impact Vol. XXIII N o . 4

8

October-December 1973 ^J

Appro techn

impact of science on society

Vol. XXIII, N o . 4 , October-December 1973

C o m m e n t Robert Jungk

The pressing need for alternative technology Robin Clarke

Development: a two-way street toward survival Mansur Hoda

In. search of allies for the soft technologies Peter Harper

Can the luxury of personal freedom be a reward for work? Philippe Arrêteau

Model for a decentralized, self-managed urban community Josefina Mena Abraham

The suitability of technology in contemporary China Jon Sigurdson

Contents of the preceding issues

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The articles appearing in Impact express the views of their authors, and not necessarily those of Unesco.

Editor: Jacques Richardson

Editorial assistant: Ariette Pignolo

Illustrations: Jean-Louis Chauvin Alan Iselin Madeleine de Sinèty

Consultants, this issue: Peter Harper Taghi Farvar M a h d u Sarin

Vol. X X m , N o . 1,1973 Bodily function and behaviour—1 Human behaviour and the origin of man, by M . J. RALEIGH and S. L. W A S H B U R N . The dimensions of our social behaviour, by Michael R . A . C H A N C E . Genetic manipulations, by David K L E I N . Health of mother and child: the experience in the People's Republic of China, the Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam, and Cuba, by Alexandre M I N K O W S K I . The body and language that m a n learns to use, by Germaine Anne RmiÈRE. The right and left of being internally different, by Santosh K U M A R . H o w acupuncture can block pain, by Ronald M E L Z A C K .

VoL X X H T , N o . 2,1973 Science and the sub-Sahara Comment, by David W A S A W O . Problems of scientific and technological development in Black Africa, by Landing S A V A N E . The planning and teaching of science according to national needs, by Thomas R . O D H I A M B O . A practical approach to early technical education, by M . O . C H D I O K E . The Tanzanian way of effective development, by Jimoh O M O -F A D A K A . Forest-farming: an ecological approach to increase nature's food productivity, by James S H O L T O D O U G L A S . Schistosomiasis: the social challenge of controlling a m a n - m a d e disease, by Aklilu L E M M A .

VoL X X m , N o . 3,1973 Bodily function and behaviour—2 Evolutionary adaptation in human behaviour, by Irenaüs E I B L -E I B E S F E L D T . Can thermodynamics explain biological order? Interview with ILYA P R I G O G I N E . Psychological research on human aggressiveness, by D . A . H A M ­B U R G and K . H . K . B R O D I E . The forming of natural and artificial intelligence, by P. K . A N O K H I N . O n the humanizing of human nature, by Leon E I S E N B E R G . The pharmacological basis of the control of human behaviour, by Andrea BISSANTI. Controlling technically produced noise to reduce psychological stress, by Gösta C A R L E S T A M .

impact of science on society

Vol. XXIII, No. 4, October-December 1973

Appropriate technology

Robert Jungk

Robin Clarke

Mansur H o d a

Peter Harper

Philippe Arrêteau (interview)

Josefina M e n a Abraham

Jon Sigurdson

C o m m e n t

The pressing need for alternative technology

Development is a two-way street toward survival

In search of allies for the soft technologies

Can the luxury of personal freedom be a reward for work?

Model for a decentralized, self-managed urban community

T h e suitability of technology in contemporary China

Letters

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AN INVITATION TO READERS

Reasoned letters which comment, pro or con, on any of the articles printed in Impact or which present the writer's view on any subject discussed in Impact are welcomed. They should be addressed to the Editor, Impact of Science on Society, Unesco, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris (France).

Requests for permission to reproduce articles published in Impact should be addressed to the Editor. © Unesco 1973.

d

Cover

Spiders, or araneae, are found all over our planet, even on distant and uninhabited islands. Their abdominal appendages called spinnerets (spinning mamillae), which function in combination with silk glands, help the insect to catch its prey by means of a meshwork woven radially and then concentrically between any convenient anchor points. (The silken secretion of the spider serves otherwise to make egg cases for the cocoon, to receive the cocoon itself, and to protect the adult female guard­ing newly hatched young.) In some spiders the silken cases have evolved into long tubes and, ultimately, large protective burrows equipped with trap-doors. Other families of spiders have elaborated their woven archi­tecture into net-type snares. The insect's practical aims are to avoid enemies and protect its o w n life, shelter itself from the elements, and feed and replicate itself.

After the net has been strung, the spider can retire to its shelter where it lurks, connected to the snare by a single trapline to the web 's centre. A trapped fly or other insect will cause a vibrated signal, moving along.the trapline, to alert the spider to the entrapment. The spider then makes quick work of its new food supply. Aranea, like many of nature's children, has developed a life-supporting technology most suited to its needs and its environment.

