![]() This seemingly complex puzzle is indeed one of these non-puzzles. The major concern is whether the current social structure could survive such massive reductions in jobs coupled with the unequal distribution of wealth and income. ![]() The result is a growing difference in almost every area that is important for people, such as income, living conditions, health, education and opportunities for advancement. The technological revolution created a spread by favoring the better educated and skilled over unskilled workers, capital owners over labor, and superstars over everybody else. The information and technological revolutions have been changing all aspects of our daily life, how we learn, work, shop and interact with each other, and hence become vital elements of the development process. We are currently living in a world where computing power is growing exponentially artificial intelligence (AI) is now part of daily life and getting better every day robots are replacing labor on a scale not previously observed and, finally, new manufacturing techniques such as additive manufacturing are disrupting traditional production methods. It also ignores the fundamental contradiction between economic growth and environmental sustainability due to the limits of the material basis of the planet to support such continuous growth.Īnother non-puzzle we have been trying to solve is about the technological revolutions and development. This view conveniently ignores the fact that economic growth needs a steady flow of energy and raw material for production and constant (in fact, increasing) demand for produced goods and services. Take, for example, the view that the economic growth is the engine of development. It is obvious that in its environmental, social and economic dimensions, sustainability is extremely important for the future of our planet and humanity, and yet often it is misunderstood, misused or even abused with the support of these myths. One such myth is about the concept of sustainability. In the process, we create and widely promote myths that support our misunderstandings and/or misuse of the development concept. “The information and technological revolutions have been changing all aspects of our daily life, how we learn, work, shop and interact with each other… “ The same principle applies to local and regional uneven development. Once we put all these together and identify major disruptions that affect the development process and the resulting problems in the development process, we can clearly see the way forward solving this non-puzzle. The role and place of individual and interaction between individual and society are also important to understand their role in the development process. One may begin with a review and understanding of the world in which this phenomenon takes place that would reveal the power structures and socio-economic relations that offer information about the production of goods and services, allocation of resources, distribution of wealth and income in a society. However, if we can put it in the right context and identify all relevant elements that affect the development process, we will see that it is not a puzzle after all. It is true that development is inherently a complicated and multi-faceted phenomenon. The concept of development is one those puzzles that is not really a puzzle. In other words, if we can see the world from a dialectical perspective instead of metaphysics, we would be able to see the whole picture and make connections between its various elements. One may also reasonably argue that this is the result of long-lasting influence of metaphysical view of the world in our thinking and philosophies. One of the major reasons behind this failing is the lack of critical thinking because throughout our upbringing we have been conditioned to accept things as they are presented to us by our parents in the family, by our teachers in schools, our bosses at the workplaces, by mass media and finally by our governments. Moosa aptly stated we talk about puzzles that are not really puzzles and create or promote myths to justify policies and actions that may otherwise be refused. We tend to see everything in frames of a film rather than as a long movie that is still running. Consequently, we miss the connection between various elements of the big picture and their interaction with each other, how they influence others and are influenced by them at the same time. We frequently fail to see the big picture and understand what it entails. * Author of Humanitarian Local and Regional Development, Mustafa Dinc, critically reviews the factors that disrupt local and regional development.
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