What Would Drive Progress Without Competition?
As you all know, U.S. is one of the most well-developed countries in the world with access to pretty much any basic necessities that you can think of. “With great power comes great responsibility,” I felt like this quote very much applies to the U.S., because of how some people, typically those who have a global identity, have the notion that the U.S. should aid other countries in their domestic problems, which I agree to a certain extent. The problems that the U.S. should tackle in other countries should only be limited to those that increases or even allow these countries to have access to basic necessities. If we just come into another country and give every piece of knowledge that we have, then we would not have enough to support our own nation. By having different nations, we are able to compete with them to further progress our technology, which may improve our quality of life. If there wasn’t competition and every nation were to be considered as one, technological advances may slow significantly because there is little drive in advancing technology, since there is no opponent we are comparing ourselves against and there is little nationalistic pride. Therefore, this is why I believe that having a national identity as an American is imperative since it pushes for technological advances. Some may say that with a nationalistic mindset, we may exploit the countries that we aid through means of debt, labor, or owing favors in the future, however I argue that the U.S. tend to seek for alliances rather than basic resources because we already have access to these things.
Before we begin, allow me to define what having a national identity is so that we are on the same page. A national identity is when a person from a nation considers their nation before others, but not in the sense where they would completely ignore other nations. Our nation should come first, and it is our responsibility to help the Global South where basic necessities is a luxury rather than an everyday occurrence. However, when you compare your country with another country that is quite developed, so the Global North, then there should be a sense of competition against said country, if they are not an ally. By having a national identity, people are able to be very prideful of their country as well as be very competitive.
As a result, when Americans have this mindset, they would want the U.S. to have the best of everything, so the best vaccines, the best cars, the best weapons, and other sorts of technology. Additionally, if there is a technology that hasn’t been created to solve a specific problem, Americans would want to create that technology first. With these ideas in mind, it would push Americans, when considering problems such as climate change, in researching for preexisting solutions, develop a unique technology to solve said problem, and create that technology for American use as soon as possible. This drive allows progress to be made in our technology, and in turn allows us to aid smaller countries in having long term access to basic necessities, a foundation for them before they are able to develop technology to improve quality of life.
By contrast, if we were to be in a state of globality where everyone is under no specific nation but are working together, there would be very little pride if an advance to technology occurs. Also, by having very little competition, the progress done in advancing technology would be hindered because there is no need in rushing for improving a certain type of technology. Naturally, when you put the whole population under one identity, the ideas that the people come up with would be numerous and much more creative than if we had a smaller, less diverse group of people. Having a global identity does increase the amount of ideas being contributed in the creation of newer technology, but having people who are adamant about creating said technology is a whole different story. If people are satisfied with their current way of life, they would not be too inspired in pushing for progressing technology, and when you compare that to having a national identity where competition is prevalent, it’s clear that with a national identity you are more inspired in improving technology.
Let’s consider the problem of climate change. Having a global identity would have more people contributing in creating technology that would help combat this problem. However, this would exist only until when people are happy with their way of life, or until we are able to keep climate change under control. Once this problem has been kept under control, the progression of technology would surely slow down significantly because the problem that affected everyone is now solved.
Conversely, by not having the ability to compare one nation’s standard of living to another, advancing technology is not sought after because there is no competition. The only reason that those with a global identity would want to improve technology is if it improves the quality of life. On the other hand, having a national identity would push people in wanting to 1-up another country’s progress, leading to a pursuit of advanced technology. The pride that comes with a nationalistic mindset encourages competition between different nations and its people, therefore fueling the progress of technology at a rate fast than if we were to have a global identity. As a result, when countries develop technology so much, they would have an even greater role in aiding the “losers” because the advancement in technology is so great that the minimum standard of living has increased as well.