Published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7 Place de Fontenoy, 75700 Paris (France).

Printed in Switzerland by Corbaz S.A. , Montreux

Comment

Robert Jungk, Austrian journalist, author and editor, has long shown intimate concern for the social aspects of man's technical innovations. Winner in 1961 of the Prix International de la Paix, Jungk is currently president of the London-based Mankind 2000. At our request, he introduces the topic of appropriate technology.

I would like to say a few words about what I call impact in reverse, the efforts of the authors w h o follow (and m a n y like them) to develop an alternative and more h u m a n e technology than w e k n o w at the present time.

W h e n a work of art is being discussed someone nearly always asks when it was produced. For w e all k n o w that every work of art, whether a picture, a build­ing, a piece of music or a p o e m , is strongly influenced by the collective relationships and ideas of its period, and that these in turn are partially moulded by such artistic creations. But when w e consider products of technology the historical dimension is either not invoked at all or referred to in quite a different way, as being of rather secondary importance. For in their case interest attaches almost exclusively to the degree of efficiency, and the tacit assumption is that this increases with each n e w invention.

If one seeks, however, not only to judge machines, equipment and technical systems by what they produce or their effects but to understand them as the expression of a particular social, ideological and intellectual climate ex­isting at a specific time in a specific place, one discovers

Impact of Science on Society, Vol. X X m , N o . 4, 1973 251

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a new, freer relationship to these products of man's crea­tive imagination. It then becomes possible to talk not of technology as an absolute, almost fore-ordained pheno­m e n o n with which one must c o m e to terms as if it were a force of nature, but of a multiplicity of possible technolo­gies in which first one group then another assumes the dominant role.

This attitude is slowly beginning to gain ground. T h e idea that there m a y be alternative technologies in itself implies the idea of technological pluralism in place of the until n o w almost universally accepted technological monism. In this case each social system and each politi­cal ideology, indeed each culture, would be free to devel­op its o w n particular line. W h y should there not be a specifically Indian technology alongside Indian art and w h y should the African temperament express itself only in music or sculpture and not in the equipment which Africans choose because it suits them better? W h y should Russian factories follow Anglo-Saxon patterns? Might there hot be an unmistakably Japanese technology, just as there are typically Japanese buildings and clothes?

This will seem an absurd flight of fancy only to those w h o think there is only one optimal w a y to convert scien­tific knowledge into technical k n o w - h o w . M a n y sup­porters of what has so far been the uniform style of scien­tific and technological civilization simply will not grasp that anthropological, social, cultural and psychological factors can and indeed should also enter the picture.

This is where opinions begin to differ. For the main criticism levelled at technology as it has existed until n o w is precisely its lack of social feedback, its intolerable insensitivity. It is not only m a d e responsible for the destruction of nature. T h e sudden disappearance of ways of life which have evolved gradually over a long period, the constriction of cultural variety in the unattractive uni­form of a supposedly efficient functionalism and above all the tyranny of working conditions which are harmful to health—all are aspects of a brutal indifference which has become insupportable.

T h e growing number of people rebelling against this kind of technology (whether openly or in the form of ill­ness, neurosis or alienation) are not just modern L u d -

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dites,1 bent on wrecking machinery. I see them rather as engaged in taming or transforming machinery. They k n o w that w e cannot do without the instruments of technology, but they ask themselves, ' H o w can w e get them back under our control?' S o m e go further: they begin to devise 'new ' technologies which do not operate in a stiff unre­sponsive way without sense or feeling, but which are sensitive, flexible, adaptable, one might almost say alive.

Three main tendencies

In this effort not to think of technology as it has been thought of until n o w , stressing above all m a x i m u m effi­ciency and profitability, but instead paying prime atten­tion to industry's compatibility with m a n and the envi­ronment, I can distinguish three main tendencies which partly complement each other and overlap: w e might call them the controllers, those w h o play d o w n and those w h o create. T h e first group would like to impose on today's technology the restrictions and limitations which have been needed for some time, and the second would like to force technology back, challenging its generality and scope, while the third is striving to create no less than a completely new species of m a n - m a d e creatures which will be more intelligent, more individualized, more indepen­dent, more capable of development and adaptation than the rough, unsophisticated, one-track appliances with which w e have, at no little risk, surrounded ourselves until n o w .

