural arena, it sees the West as entrusted by destiny with the mission of casting the rest of the world in its own image. And in the cognitive field, it sees man as master of nature, the vertical and individualistic relations between human beings as normal and natural, and history as a linear movement of progress." (J. Galtung) It is because of these realities that I said earlier that the effect or impact of the new information technology in our societies is a foregone conclusion. Worse because of the unstopable flow of more foreign technologies, our indigenous innovative capabilities (the key to producing our own technologies) will continually and unwittingly be suppressed. This is very subtle process of suppression which is going on has its roots in the colonial period. The third world countries never really attained genuine independence. Third world economies (agriculture and industry) financial system, education and culture remain tied down to the institution and systems of their former colonizers. I would like to add at this point that this dependency is slowly being taken over by transnational corporations in their process of increasing centralized control over various aspects of the global economy. I would like to illustrate how this dependency is continually being reenforced in social development programs of aid agencies and the third world governments (even perhaps in the practice of social work). In the 1950's the "in" thing in answering hunger and poverty is through dole outs. To give outrightly, "bread and fish" so to speak. This was seem as inadequate and dependency forming and so, the poor was taught how to fish. Skills training was the thing then. For us working in Non-governmental Organizations in the Philippines this is still inadequate. The skills that is being taught to the poor is meant to be a supply of cheap labor for industries of transnational corporations and not skills to develop our self-reliance. Thus, the current strategy now among non-governmental development organization in the Philippines is to teach the poor how to make his fishing gears/tools. However, we asked now, why will poor have the incentive to make his tools if the products he produce with his tools is being sold at the local market at a lower price because of import liberalization? Yes the IMF-World Bank policies impose on third world nations to liberalize their import control, making us more dependent on imported transnational products. Keeping alive our innovative capabilities is a very serious and important matter if we want to develop genuine self-reliance. This brings me to the topic on Third World issues. The most fundamental issue I feel that cuts across almost all third world nations is the disparities of our economies and culture. From this fundamental issue springs forth other symphomes such as the third world debt, trade relations and other popular issues. Technology transfer to the third world have often than not aggravated the gap of this disparities rather than remedy it. It has fostered a more legalize process of exploitation through royalties, transfer pricing, repartration of profits and other mechanisms. Many nations and international non-governmental organizations have been working for the creation of a new International Economic Order but as we all know developed countries have resisted even talking about it. Worse, developed countries have passed into laws more protectionist measures. It is funny if you think of it. Developed countries are moving towards more protectionism while subtly imposing to third world nations (through the IMF and World Bank) to liberalize import control. This should be the other way around. It is ironic indeed. It is no wonder that the gap between our countries continue to grow rather than diminish. So how do we fit in the new information technology in this situation? I failed to discuss earlier about another aspect of technology transfer, this is technology application. Since the technology is there, the usual logic is better use it to ones advantage up to a point that it can be done. Indeed this can be done to some extent. The peoples of the third world countries have been surviving because of this ability to cope with what is there. This is what is usually termed as the process of adaptation. Most papers presented in this conference that touch on technology transfer and third world issues concern itself with the process of adaptation or technology application. Adaptation happens to all societies whether from the developed countries or developing ones. Different cultures have their own mechnisms of adaptation. This is usually based on how strong or weak their traditional technological structures are. The smooth acceptance of technology by the users usually means that a technology matches the traditional technological structures of an individual, community or society. This is the case with the developed countries where the indigenous innovative capabilities of the population were given ample chance and time to cope with constant change and development of technologies. In poor countries, the traditional technological structure more so traditional technologies have been unwittingly ridiculed as primitive and superstitious during their history of colonialism. Much of the indigenous abilities is stifled or suppressed because of the continued influx of more imported technologies. Thus, the transfer of more imported technologies is almost always accompanied by a host of issues and problems. The new information technologies will have the same effect as stated above and will most probably increase further the disparities of our economies. For the developed countries it is more apt to look at adaptation as actually the process of introducing innovations while in the developing countries I would like to call this, process of appropriation. The common experience