The world is getting faster – everyone wants it quick. Traditional resturatants are losing out to fast food, human labor is being lost to automated machinery. The bottom line of businesses is to deliver at a low cost and speed of delivery into the market determines competitive edge over the others.

Over the last decade we had seen the prevalence of automated machines in our everyday lives – ATM machines, vending machines and even driverless trains. The opening of 7 – eleven beside the station has led to a row of traditional mini-convenience shops to close their operations after being in the area for 20 over years. Our technology is killing the old, replacing with new, automated service “Good Afternoon Sir, how may i help you today?” by service staff over counters.

Gone are the days you will spot an uncle in a singlet scratching his back while serving you in his mini business. The human like characteristics of personal service is replaced by company scripts and models of behaviour is replaced with guidelines in the handbook, ensuring corporate identity. There is no more room for personal identity – after all, who said we were living anyway? We are just a small part of a big system that automates the supply chain work flow.

They say that globalisation has led to a growth of accumulated wealth that has been never been precedented for in the entire human history, that we have more liberties as compared to being peasants in monarchies. I say, we are all poorer in fact, we are losing our identities to the large corporate dungeon whereby masters would whip out any sign of rebellion to ensure the population conforms to certain roles that they are expected to perform. Liberties are replaced with conformity, individualism is gone. Who says we have a voice? The ruling party decides what to portray in the media, the sheep like mentality of the population gives greater powers to the shepherd leading the herd into the slaughter house while putting on a smile.

They say the human spirit is free, however, we had trapped ourselves in another game – the game of life. For more wealth, for more gains … while bleeding the ordinary to work for their riches. Welcome to the 21st century, lose your identity to the corporate world and be part of the faceless race.

Averal Lim is a business undergraduate who thinks that globalisation has repercussions that economists failed to see.