A Conversation Starter, by Alan

"The first mass produced cell phone was manufactured by Motorola and released in 1984. Today the number of cell phones of various configurations is estimated at 8.5 billion. By comparison the global population is estimated to be 8.3 billion. (Google data).

To accomplish this explosive growth two things happened. The size and cost were at least initially reduced (except today where features have overtaken cost.) Consumer demand drove endless market segmentation and overall demand.

Some would argue that it was only because of capitalism’s structure and systems that allowed the cell phone to emerge and innovation to flourish. Hence Capitalism is the best. To build a cell phone some of the most sophisticated manufacturing processes in the world must be used. Imagine the quantity of materials and resources required to build 8.5 billion current phones.

Cell phone manufacturing has expanded well beyond capitalist systems. In the pursuit of lowering costs, the global marketplace became a playing field and places like China produced the product at a lower cost. Capital was chasing the lowest cost option. Rare earth materials were required for cell phones, and the lowest cost source was exploited for the needed resources.

Separate from the hard components of cell phone is their powerful addictive properties. Are they a contributor to greater social isolation? When one is out for dinner it seems important to broadcast your meal presentation than to talk to your dinner guests. Is Capitalism at fault for this and hence an example of everything that can go wrong with Capitalism?

As Matt Haig has said recently in his latest piece of fiction The Midnight Train, It’s like capitalism is a bomb, isn’t it? One that creates cities then *explodes* exploits them really slowly…”(Note the strike through and shifting of the word explodes to the italics exploits is my adjustment)"