T h e controllers will be the first in the field. They are already on the move , using filters, purifiers and m a n y other accessories to do away with smoke, dirt and noise. So a second industry is growing up to control the first, muzzling it, imprisoning it behind walls and fences, in fact using force to counter force. The advocates of tech­nology assessment carry this idea a little further, if not adopting a completely different approach. Their aim is to

1. Followers of N e d Ludd of Leicestershire, w h o around the year 1810 went about wrecking new textile machinery because the machines were replacing m e n and w o m e n . — E d .

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determine the possible harmful effects of new industrial plant before it is built. They thus practise a form of birth control or preventive medicine which has its merits but also its disadvantages and imperfections, at least as applied to date. For w h o makes the decisions about future developments? Which power groups and which values will tip the scales? Which criteria are important and which are not? H o w is the short-sightedness which attaches to every form of prognosis to be avoided? W h o is completely free of the limitations imposed by the atti­tudes, fashions and ideas of one's o w n time?

Those that tend rather to play d o w n technology— and whose point of view finds ample expression in this issue—endeavour to prescribe for it more modest goals than those w h o m o v e in the realms of 'high' technology. T h e question is h o w m a n y people will be willing, after decades of thinking in terms of 'more'—'higher'—'more powerful'—'faster', to forgo this continuously spiralling progression to which they have become addicted. Rational considerations can and should point to the necessity of reversing this process, renouncing false needs, setting alternative non-material goals, and adopting a line of behaviour based on the dictates of ethics or reason. But there is room for doubt, and I a m one of the sceptics, whether the 'soft' and 'intermediate' technologies, with all they entail in the way of changed attitudes and the abandonment of greater expectations, will be attractive and exciting enough for m e n at the turn of the millen­nium.

In this respect the creators—who you will see have been given some attention in the following pages—seem to have a clearer understanding of the wind of change and to put it to more effective use. They remain part of the tradition of progress and continuing innovation in that they support the continued development of tech­nology, characterized above all by the further evolution and application of electronics and cybernetics.

T h e refuge of soft technology

It was Warren McCulloch as its spiritual father (even more than Norbert Wiener as its grandfather) w h o laid

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the intellectual foundations of the new science of cyber­netics which aims to create a completely different rela­tionship between m a n and a m u c h more alive technical environment, one that will respond to him, understand him and even at times instruct him. H u m a n enhancement by the development of man-machine systems, an idea which was put forward as long ago as 1967 by the Ameri­cans Warren Brodey, Avery Johnson and Nilo Lindgren, shows h o w this partnership between biologically evolving natural intelligences and artificially constructed intelli­gences can develop. Negroponte and Wellesley-Miller at M I T have pursued this (still very narrow) path with what m a y for the time being seem their rather frivolous con­structions, illustrating the concept of 'responsive archi­tecture', while their forerunners, for fear of indirectly falling, once again, despite everything, into the clutches of the profit-, power- and performance-oriented military-industrial monster ' M e c h y m a x ' (Brodey), seek refuge in the firm ground afforded by soft technology.

For the resolve to set different, more modest aims for 'alternative' technology in order to express itself in con­structions which will be taken seriously and exert wide­spread influence, it will be necessary to wait until such time as social structures and personal attitudes are ready seriously to promote new values. In our present situation the forces of reaction are so strong that efforts to give technology a new role and a new face are only marginal phenomena. But attitudes are beginning to change. T h e desire for participation requires a better adjusted, i.e. less centralized, direction of industry, concern for the environ­ment requires a technology designed more from the bio­logical than, as heretofore, from the physical point of view, while the general uneasiness in regard to alienation and the striving for emancipation point to the need for reversing what has so far been the direction of impact between science and society. Instead of h u m a n beings becoming more like machines, machines will and can at last become more h u m a n .

Robert J U N G K

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In the next issue of

impact Jasia Reichardt

Two decades in the art-science symbiosis Frank Malina

Is artistic talent as rare as scientific genius? Francesco d'Arcais

Historical relationship between art and science David Dickson

Sociopolitical constraints on science and art Zbigniew Czeczot-Gawrak

Living art and its technical documentation Piet Hein

Innovation to fill the gap between art and science and others exploring

Science and art or the interface between practical knowledge and aesthetics

January-March 1974 issue

The pressing need for alternative technology

by Robin Clarke

Whether big or small, rich or poor, societies faced with the harsh consequences of industrialization need to return to solutions never tried before. There are five general responses usually evoked by the dilemmas born of scientific and technical progress and its impact on the human condition. Only one of these responses meets most fully and rationally the current social demand for succour. Alternative techniques are described which can help reverse the process of man 's growing technico-economic frustration.

