Connected humans in a sick world

Awareness and the sense of limits are defects at the time of electric scooters colonizing cities, smartphones as multi-functional prosthesis or « autonomous » cars…, products of the generalized connection. Science has taken the measure of this, and its aphorism is now more often read as  » science without profit is only the ruin of growth « . And therefore subsidies, and research… Huawei, which, with the arrogance of advertising omnipotence, displayed in English in the streets of the capital a few days before the triple Belgian elections:  » vote for 5G « , adding underneath  » Voting is not just about candidates, it’s about values! Vote for a smarter future with 5G « , knows it well. Already in 2015, it offered itself the services of the ULB and the VUB, penetrating the academic world and shamelessly undermining the independence that they used to brandish as a guarantee of their impartiality. The collaboration agreement between the universities, Proximus and Huawei, signed on the occasion of the royal mission to China⁽¹⁾, stated:  » Proximus and Huawei will provide and implement a state-of-the-art ICT infrastructure, including 5G technology (…) ULB and VUB aim to create a « campus of the future » in Brussels with a view to developing an innovative and visionary concept, taking advantage of the presence of their science and engineering faculties on the same campus (…) The next generation of wireless technology, including 5G technology for the Learning and Innovation Center, will be a key part of this collaboration. This will be one of the first applications of 5G technology in Belgium. Huawei launched its European Research Center (ERI) in May in Belgium to lead its research efforts to make 5G technology a reality  »

This is what they need to do: make their technological delusion a reality. And whatever the environmental, social and health costs, these are the collateral damage of a system where the search for profit takes precedence. Cancers, cognitive and relational disorders, the effects of pesticides, junk food… will be treated by hospital companies, the schoolcoaches and dating apps; infertility will be « solved » in the operating room and the desire for a child to be satisfied for whoever wants, the newborn child a commercial product like any other. Those who destroy and those who repair with only one pecuniary objective being the same, the profits will go into the same coffers. So it doesn’t matter if cities become digitized « relational » spaces, as long as it pays off. 

While the layers of environmental pollution are superimposed like those of the electromagnetic spectrum, it is understood that in terms of 5G, the latest scandal to come, despite the fact that no official decision has been taken (the minister having pretended to be concerned about people’s health a few weeks before the elections, cf. « The people of Brussels are not laboratory mice »), the operators are already proceeding, with the support of the state, to clean up certain areas that will host the devices. Here trees are cut for no apparent reason, there optical fibers are placed underground. How could it be otherwise for a project that marks a phase of metamorphosis (« disruption ») of capitalism without which it cannot prosper: connected objects are a new source of income for it, a windfall that will propel the production/consumption of new objects and put hordes of now useless workers out of work: drivers, local shopkeepers, teachers, etc. Who decides this: the same business lobbies that created the European single market, hand in hand with the banks, the advertisers, the industries, the concrete builders and the State. 

On the website of the Luxembourg economic and financial magazine Paperjam, one of the many hymns to 5G, we read:  » Yes, 5G is a new generation of mobile connection. No, it’s not just the successor to 4G. This technology is a major step on the way to a 100% digital society. Thanks to this network, all the devices that accompany our daily lives will potentially be connected to the Internet at very high speed. A revolution both technological and societal. (…) Telecom, energy, port and railway infrastructure operators; automotive industry, agriculture, health, finance, construction… 5G will affect all sectors for one simple reason: it will be able to connect everything that embeds or is likely to contain a microprocessor tomorrow. Devices that process huge amounts of data, such as virtual and augmented reality, and artificial intelligence will be able to run at full speed. 5G is the future of a digital world where everything will communicate with everything instantly and almost naturally. (…) « . Some say that there will be 30 billion connected objects by 2030. What happiness, right? Don’t you wish this world to your children? In fact, not much risk, they will become the most zealous defenders if from birth they are offered the combination of bottle holder and smartphone holder: watering in the literal sense⁽²⁾.

However, not all scientists are driven by financial interests. We met André Vander Vorst to talk about his research on electromagnetic waves (Des ondes, des rats, et des humains…, p.10). If we do not necessarily share the same optimism about the government’s ability to take things in hand, we are united by the seriousness of the situation. Hervé Krief offers us a description of this sick and connected world(Humains connectés dans un monde malade, humains malades dans un monde connecté, p.13).

File coordinated by Alexandre Penasse 

Illustration : Louise Hendrickx