共用题干 第二篇Communications RevolutionCyberspace,data superhighway,multi-media一for those who have seen th...

共用题干
第二篇

Communications Revolution

Cyberspace,data superhighway,multi-media一for those who have seen the future,the linking of computers
television and telephones will change our lives forever. Yet for all the talk of a forthcoming technological
utopia little attention has been given to the implications of these developments for the poor. As with all new
high technology,while the West concerns itself with the"how",the question of"for whom"is put aside
once again.
Economists are only now realizing the full extent to which the communications revolution has affected the
world economy.Information technology allows the extension of trade across geographical and industrial
boundaries,and transnational corporations take full advantage of it.Terms of trade,exchange and interest
rates and money movements are more important than the production of goods.The electronic economy made
possible by information technology allows the haves to increase their control on global markets一with destruc-
tive impact on the have-nots.
For them the result is instahiTity.Dcveioping countries which rely on the production of a small range of
goods for export are made to feel like small parts in the international economic machine.As"futures"are
traded on computer screens,developing countries simply have less and less control of their destinies.
So what are the options for regaining control?One alternative is for developing countries to buy in the
latest comnputers arid telecommunications themselves一so-called"development communications"moderniza-
tiori. Yet this leads to long-term dependency and perhaps permanent constraints on developing
countries' economies.
Communications technology is generally exported from the U.S.,Europe or Japan;the patents,skills
and ability to manufacture remain in the hands of a few industrialized countries.It is also expensive,and im-
ported products and servoces must therefore be bought on credit一credit usually provided by the very coun-
tries vhose companies stand to gain.
Furthermore,when new technology is introduced there is often too low a level of expertise to exploit it
for native development.This means that while local elites,foreign communities and subsidiaries of transna-
tional corporations may benefit,those whose lives depend on access to the information are denied by it. The development of modern communications technology in developing countries may________.