'Technology—Opium of the Intellectuals' was the title of a famous article in the New York Review of Books a few years ago. In it, the author argued that w e in the industrialized nations had become enslaved and addicted to technology which, by providing material comforts,

Former editor of the British periodicals Dis­covery and Science Journal, Robin Clarke is the author of W e All Fall D o w n : The Prospect of Biological and Chemical Warfare (1968), The Science of W a r and Peace (1971) and The Great Experiment: Science and Technology in the Second United Nations Decade (1971). He and his family are currently establishing a research community in Wales called Biotechnic Research and Development. Address: 8 Lambert Street, London NI 1JE (United Kingdom).

covered up the deeper and more impor­tant social, psychological and political shortcomings of present forms of society. This view of technology, while by no means a majority one in any part of the world, has recently grown in importance, particularly in the industrialized world and especially among the young. It has led to a view that it might in the future be a good idea to do away with technol­ogy altogether and return to forms of society in which h u m a n and social issues once again become the main concern.

T o some extent, I believe this criti­que of technology to be justified. It seems almost wholly so in those cases where an improved technology is urged

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on people to cover up more fundamental problems, such as a lack of social justice. Thus the argument that new technology will promote economic growth so that a country's gross national product ( G N P ) becomes larger and everyone's slice of the economic cake will get bigger is often used as an excuse for not cutting that cake in a more equitable manner. A t this level technology can indeed be used as a hard drug which promises nirvana but only at a huge and hidden social cost.

I shall deal mainly with a different but related problem. The view just out­lined implicitly assumes that there is only one form of technology, and that that form is the existing type of tech­nology w e see today widely used in the developed countries and increasingly applied in the developing ones. This idea creates m u c h confusion, for the short­comings of contemporary technology then become the evils of all technology—and hence the rise of anti-technological schools of thought in the industrial civilizations.

The argument which I wish to advance here is that it is the form of contemporary technology which is pri­marily at fault, and not the existence of technology itself. I shall,therefore first examine the nature of the technology w e use today. Second, I will suggest alter­native forms of technology which could be used or invented to replace current technology. A n d finally I will look briefly at the future relationships likely to evolve between alternative technology and devel­oping and developed countries through­out the world.

The nature of contemporary technology

In the developed world, contemporary technology is almost universally regarded as polluting. Though this is by no means the most serious of the criticisms which can be levelled at today's technology, w e will deal with it first because it is by far the most c o m m o n . A n d , of course, it is unquestionably correct. The technology w e use is polluting in m a n y different ways: factories discharge effluents, some­times noxious and always offensive, into rivers, the sea and the atmosphere.

In several parts of the world the eating of shell-fish has become dangerous due to the high levels of heavy metal residue found in them. Nuclear devices, both military and peaceful, liberate unwanted and potentially harmful amounts of radiation into both water and air. Particulate matter accumulates in the atmosphere leading to smog. The air is so heavily dirt-infested in industrial areas that household cleaning becomes a twice-a-day routine. Dangerous chemicals accu­mulate in foodstuffs, giving them peculiar tastes and other undesirable properties. The discharge of waste heat from fac­tories and power plants heats river and lake water to such a degree that eutrophi-cation and subsequent death of aquatic life becomes a familiar problem. Agri­cultural soil is treated as though it were some kind of chemical blotting paper whose only function is to provide domes­tic plants with sufficient nitrogen, phos­phorus and potassium. The soil structure deteriorates mechanically, and the highly complicated ecology of important soil organisms is irreversibly upset. Accord-

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ing to one calculation, the United States has lost, since the time the prairies were first put under the plough, one-quarter of the topsoil available.

Such a list of the polluting effects of contemporary technology could be, and indeed has been m a n y times in the past few years, greatly extended. T o this problem there are n o w a number of standard responses. T h e first can be described as the 'price response': pollu­tion, this riposte runs, is the price w e pay for an advanced technology, and it is well worth the price; true, w e have a pollution problem (though it is greatly exagger­ated), but it is of minor importance in comparison to the real benefits technol­ogy produces. T h e price response is heard most often in the developed world but it is also found in developing countries in a slightly differing form: bring us your polluting factories and w e will learn to live with the pollution that results, for it is a small price to pay for a means of escape from the grinding poverty in which w e live.

T h e second rejoinder, and this is the one most widely found in scientific and technical circles, is the 'fix-it' response. Advocates of this position accept the seriousness of the pollution problem, or of m u c h of it, and claim that serious and concerted action must be taken to restore the environment. This action, however, will involve more technology, not less, and the clever use of sophisti­cated devices to monitor and then lower pollution levels, if this is found necessary. Into this category of declamation fit advertisements for electricity boards urg­ing users to take to 'clean fuel' and sub­stantial international programmes, such

as Unesco's o w n M a n and Biosphere. T h e fix-it' response is primarily scientific and technical, and sometimes technocratic.

