Message-ID: <3.0.1.32.19970604072546.00a15710@aloha.net> Date: Wed, 4 Jun 1997 07:25:46 -1000 From: "Jay Hanson mailto:mailto:j@qmail.com" <j@QMAIL.COM> Subject: Re: Plutocracy is about to become the official religion To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
At 07:15 AM 6/4/97 -0400, Steve Eskow wrote:>to keep tourism away. Ift's fun to talk about "plutocrats," but it doesn't
>really get at the dynamics of what happens in the "real" world.
I thought I did a pretty good job of explaining what happens in the real world. I have had my own small technology businesses for 30 years, I have worked with ethnic Hawaiians as a local activist for 7 years, I was appointed by our Mayor to serve on our local Planning Commission, and ran for public office three ago.
I know what development does to political systems, communities and cultures -- I have lived it.
>"Carrying capacity" and "sustainability" are more semantic fog, and the usual
They may seem foggy to you, but not to scientists. Human carrying capacity is defined at: http://dieoff.org/page13.htm
>If any of this is so, then the question of how we transfer communication
>skills, competence, and technology to, say, Africa is not usefully addressed
I agree with you Steve. Before any statement can be made about whether technology is "good" or "bad", one must have an explicit way to measure results. For example, it looks as though "development" has been "bad" for Americans since about 1975. See: http://dieoff.org/page11.htm
Unless you can say specifically WHAT KIND of technology you want to send to Africa, WHY you want to send it, and HOW you know you are right, you may be doing more harm than good.
I am going to log off of this mailing list for a while. If anyone want's to carry this issue further, write to me privately at: mailto:j@qmail.com
Aloha, Jay