From the Industrial Revolution to the Technological Revolution

Guillermo Garcia Machado

The scientific-technological revolution has impacted all levels of society, mainly due to the development of two sciences: biology and computer science. These innovations have given rise to new forms of organization in the economy, politics and socially. We are in the technological revolution where the use of technology for information has made the latter a key element for the overall production process. This has radically changed the global economic system governed by globalization.

Wealth creation and the accumulation of power are subject to the capacity for innovation, and brightened by the very technological and computer revolution. 

Mexico and the rest of Latin America cannot escape these new paradigms. 

It is on the Internet where you can ponder the synthesis that is generated by the knowledge society, when creating a new artificial creature that merges the virtual with the economic system to generate a new technical and cultural paradigm. 

When you mix virtual with economic matters, capitalism finds a new space to colonize an area in which the territorial and time barriers are dismantled. In this process the countries of Latin America have not been able to play a leading role, with the exception of Chile (in very specific exceptions), since these countries are only expect to receive the crumbs that fall from the north, implying that we are far from being part of the “knowledge society”. 

As far as technology is concerned, Latin American countries are faced with the condition of being colonies of the United States, a situation that does not favor us in the goal to achieve the needed industrial consolidation that will allow us to truly incorporate to the “knowledge society”. Although Mexico has been recognized for its industrial development and was named the ninth largest economy of the world, the distance it will have to travel to catch up to the knowledge society increases drastically if we observe how it has distanced itself from seeking true development in the areas of science and technology.

Under these conditions, and with only 300 Mexican companies that conduct research and create technological development out of a total of 2.8 million businesses that exist in the great Aztec nation, it is virtually impossible to speak of a real Mexican society of knowledge.

If we investigated what actually happens in the rest of Latin America, we would have to dramatically recognize our inability to generate an indigenous technology that brings us closer to a real “knowledge revolution”. To not change the way of thinking of those who direct the destinies of our borders, will only further increase the old inequalities that have made unbearable the great Latin American social debt and will therefore continue the days of social, economic and political uncertainty. 

Similarly, the dependency model will remain in effect, producing consequences such as the total loss of identity, especially intellectual, of all Latin Americans, also keeping us as a backyard for the countries that do drive the technology revolution. We cannot afford to continue miserably wasting time. All hands on deck!