T h e next two possible responses are more radical. T h e first of them—the away-with-it response—has already been discussed. T h e argument used here is that the price w e pay for advanced technology is far too heavy, and that w e have to learn to live either without technology at all or at least with a great deal less than is n o w the case. This response is almost solely confined to the developed countries, and is remarkable in its absence in the developing countries where there m a y be a very m i n i m u m of technology in practice. Generally, it seems, people w h o are forced to live without technology quickly become unhappy with their situa­tion w h e n they see others benefiting from it.

T h e alternative possibility

Fourth, there is the 'alternative response'. In essence, this claims that the form of technology n o w in use is intrinsically pol­luting, and no amount of extra technical effort will ever change that situation. This response claims, however, that not all technologies are intrinsically polluting and that n e w forms of technology can and should be devised to remedy a deterior­ating situation. Thus instead of burning fossil or nuclear fuels, with their particu­late and thermal pollution, w e should develop technologies such as the use of solar and wind power which are intrinsi­cally non-polluting. T h e alternative response, with which w e will mostly be concerned here, needs careful distinction

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from the 'fix-it' answer which sees nothing fundamentally wrong with the form of technology in current use. T h e alternative response sees current technol­ogy as fundamentally flawed and advo­cates radical alternatives. T h e alternative response is becoming increasingly c o m ­m o n in the developed countries but is also found (though less commonly) in the developing countries.

These retorts to the most c o m m o n criticism of contemporary technology— the pollution it produces—are all based to some extent on technical evaluations. There is, however, a fifth response which is not technical but political, and radical. It suggests that pollution is an invention of capitalist élites to disguise from the people their real political plight and the facts of their exploitation by profiteers. Pollution, it is argued, is not important except in the sense that it is a product and symptom of capitalist society, wheth­er that society be the victim of either private capitalism or what is known as State capitalism.

Each of these five rejoinders has powerful advocates and, as w e shall see, the choice between them is m a d e usually on ethical and emotional grounds, rather than on logical ones. Indeed, it m a y be impossible to characterize any one as more logical than the other, or even as simply 'better'. It is largely a question of taste and philosophy, not subject to scien­tific analysis, and this makes the situation complex and difficult. I should stress, however, that each position demands serious consideration and the attempt to characterize them all in a pithy w a y is not meant to imply criticism of any one of them. Such a characterization is use­

ful for the five responses are used not only to answer the critique of pollution by contemporary technology but the other criticisms which are n o w widely voiced. It is to those that w e n o w turn.

Probably the most important feature and criticism of contemporary technol­ogy is economic. T h e type of technology w e use in developed countries is extreme­ly capital-intensive, so m u c h so that it tends to become the prerogative of those countries which are richest, and of those groups within the countries which are the richest. W h a t this means is vividly illus­trated by a single statistic. In a labour-intensive economy, it takes perhaps the equivalent of six months' salary to buy the equipment needed to provide work for one m a n . In a capital-intensive, advanced-technology economy, the equi­valent figure is 350 months' salary. It is thus easy to see w h y development using Western technology has been such a slow process.

However large figures. for inter­national aid from the rich to the poor countries m a y be, providing jobs in the developing world by using advanced tech­nology is a very, very expensive business. At the same time, that very same tech­nology is not designed to provide jobs as such; instead, very often it is designed to eliminate jobs, to replace them by auto­matic processes. It has been said, and with some justification, that our technol­ogies are designed to eliminate the need for people and to maximize the need for capital. It should be noted that this is not a political criticism as such, for the eco­nomic problem is no less painful for non-capitalist countries. It is simply that the type of technology w e use places great

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emphasis on the economy of large-scale operations and is often poorly adapted to decentralized, local situations. In this sense, contemporary technology is as badly suited to accelerating development as any that can be imagined.

Resources are unevenly shared

I have tried to summarize h o w this criti­cism is subject to the five responses, discussed above, in Table 1. For in­stance, the radical political response to this situation is that if resources were equally split both between and within countries, current forms of technology would be equally accessible to all. While this is undeniably true, it is a fact that neither social nor natural resources are evenly split in this way n o w ; and that even if the Herculean task of inter­national legislation improves the accessi­bility to resources, legislation will not affect the distribution of natural resour­ces within national territories.

