“The fact is, that civilization requires slaves. Human slavery is wrong, insecure, and demoralizing. On mechanical slavery, on slavery of the machine, the future of the world depends.”
- Oscar Wilde
Every civilization is characterized by their achievements. Looking back at the many ancient civilizations of the world, we specifically identify with each an architectural accomplishment; some examples being China with the Great Wall, Egypt with the pyramids, and Greece with the Parthenon. Though each of these great feats are magnificently different from each other, they all share the common question of who built them, the answer being slaves. Although the history of civilizations shows that slavery and oppression coincide with great physical achievements, today, a day and age where we are still producing an array of accomplishments, is proof that slavery is an escapable paradigm.
The Great Wall of China is a perfect example of slave labor. The Great Wall wasn’t built overnight; its creation spanned across 1700 years with each dynasty adding pieces together to eventually form it in its entirety. It started being built in the Qin dynasty, from 221 – 206 BC, by the emperor Qin Shi Huang to protect Chinas northern borders. Anyone who irritated the emperor was put to work on the wall, along with captured enemies, peasants, criminals and scholars who weren’t paid for their labor. They were only fed enough to say alive, and many of the slaves died because of rocks caving in, exhaustion and disease. There’s a Chinese saying, ‘each stone in the wall represents a life lost in the wall’s construction.” Similarly, the Great Wall of China is often referred to as the world’s longest cemetery. Two more leading examples are the pyramid of Giza and the Parthenon. The pyramid of Giza is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the World built by slaves as a tomb for the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu (or Cheops) over the period of 20 years. The Parthenon in Greece is a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. It took 15 years to build with the use of many slaves. The lives of many were degraded in order for civilizations to leave behind some sort of dent history, and it is questionable as to whether this is more valuable than a human life.
The Great Wall of China is a perfect example of slave labor. The Great Wall wasn’t built overnight; its creation spanned across 1700 years with each dynasty adding pieces together to eventually form it in its entirety. It started being built in the Qin dynasty, from 221 – 206 BC, by the emperor Qin Shi Huang to protect Chinas northern borders. Anyone who irritated the emperor was put to work on the wall, along with captured enemies, peasants, criminals and scholars who weren’t paid for their labor. They were only fed enough to say alive, and many of the slaves died because of rocks caving in, exhaustion and disease. There’s a Chinese saying, ‘each stone in the wall represents a life lost in the wall’s construction.” Similarly, the Great Wall of China is often referred to as the world’s longest cemetery. Two more leading examples are the pyramid of Giza and the Parthenon. The pyramid of Giza is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the World built by slaves as a tomb for the Egyptian pharaoh Khufu (or Cheops) over the period of 20 years. The Parthenon in Greece is a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. It took 15 years to build with the use of many slaves. The lives of many were degraded in order for civilizations to leave behind some sort of dent history, and it is questionable as to whether this is more valuable than a human life.
Today, although slavery is not entirely eradicated, it is very possible to advance and create great achievements without the use of slaves. A major factor to this is that we can put forth non-physical achievements such as the human genome, which is regarded as the ‘biological Rosetta Stone’. Our technology has also critically advanced, taking the place of what was once slave labor. The industrial revolution was a turning point in human history, and we can see the products of it replacing human slavery. Because of it, we can now use machines to complete tasks faster and as a much better option than enforced human labor. Now, knowledge is being spread at exponential rates rendering the use of slaves unimaginable. This is because everyone’s equally becoming more aware, and the facts are being spread to all and not just an elite few. The Internet is a major component of this spreading of knowledge. It is one of our greatest feats allowing awareness to spread to every corner of the earth, thus extending the thought that slavery is wrong, uncivilized, and a way of the past.
Slavery in the past was used to help declare a civilizations advancement through architectural feats. Although this method appeared to advance a culture, it did just as much harm in propelling it backwards in regards to human rights. We have reached a point in time where we have advanced in such ways that we can stop the use of slaves, and rely on our knowledge and intellect to develop further; destroying the paradigm of slavery.
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