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What can I know (if trust in knowledge has been lost)? | 61
required? (We are talking here of resources which are, moreover, ever
harder to obtain here on Earth. And the possibility of interstellar travel
continues to exist only in the minds of the fans of fantasy films.)
‘There is of course the theoretical possibility of the more radical
solution of depriving the 15% of the means of excessive wellbeing.
However, some basic calculations reveal that this would not change
much, either. Not to even speak of the little detail of who should decide
for us what excessive wellbeing means and how we should take away
what we think they do not deserve. ‘There is also a “silent” version of
Plan B of this revolution — celebrated by the liberal left, encouraged by
the multinational companies and conducted by the organised underworld
— that several hundred million people leave their country of origin and
migrate to the wealthy countries. This is a true egalitarian solution: the
islands of wellbeing and culture will disappear in a couple of decades
in the ocean of global poverty.
The current system is at most capable of measures for alleviating
destitution. Their effect is sadly doubly limited. On the one hand, the
proportion of the poor in comparison to the rich is growing steadily,
because most children are born in the lower classes and the poorest
countries. Moreover, it is these poor countries that have to face the most
serious direct effects of global climate change (desertification; lack of
drinking water). Their main source of subsistence is the exploitation of
their natural resources, i.e., the destruction of the environment, on
which their future dependence will increase in direct correspondence
with the increase of destitution. On the other hand, we must
acknowledge that the unequal distribution of military, political and
economic power is an integral part of the order of modern industrial
society. This takes form in the extremely asymmetric division of
possessed goods. Whether the competition is between states or
individuals — in reality, the two spheres never fully separated — whether
they happen to be engaged in trade or war, their efforts are directed
towards the concentration of power and capital within the ever¬
diminishing circle of winners. The latter are forced into ever greater
expenditures in the interest of seizing or maintaining hegemony, above
all in the arena of military — understood in the broadest sense — and
logistic developments. ‘The conflicts induced by the global crisis and the
sense of increased threat merely intensifies their competition and their
interest in maintaining the inequalities. All this significantly limits the
willingness of the rich and powerful to share. It is neither capitalism or
socialism, but the logic of the operation of modern industrial society in