The third criticism most commonly m a d e of contemporary technology con­cerns its use of natural resources. Essen­tially, our technology is in the sense of the industrialized world an exploitive one, wrenching from the earth mineral resources which have taken billions of years to accumulate and using them up within a few centuries. T h e arguments about h o w long our resources will last if used in this way are well known, of course, and can continue interminably. But it is obvious that w e have a technol­ogy that uses resources such as metal and fossil fuel faster than they are created by natural processes. For this reason, there

will c o m e a time when scarcity becomes a serious problem.

In this context, as any competent economist will point out, the question of 'limits' to growth or consumption is not of central concern. W h a t happens is that as a resource becomes scarcer, poorer quality reserves have to be used increas­ingly and their sources become ever more difficult to get at. Long before any resource runs out, then, an economic crisis is precipitated w h e n the cost of obtaining a resource begins to equal the utility of getting it. If w e were to con­tinue burning fossil fuel for a few more centuries (at most), w e would probably end up spending more energy obtaining the resource than is liberated by burning it. It should be noted that w e have long since passed this energy break-even point in the field of agricultural products. In the developed countries far more calories are used in obtaining a food than are liber­ated by eating it. This has led the ecolo-gist H o w a r d T . O d u m to claim that the potatoes w e eat are ' m a d e partly from oil', referring to the petroleum products consumed by farm machinery. In a primi­tive agricultural tribe, by contrast, every calorie of energy used in farming pro­duces the equivalent of about fifteen calories of food.

T h e fourth criticism m a d e of tech­nology today is that it is capable of wide­spread misuse. The technology of nuclear power, for example, is difficult to dis­tinguish from the technology of nuclear warfare; the latest medical advances are apt to find themselves applied in centres developing biological weapons before they are in hospitals; and in the capitalist countries the pace and type of technical

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T A B L E 1. Technical dilemmas and some social responses

Technical dilemma Price response 'Fix-it' response

1. Pollution Pollution inevitable and worth the benefit it brings

Solve pollution with pollution technology

2. Capital dependence Technology will always cost m o n e y

Provide the capital; m a k e technology cheaper

3. Exploitation of resources

Nothing lasts for ever

Use resources more cleverly

4. Liability to misuse Inevitable, and worth it

Legislate against misuse

5. Incompatible with local cultures

Material advance is worth more than tradition

M a k e careful socio­logical studies before applying technology

6. Requires specialist technical élite

Undertake technical-training schemes

Improve scientific technical education at all levels

7. Dependent on centralization

So what? N o problem, given good management

8. Divorce from tradition

This is w h y technology is so powerful

Integrate tradition and technical k n o w - h o w

9. Alienation Workers are better fed and paid; what matters alienation?

M o r e automation needed

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'Away-with-it' response Alternative response Radical political response

Inevitable result of technology; use less technology

Invent non-polluting technologies

Pollution is a symptom of capitalism, not of poor technology

Costs of technology are always greater than its benefits; use less

Invent labour-intensive technologies

Capital is a problem only in capitalist society

Use natural not exploitable resources

Invent technologies that use only renewable resources

W r o n g problem: exploitation of m a n by m a n is the real issue

Misuse so c o m m o n and so dangerous, better not to use technology at all

Invent technologies that cannot be misused

Misuse is a socio-political problem, not a technical one

Local cultures better off without technology

Design n e w technologies which are compatible

Local culture will be disrupted by revolutionary change in any case

People should live without what they do not understand

Invent and use technologies that are understandable and controllable by all

Provide equal chance for everyone to become a technical specialist

Decentralize by rejecting technology

Concentrate on decentralized technologies

Centralization an advant­age in just social systems

Tradition matters more than technical gadgets

Evolve technologies from existing ones

Traditions stand in the w a y of true progress

Avoid alienation by avoiding technology

Decentralize; retain mass production only in exceptional cases

Alienation has social, not technical, causes

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advance are very closely geared to the profit motive. The existence of this flaw in modern technology gave rise a few years ago to the whole 'social responsi­bility' movement in science in which it was argued that scientists are themselves responsible for the uses to which their work is put. Again, there is m u c h argu­ment over exactly what constitutes a mis­use of science or technology and what a proper use. But clearly, just as modern technology has m a d e contemporary m a n more secure from the whims and mis­fortunes of the environment in which he lives, so too has technology added a new and threatening dimension to life by making possible the annihilation of the h u m a n race.

