Feel strongly about these letters, or any other aspects of the news? Share your views by emailing us your Letter to the Editor at letters@scmp.com or filling in this Google form. Submissions should not exceed 400 words, and must include your full name and address, plus a phone number for verification. The op-ed, “Don’t fear an ageing population – rising inequality is the real enemy” (
February 3), astutely argues that innovation tends to funnel wealth to an exclusive few. Just look at the elites who make up the rich lists: the rise of the likes of Bill Gates and Elon Musk follows in the footsteps of early industrialists John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie. There is a cycle of outsize rewards for innovators, with each wave of progress breeding new ultra-wealthy beneficiaries.
Sadly, the government intervention needed to curb such excessive wealth accumulation remains elusive. In too many countries, antitrust action against tech giants is slow and often ineffective.
Google started to face trials only recently despite dominating the search engine market and advertising technology for decades. US antitrust judgments against Standard Oil in 1911 and Microsoft in 2000 did little to meaningfully curb the wealth of Rockefeller and Gates.
However, one can argue that innovation has also brought progress and that despite the inequality, social bonds are stronger than in some of our more turbulent historical eras. Evolving welfare systems have improved the quality of life and the once-marginal idea of a universal basic income is increasingly being considered, which could alleviate the disparities identified.
Philanthropy appears to have matured as a vehicle to mitigate economic divides, such as
The Giving Pledge, a promise by the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate most of their wealth to charitable causes. Whatever the true impact and motivations of such endeavours, they signal a shared desire to nurture a society anchored in equity and inclusivity.
While the op-ed is not alone is raising concerns about artificial intelligence displacing jobs and potentially intensifying inequality, history suggests the evolution of technology can be as much a creator of opportunities as a disrupter – recall the Industrial Revolution and the mass introduction of computers. The open-source nature of many AI tools also presents opportunities for more inclusive growth.