The 21st Century is an era of greed. Do you agree?

University Degree Business and Administrative studies

English Essay Louis Krisman (1T06)

Mention the word “greed” or any of its synonyms, and one is likely to receive many a disdainful stares. It is listed as one of the seven deadly sins in the Catholic doctrines and yet, virtually every single person that inhabits this planet is guilty of it. Greed drives desire, desire turns to envy, and envy leads to the failure of appreciating and holding dear what one possesses. In the commercialised era of the 21st Century, the aforementioned statement seems so much more accurate and true. One of the reasons we continue to innovate is our voracity for all things faster, stronger and longer. The insatiable hunger for success and the unquenchable thirst for supremacy transform many of us into slaves of our desires, fuelled by greed and its associates. It is perhaps simpler to fathom how this seemingly indestructible catalyst is such a pervasive element in our life if we adopt the traditional view of equating greed with happiness. In more ways than one, almost every single action which the conscious mind executes can be attributed to one’s greed.

Living in today’s globalised world feels challenging, even confusing at times, with distance no longer a reliable indicator of our involvements in the world. Some of our closest business ties may be stretched out over thousands of miles, and remain connected courtesy of a vast virtual network that spans the entire globe. The massive business sector is so competitive that the fear of being left behind by the rapidly-changing faces of commerce leads many multinational organizations to expand and outsource. A prime example is the world’s largest software firm, Microsoft. Under the committed leadership of Bill Gates, the self-made American Croesus who is widely regarded as the wealthiest living person, the company successfully transformed itself from a corporation with only 11 employees to an international computer technology corporation that boasts over sixty-thousand employees, and global annual sales of approximately forty-billion US dollars. The competitive nature of today’s economy makes it imperative for everybody to be on their toes, ready to mass-market the newest “Barbie and Ken in the Playhouse Set” or the latest Windows operating system. Business and trade prospects are mushrooming throughout the world with every passing second; every man has to be greedy and egocentric if it is fame and fortune that he craves. Even if one does not covet the assets and riches, greed is still required to ensure survival in the cut-throat world of ours. The cold truth of this materialistic world is such that money speaks volumes anywhere and everywhere; the standard of society is motivated by greed.

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Greed, as much as people have identified it as the source of all evil, is still essential for progress. It might even be considered as the noblest of human motivations, a view which will no doubt invoke social consternation. However, it is only when we begin to understand how greed is the most potent motivation for human actions will the idea seems much more acceptable. It is indispensable for economic prosperity as it breeds competitiveness. The never-ending quest of owning the most expensive, most luxurious and most exquisite fuels many in their daily work. With greed, people are self-empowered to motivate themselves; the virtual carrot is dangled in front of them to drive their minds. Positive outcomes will inevitably entail, as productivity and efficiency increase. The number of malingerers would drop to an all-time low, as a result of mounting pressure on companies to keep up with the realities of the present-day industry. At the end of the day, everyone would serve to benefit from the competitiveness of the market, brought about by man’s greed to continuously innovate, discover and invent. Personally, I would consider greed to be the single greatest engine that drives man’s achievements. Greed is an unquantifiable source of energy and motivation; it is inexhaustible and indestructible.

Perhaps most significant of all is how human beings’ gluttony has contributed to Mother Nature’s “sickly” state. Granted, the materialistic facet of humanity has helped contribute to societies being more refined as a direct consequence of rising affluence; but it has also served as a catalyst in our steady consumption of natural resources. Now more than ever, environmental issues and concerns over the Earth’s reserves of fossil fuels have received almost constant media coverage. Just over half a century ago, it would perhaps have been unthinkable and absurd for anyone to even raise the possibility of rapid depletion of our natural resources. However, with societal progress spurred on by the exponential advancement of technology, the stratospheric rise in our standard of living has given birth to a global population explosion. Right about now, we find ourselves facing the prospect of a future that harks back to The Coal Era (nineteenth century)- an age in which coal forms the overwhelming majority of our daily usage of fossil fuels.

Much as the general public loves to retreat into the “self-consolation” mode by trying to convince themselves that all these talks are nothing but publicity gimmicks conceived by politicians, the evidence on hand yield an irrefutable conclusion- we will have to resort to alternative means of powering our homes and factories as early as the year 2040.

Already, many renowned scientists and oil-geologists the world over have expressed concerns over the amount of oil reserves left under the Earth. The much-debated Peak Oil (peak of the entire planet's oil production) has undoubtedly passed, signaling the time for researchers and scientists alike to start finding viable alternatives to fossil fuel. Although many futuristic models and concepts have been suggested, scientists have yet to find a feasible alternative to petroleum. As our thirst for the ‘black gold’ continues to skyrocket with the endless production of automobiles, these valuable petroleum reserves are fast nearing the end of their lifespans. Our greed for this dwindling treasure would ultimately result in our own undoing. One can envisage how wretched human civilisation will be when we finally exhaust our last barrel of petroleum.

That we are in such dire straits today is doubtless due to our greed and avarice. We fail to cherish and treasure what we already have and demand more. More worryingly, we are not only on the threshold of petroleum depletion, but also a host of other natural resources like the verdant sprawl of forests and marine life so essential in the balance of our ecosystem. Rapid deforestation of jungles and dense forests, the reckless dumping of industrial wastes into the sea and our irrational craving for unproven “nutritious” aquatic delicacies- these are just some of the atrocities we are committing to Mother Nature.

In the midst of our frenzied pursuit of worldly goods and authority, human beings have inadvertently reared their ugly heads. Greed is essential in our relentless chase for supremacy; it is the omnipotent strength that pushes the physical and emotional boundaries of man. However, in the course of our lofty aims to monopolise the corporate industry and the likes, greed has also displayed the disastrous damage it can inflict upon us. The earth can satisfy our needs, but not our greed; for greed, all nature is too little. While greed exists infinitely, our caches of natural resources are depleting at an alarming rate. It does not help that in the twenty-first century of today, as the human population continues to skyrocket, we are constantly working under tremendous pressure, round-the-clock, to satisfy the demands of the globalised world. It is irrefutable that we have entered an era of greed and avarice; the 21st century will see human being evolving and progressing further than at any point in history. Just so that we can keep up with the changing times and ride the winds of change, greed is a necessity; a mandatory requirement that will be fulfilled by every single one of us.

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