Technology and social values

M a n y more criticisms can be m a d e of technology today but, unlike the previous four, these are more social in nature and closely related to each other. Globally, the most important m a y be the destructive effect of our form of technology on local, developing-world cultures. Built into a technology one can always find the values and ideals of the society that invented it So when w e use contemporary technol­ogy in development programmes, w e export a whole system of values which includes a certain attitude to nature, to society, to work and to efficiency. A s yet no developing, local society has been able to withstand the effects of this onslaught, with the result that such a society always changes to meet the inces­sant demands of the new technology. The end of this process is a global uniformity

of cultures, all perfectly adapted to high technology but everywhere the same.

Similarly, modern technology is highly complicated and requires a trained specialist élite to operate it. A s a result, ordinary m e n and w o m e n are deprived of the ability they previously had to control their o w n environment. There exist opin­ions as to h o w unfortunate this is, but w e should stress here the fact that it is so; and in any systematic account of the flaws and virtues of contemporary tech­nology the fact must be recorded. Equally, the technology used today is based mainly on the virtues of highly centralized services. T o be sure, central­ization has m a n y advantages but w e should not ignore the disadvantages it brings with it. Technical innovation becomes very expensive, people become totally dependent on the existing system; the system itself, through centralization, becomes highly liable to both technical accidents and the activities of saboteurs. T h e last have only to remove a weak link in the chain to cause chaos over m a n y interlinked systems covering hundreds or thousands of square kilometres. Central­ization also precludes the use of diffuse energy sources, such as solar and wind power, which by their nature are extreme­ly difficult to centralize.

I will m a k e two further points in criticism of contemporary technology. The first is that technical knowledge today has become a separate part of all knowledge. By this, I m e a n that technical knowledge does not develop naturally out of local technologies but forms a dis­tinct body of knowledge on its o w n , with almost no links with what preceded it. For this reason, the idea of craft activity

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—which of course involves its o w n tech­nology—has become pitted against the demands of n e w technology. The choice that confronts us almost daily is whether a product can still be something m a d e with skill by craftsmen in limited quan­tity, or whether that product must be mass produced in the latest way , by someone requiring a quick training pro­g r a m m e only, in large quantities. This disadvantage of modern technology must be held responsible for the widespread alienation of workers in industrial society w h o are thus reduced to cogs in a machine and condemned to the perfor­mance of meaningless and repetitive manipulations as a means of earning their living.

T o summarize, the principle criti­cisms of modern technology are thus: high pollution rate; high capital cost; exploitive use of natural resources; capac­ity for misuse; incompatibility with local cultures; dependence on a technical spe­cialist élite; tendency to centralize; divorce from traditional forms of know­ledge; and alienating effect on workers (see Table 1).

A s the table shows, to all these points there are in essence five different types of response. A n d as I have already hinted, it seems very doubtful that there is any rational or logical w a y of charac­terizing any one of these responses as being 'better' than another. T o do so means answering questions such as: ' W h a t kind of world do w e want to live in?' ' H o w highly do w e value an equal technical chance for m e n all over the globe?' A n d 'Can m e n ever really get satisfaction from the activity w e call work?' Each of us has his or her o w n

answers to these questions and, con­sciously or unconsciously, personal views dictate the kind of response w e choose to make to these technical dilemmas.

A s this issue of Impact is mainly about the 'alternative response', obviously I shall evaluate only this particular solu­tion. In the circumstances, however, this is probably justifiable because it is m u c h the newest of the possible responses. Cer­tainly, until the 1960s such an alternative had not been given any serious thought. Probably only n o w are w e in a position to begin to outline some ideas for an alternative technology.

Alternative forms of technology

T o take the above criticisms seriously is to say that an alternative technology should be non-polluting, cheap and labour-intensive, non-exploitive of natu­ral resources, incapable of being misused, compatible with local cultures, under­standable by all, functional in a non-centralist context, richly connected with existing forms of knowledge and non-alienating. But immediately one is struck by the fact that the technology of, say, a primitive agricultural tribe in N e w Guinea or a hunter-gatherer society in the Ma to Grosso of Brazil would proba­bly fulfil all these boundary constraints. Yet this is not what w e m e a n by an alternative technology. Primitive technol­ogy certainly has some links with alter­native technology but is generally held to be a long w a y from it. Indeed, the evolution seen is that at some time in the past primitive technology led to indus­trialized technology, and that at some

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time in the future industrialized technol­ogy will lead to alternative technology.

The alternative, in other words, does not seek to jettison the scientific know­ledge acquired over the past three cen­turies but instead to put it to use in a novel way . Space heating, in the primitive context, was achieved by an open w o o d fire. In the alternative context, it might still be achieved by burning timber— provided the over-all rate of use was lower than the rate of natural timber growth in the area concerned—but in a cheap and well-designed stove which optimizes useful heat output against the need for fuel. O r it might be provided by a cheap solar heating system, a small electrical generating windmill or simply by first-class insulation. This difference between primitive and alternative tech­nology is important for it has in the past led to charges that the alternative is retrogressive, essentially primitive and ignores the utility of modern scientific knowledge. This is not the case.

