| Highlights of DAWN | September 1983 |
The Increase of Knowledge
“Thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” “As the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” —Daniel 12:4; Matthew 24:27
THE growth of information and knowledge in this country and throughout the world in the past thirty years has been nothing less than phenomenal, and is surely an important indication of the nearness of the kingdom of Christ. The processing and dissemination of this information has come to dominate and change the structure of our economy, leaving as an aftermath many social and political problems that will be solved only in the kingdom.
From about the middle of the 1800’s until about the middle 1950’s, the United States was the outstanding manufacturing and goods-producing country in the world. Manufacturing was also the economic base of the remainder of the so-called western bloc nations, which include England, France, West Germany, and Japan. For the most part, the third world countries had been relegated to function as the source of critical raw materials to supply the factories of the western world. This minor role in the world economy resulted, in many cases, in extremely low standards of living and social unrest. But in the 1950’s, these roles began to change. The western powers began to lose their dominance in the manufacturing and processing of goods and things, and in its place they began to be involved in the creation and processing of information and knowledge.
Some of the statistics illustrating this change are interesting. (Much of the statistical information and other facts used are taken from “Megatrends,” a book written by John Naisbitt.) In 1950, only about 17 percent of the labor force was engaged in the creation and processing of information, while, as of this writing, more than 60 percent of the labor force is engaged in the information business. These occupations include programmers, teachers, clerks, secretaries, accountants, etc. According to David L. Birch of M.I.T., only about 13 percent of our labor force is engaged in manufacturing operations today. It is important to realize that in our transition from an industrial society to an information society, manufacturing will not cease to exist or become unimportant; for example, in early 1900, about 90 percent of the work force produced 100 percent of what we ate; now 3 percent of the work force produces 120 percent of the food that we need. This increased efficiency results, for the most part, from the application of information and knowledge. The same trends are being felt in most industries. The automobile industry, for example, no longer dominates the economy. Thousands of workers have lost their jobs, and many plants have been closed, but the total output of cars will remain about the same. A larger and larger segment of the work force is being replaced by automation—a part of the information business. It is true that the condition of the automobile business has been affected by the recession and stiff competition from foreign manufacturers, but, the fact remains, that it will never again dominate the economy. This is true of textiles, steel, farm machinery, etc.
On the other hand, let us consider the growth of the instruments used in this information age. Only now is this technology being introduced into old industrial tasks—the running of factories with information systems rather than with workers. Unions have been forced to fight automation in both industry and agriculture. For example, the use of robots in the work place has been expanded beyond the dangerous and unpleasant jobs, into both the unskilled and skilled labor market. At Ford Motor Company, robots test engines. General Motors uses robotic welders. There are ten government agencies that use robots to pick up and deliver mail. In England, trade unions have demanded that no new technology be introduced unilaterally by management. A French government report predicted that the country would lose 30 percent of its banking and insurance workers within the next ten years.
Why are these trends causing such widespread concern? It is because of the almost universal application of the microprocessor. It can improve almost anything, anywhere. There is virtually no limit to the sector of the world economy where microprocessors can be put to work. Mr. Colin Norman, author of a worldwide institute paper on microelectronics, states, “No technology in history has had such a broad range of applications in the work place.” Newsweek magazine estimates that “from 50 to 75 percent of all U.S. factory workers could be displaced by smart robots before the end of the century.”
The amount of information this technology is generating and recording is staggering. For example, between 6,000 and 7,000 scientific articles are written each day. Scientific and technical information now increases 13 percent per year, which means it doubles every five-and-one-half years. But it is expected that the rate will jump to about 40 percent per year, because of new, and more powerful information systems, and the increasing population of scientists. This means that data will double every twenty months. By 1985, the volume of information will be somewhere between four and seven times what it was only a few years earlier.
For the first time we have an economy based on a key resource that is not only renewable, but is self-generating. Running out of it is not a problem, but drowning in it is. This level of information is impossible to handle with our present means. But improved methods of storing, sorting, and selecting this vast amount of data are becoming available, which will help to make the whole somewhat more manageable.