of this method is the participation of the people in the process involved in adapation. In this process, the people will have the chance to have the final say as to whether they will use the technology, set it aside or reject it. And because of their participation there is a consequent empowerment that occurs. I would like now to center my discussion on how we are appropriating the application of the new information technology in the context that we all have to undergo the process of adaptation. I think the new information technology may help remedy the disparities and inequalities I mentioned earlier if we use it as a tool to reeducate ourselves and others about the realities of our societies. Everyone must be made aware of how our own individual and societal lifestyle contribute to the problem. It is important to face the reality that affluence and poverty as two sides of the same coin which means, one is impoverish because the other is affluent. Before jumping to it I would like to list some important prerequisites. 1. We must recognize that the technology must grow within the appropriate cultural framework of the audiences the technology is meant to serve. Thus it is the peoples of the third world who must appropriate the technology perhaps with just a little help from some first world individuals and institution. 2. We must realize that the new information technology is still directed mainly towards the urban population and the highest income group, not those social groups, particularly the rural areas (70% of the population of the third world) who needs the benefits derived from these innovations. Corollarily, the poor communication infrastructure found in our countries consequently disallow the majority poor to have access to the technology. Thus only a few elite but concerned individuals will logically be the contact persons for any attempt to link up various initiatives using the new information technology. 3. We must be ready to change our mental set. Many of us are aware that the collective consciousness of our present society is still dominated by the mechanistic and materialistic (profit) way of thinking. This can no longer be the driving force of our everyday living. The holistic view of the world now expounded by the new physics and quantum mechanics has reconceptualized science and totally altered the meaning of classical reality forever. This means that if we change our mental set, all that we have known and learned hitherto should be questioned and reevaluated. 4. Based on the experience of service workers in the Philippines as well as the experiences I read from other countries who have used the new information technology, the role of consciousness in the process of appropriation is crucial. If none of us ever thought of using the tools available now for service work, we may not be able to perform the work that do now nor will we find ourselves talking about it here. This entails a commitment on our part to make technology do what it should do, serve human needs and facilitate self-realization. Thus we must continue to reeducate ourselves in order that we will reach a level of understanding and consciousness in order that we will find more ways and means to appropriate the technologies and learn more about ourselves and our purpose in this planet. The paper I read yesterday points to three (3) important substance of the use of the new information technology which we need to work on. They are: 1. The establishment of solid lines of communication and information flow among peoples of the world defining various audiences and addressing expressed needs. We may start with alternative groups who are in service work and have reach a certain level of planetary consciousness, who view the wholeness of the world and are acting it out. 2. The development of data bases that would support the actions of people to neutralize the excessive control and illegal activities of transnational corporations, foreign policies of governments that legitimize exploitation of the economies of others, disarmaments and other important infomration that would reeducate us about the ill effects of the lifestyles of our societies. 3. The sharing of experiences of evolving alternative structures and systems that are going on in our societies such as alternative lifestyle communities, appropriate technologies, sustainable agriculture and peace efforts. I also said and I would like to reiterate that by doing this, we are contributing to the evolution of what TEILHARD de Chardin calls the formation of the NOOSPHERE and to Peter Russel, a British Psychologist, the evolution of the "global Brain". I would like to conclude by saying that this reeducational process which all of us are undergoing and which we hope to enhance and speed up through the use of the new information technology should bring the realization in us to heal and regenerate the earth, make amends on the abuses we made on ourselves and with each other and learn to leave the life of affluence and wasteful living in favor of more voluntary simplicity. Majority of the peoples of the third world do not really want an affluent society, we just want a no poverty society, a society that respects the earth and all the species she has manifested. The people in this earth must see themselves again as a participant in the evolutionary process of all life on this planet and not that of a destroyer. * Paper presented at the Human Services Technology Application or HUSITA '87 September 10, 1987, City of Birmingham Polytechnic, Birmingham, United Kingdom. ** Please address all questions and correspondence to Joaquin G. Tan 1086 del Monte Avenue, SFDM Quezon City Philippines. -- Patt Haring {sun!hoptoad,cmcl2!phri}!dasys1!patth Big Electric Cat Public Access Unix (212) 879-9031 - System Operator Three aspects of wisdom: intelligence, justice & kindness.