TaN: Money is the hindrance to many worthwhile, noble and humanitarian endeavors – frequently, due to cost-benefit analysis.
Orphan diseases are diseases that no pharmaceutical company develops and markets because either the disease is so rare that not enough can be sold to offset the cost of production, the cure or treatment is so expensive that puts it well out of affordability of the patients, or for whatever the reason that the pharmaceutical company will not produce it. In any case, it always boils down to profitability.
Business will rather sell its goods in a market which can offer the biggest profits. Hunger in most parts of the world, especially in the Third World countries or poor nations, is not a problem of food production. It has been shown repeatedly that our agricultural and food production technology has enabled us to produce more food – per area of land – than any time in our history and, yet, more and more people are going hungry. It is not a problem of food production but of distribution. No business will sell its goods to people who can hardly afford it; it will always be to the highest bidder. It has gone to the point that corn producers would rather sell their products to biofuel producers rather tnan to the local market because the former commands more profits.
Business will outsource a process – and, consequently, lay off employees – because another company can do it more efficiently (i.e., at a cheaper cost). Employees are terminated, deprived of their right to work, just so that a business can achieve greater profits.
A transnational corporation will buy carbon credits from an under- or undeveloped nation so they can continue with their profitable operations, polluting the environment, adding to the greenhouse gases, and increasing overall global temperatire – under the guise of reducing their carbon footprint, their impact on the environment and on climate change. In truth, they are suppressing others from developing and improving. It is no different from Big Pharma cajoling or “convincing” a generics company not to produce generics with bribery – e.g., if the generics company can earn 50 million in a year, Big Pharma will offer 70 million for the generics not to be manufactured (this way, Big Pharma will still maintain a monopoly of the market even after the patent has expired).
Finally, a corporation will be granted a license to produce a product even if it has already been convincingly shown and proven that the product is unhealthy just because it has complied with the minimum requirements of law and the government stands to earn from taxes and (some of) the people will be provided employment. The epitome of this is cigarettes, where there is virtually no longer any contention by the cigarette manufacturer that its product is a health hazard but because it has warning labels and may even sport graphic images showing how harmful the product is and yet is being sold openly. Moreover, the government would allocate an enormous budget to campaign against smoking and even enact laws that govern and regulate the areas where smoking may be permitted when it could have just easily prohibited cigarettes to be manufactured in the first place.
There are numerous other examples of how (the love of) money has not only hindered or obstructed beneficial development of man but even caused immeasurable and terrible harm to man.
TaN: A major reason for the state of the world today is that our IQ progress far exceeds our EQ progress. Intellect matures faster and sooner than emotion. EQ tends to temper IQ, keeping the latter under control. IQ, without the proper guidenace and control from and by EQ, is dangerous and frequently leads to unethical and immoral outcomes.
Today, we see rates of technological advancements unparalleled in history yet the extent of rampant violations in unethical and immoral practices are even more unequaled. This can largely be attributed to our emotional unpreparedness – i.e., we an ill-equipped to deal with human rights issues and concerns. As we grow up, our humanity lags behind. We fail to outgrow our childish habits and character – those of thinking of the self only.
As children, it is natural that we think of ourselves because, at the stage in our lives, we are physically incapable of fending for ourselves so we have the tendency to be selfish – to improve our chances of survival. However, as we grow up and acquire more skills and abilities to ensure our survival, we should gradually relinquish our selflishness for more generous and altruistic qualities. The sad fact of the matter is most of us do not grow out of our childish tendencies but even carry them well into adulthood – hence the unethical and immoral manner by which we treat others (like bullying, cheating, exploiting, deceiving, ridiculing, and being discourteous and apathetic).
The things we used to do as children are no longer appropriate in our adult life and we even do them in a grander and more harmful manner. The impact on others are more severe and damaging. And, the worst thing is it becomes pathological – it does not bother us that we are hurting others, causing them misery and suffering. We have become callous, though not intentionally.
What is needed is to make a complete reversal, a 180-degree turnaround. We need to start caring and being concerned about the effects and ramifications of our actions – and not just the immediate impact but several steps or events subsequentially. It is said that “In order for evil to win in this world is for all good men to do nothing.” We have to stop being apathetic and commence being compassionate for others. There is still time to turn everything around, for as long as there is life, there is hope – it may just take longer but it will get done. Whenever it comes to changing for the better, it is never too late. It will be sooner if more people get involved – and sooner.
There are even things and actions we do that seem inconsequential or “innocent” may not be so. We just have to take an honest and sincere evaluation of our every action before embarking – how the chain reaction of events will unfold, the so-called “Butterfly Effect”.
Everyone is so busy and concerned with their own selves that they forget we are all in this together. Like it or not, “What goes around comes around (eventually)” because we all live in the same planet. Nothing has changed; what was before is still today. There has been no new water, no new soil, no new air, no new anything. Creation has stopped eons ago and what we are using has been and will always be. The sooner everyone realizes this, the better it is for all so begin using all that there is around us in a more responsible and sustainable manner – not the so-called sustainable “garbage” that Big Business and Big Corporation has been peddling to the world. [A truly sustainable solution will not result in a continuation of the conditions that lead to global warming and climate change, which is still happening despite the “sustainable” measures being implemented, like carbon trading and alternative energy sources.]
The key is to cease and postpone any and all so-called advancements until people can act responsibly and maturely – where we see human rights are respected, where people are treated as people and not as company assets or “human resources”, where people do for each other rather than for self-interests, where people cooperate and collaborate in finding solutions and not limited to common problems, and where people truly and sincerely empathize and care for one another and not put profit ahead of everything else.