The certainty of impending trouble, however, is indicated because billions of dollars are being spent to develop the necessary hardware and software to facilitate the growth and application of new technologies. But very little is being spent to study and develop social techniques to handle the aftermath of this massive change in our society. Social leaders, for example, seem to be unaware of the need for more and better education. Technology will be manageable only to the extent that the people are skilled in utilizing it. The fact is, that our schools are producing an increasingly Inferior product. The college entrance examination scores have been going down for more than a decade, which is an indication that the young high school—even college—graduates cannot write acceptable English, or even do simple arithmetic. Without basic skills, computer illiteracy is a certainty. By one estimate, 75 percent of all jobs by 1985 will involve computers in some way—and people who do not know how to use them will be at a disadvantage. The massive training of apt students now being conducted will bridge the gap temporarily. But what of the vast numbers of people, especially the young, who will never learn to operate a computer? These could be relegated to the rolls of the permanently unemployed. This and other displacements will cause permanent and massive social problems about which very little study or planning is being done.
This we believe, may be one of the key factors that will ultimately bring about the collapse of this present order. But intellectuals, ignoring the potential social problems, are forecasting the dawn of a new age with unlimited possibilities for leisure, improved living conditions, and great prosperity. It’s as if Satan in his last great effort to deceive the nations is seemingly holding forth the prospect of a utopia that can be obtained by man’s own efforts without reliance on the power of God. But man will never be able to reach that objective as long as his basic motivation is that of selfishness and greed. It will take the Lord’s kingdom to eradicate this evidence of the fall from man’s character.
It is interesting to note that the prophecies of the Bible concerning God’s kingdom here on earth emphasize the relief from the oppression of Satan’s rule of sin and death, rather than that aspect of the new age involving scientific knowledge and human accomplishment. The release from Satan’s rule will result in true happiness. This does not mean that knowledge will not be increased in the kingdom, but it does mean that mankind, for the first time, will be able to cope with and fully utilize knowledge for the benefit and well-being of all, because selfishness and greed will be eradicated.
One of the interesting prophecies concerning the kingdom is found in Isaiah 25:6-10, “In this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord, we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest.”
In the Bible, a mountain is symbolic of a kingdom, and in highly pictorial language the prophet is telling us that in this kingdom there will be a superabundance of every material thing that those in the kingdom could possibly want. He then implies that under Satan’s rule the world has been covered with a veil of ignorance (as far as God and his purposes are concerned) and that associated with this they have been under a covering of superstition, greed and selfishness. The prophet states that in the kingdom, the Lord will remove this covering and the result will be that for the first time since the Garden of Eden man will be able to know God and come into harmony with his laws and earn life. The work of the kingdom will be to eventually eliminate death, and all the associated ills and sorrows. The response of the people will be, “Lo this is our God; we have waited for him.”
Another beautiful prophecy found in Isaiah seems to teach that in the kingdom there will be an equal distribution of material things, and that all will have the same opportunity to participate in the kingdom arrangements—a fact that will bring blessings, joy, and personal satisfaction to all. The prophecy reads: “They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble.” (Isa. 65:22,23) We recognize that the language used in this prophecy is symbolic, but nevertheless it pictures in our minds a society under control where knowledge and all the elements of the society are used for the benefit of all.
In Micah 4:1-4 is recorded another prophecy that bears on the point of our lesson. “But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the Law shall go forth of Zion, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.” Again we recognize that much of the language in the prophecy is symbolic, but it does teach us that God’s kingdom will have preeminence in all the earth, and that because of the obvious blessings that are flowing to the nucleus of the kingdom, all nations will desire to become a part of it. The chief work of the Lord during the kingdom time will be to write his laws in the hearts of the people. We have learned that the essence of that law, as stated by Jesus (Matt. 22:37-39), is, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Because of their obedience to this law, the people will not learn war, but will convert the machinery of war to useful purposes, and all of this will result in a society where the great skill of mankind will be equitably beneficial to all. This is the Lord’s doing and will not be dependent upon the present works and knowledge of man.