Robert X. Cringely writes:
When It Comes to Understanding Why Government Doesn't Understand High-Tech and Why Financial Markets Seem to be Working Against Our Own Interests, Well, We Did It to Ourselves
This is one in a series of his excellent articles regarding outsourcing 1|2|3|4|... He is right to the point (as always), but I do not agree that oursourcing is "our own damned fault". Below is my response:
Mr.Cringely,Posted by laza at January 30, 2004 05:43 PMI aplaud your comments on technology and outsourcing. You should keep on putting them forward.
However, I don't think you understand the problem. The problem is the capitalistic nature of our society, not outsourcing.
Imagine you could travel back in time to ancient Roman times with your current knowledge of sociology and technology. If you awake in Rome as a slave, there is (almost) nothing you can do about gaining freedom or preventing the fall of that civilization. You would perfectly understand the political, economic, and sociological forces behind slavery, but could do nothing about it without freedom.
Travel in time to the age of Great Depression and wake up there as a poor worker. You would know exactly how industrialists and bankers ravaged the economy to their own detriment, but you could do nothing about it without capital.
Fast forward to current society. You know exactly how 401(k) funds, banks, CEOs and politicians rob us to their own detriment, but you can do nothing about it witout a lot of capital and a lot of political influence.
In my opinion, the best you can do is try to educate population about one tiny problem, such as outsourcing. If there is very many of us doing that, we will still achieve nothing, but at least we will be content that we tried..
Regards,
-Laza