The ideology of technology and the birth of the global economy

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The fundamental presuppositions of both the market-led and the command-driven economies have common characteristics with the conceptual understanding of experimental science and applied science, respectively. In spite of the controversy between individualists and collectivists on the proper role of government (legislation or dictation) in fostering economic development, there has been a largely unrecognized but fundamental agreement on the “causes” of wealth creation. The polarized dispute about the market vs the command economy obscured a common belief in the moral justification of continual technological innovation. Both views entailed a belief in the moral value of technology in the service of civilization, primarily at the expense of the moral authority of theology. This belief had far-reaching implications for the uneven development of the global economy under imperial and multinational corporate control. It has created the sense of time of modernity and has radically transformed the culture of societies, the organization of industry, the objectives of commercial organizations, and their economic circumstances.