Progress and technological innovation bring economic prosperity, as everyone knows. The advent of the steam engine brought about the Industrial Revolution, and the information technology revolution has reinvigorated the U.S. economy today. It is only natural for us to expect technology to continue contributing to global productivity in the 21st century.
On the flip side of the coin, however, it is imperative for us to fully recognize that innovation tends to cause friction among existing organizations. At the outset of the Industrial Revolution, workers who saw their jobs threatened by the advent of a mechanical civilization started a movement to smash labor-saving machines. We have recently seen similar actions being taken by developing countries and nongovernmental organizations at international gatherings.
To overcome such a situation, we need to push for structural reforms in economies at different stages of development. All of them, be they developing nations or industrialized countries, need to bear the pain of such reforms.