T h e most compelling case for alter­native technology can probably be m a d e in the field of energy. In the developed world there is m u c h controversy over the future of energy supplies. A s our remain­ing fossil fuels are burnt up, a desperate struggle goes on to m a k e nuclear energy both competitive in price and safe. Neither is easy. Even the future of enriched uranium looks far from being a long-term affair. Breeder reactors are generally held to be a neat solution to this problem, although the technical prob­lems they pose are still far from solution.

There is the added danger that as such reactors breed plutonium, if they were to become widespread over the earth's sur­

face, the possibility of plutonium falling into the 'wrong' hands is very real. Plu­tonium is not only a very toxic substance in its o w n right but it can, of course, be used in an atomic b o m b . Estimates of the number of nuclear weapons that could be made—without the need for uranium enrichment plants—from the plutonium that will accumulate over the next two decades from nuclear fission are truly staggering. A d d to this the prob­lems of disposing of radioactive materials which are the by-products of the fission reaction (a problem still not solved, although the nuclear age is more than twenty years old) and those of preventing sabotage and accident in nuclear-power stations, and it is then clear that the path w e follow is fraught with danger. T h e prospect that all these problems will be resolved by the development of safe, con­trolled nuclear-fusion reactors is still too distant to be realistic.

The flaw of thermal pollution

In any case, all these energy technol­ogies suffer from one fundamental flaw. Because they use up stored energy, they produce large quantities of thermal pol­lution. There is a real chance that if w e continue to use such sources, and our energy demand mounts over the next 100 years as fast as it has in the past 100 years, w e will heat up the earth to a point where noticeable and unwanted long-term changes in climate will ensue.

Is there any alternative? The alter­native technology recipe for solving world-energy problems runs something like this. First, the developed countries

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must accept that there is a ceiling to the amount of energy they can use, and they must become more concerned with saving energy than with supplying it. Second, an intensive effort to m a k e use of all those energy sources which are supplied to the earth in real time must be m a d e : these include hydroelectric schemes, geothermal energy, tidal power, solar and wind energy, and timber as fuel. T h e first three of these are limited to parti­cular regions but this is no reason w h y they should not be used to the fullest extent. Solar and wind energy are found more universally and, if coupled to the energy which could be obtained by burn­ing timber, they form an interesting dis­tribution pattern over the earth's surface. In almost any habitable place, energy is or could be available from the use of the sun or the wind or timber. In places where there is little sun, wind and w o o d are often c o m m o n . A n d where timber and wind are rare, there is usually plenty of sun.

In the developed world, these sources have been largely neglected because no single one of them is capable of supply­ing all energy needs. In northern latitudes, for instance, it is difficult or impossible to heat a house sufficiently well with solar energy. But as experiments have recently shown, houses in northern France can be designed to gain two-thirds of their heat from a very simple and cheap installation known as a solar wall. If the remainder could be provided with a little wind power and timber burning, the problem is essentially solved at the level of the house­hold. There is a very real chance that if w e accepted multiple solutions to our energy problems w e could solve them by

what have been called biotechnic means: using energy sources at roughly the same rate as they are naturally generated on the earth, hence creating no problems of thermal pollution whatsoever.

The disposal of sewage is another area where the need for an alternative is compelling. The problems of the current system are classic: expensive sewage installations are needed, together with large volumes of scarce and purified water, to sweep our sewage into process­ing units which discharge into rivers and seas a rich effluent causing severe pollu­tion problems. A s sewage contains impor­tant quantities of organic materials, the land is consequently always in deficit, particularly where animal excreta are not returned to it. (In modern intensive fac­tory farming, this is becoming more and more of a problem.) So sewage disposal causes huge expense, water wastage, agri­cultural depletion and severe pollution.

A solution w e have m a d e into a problem

In any rational scheme, w e would have found ways of returning our sewage to the land where it belongs. T o reduce expense, w e would do this not with a centralized scheme but at the family or community level. A n d w e would use our precious supply of purified water for more suitable purposes and tasks. In fact, all this is technically quite easy to achieve. In Scandinavia there is a device on the market which will compost family sewage and turn it over a period of about one year into a small quantity of extreme­ly rich but sterile and odourless fertilizer

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which can be applied directly to the gar­den. T h e device uses no water and can digest kitchen scraps. W h y this solution is not more c o m m o n in the developed world is hard to understand.

It is nothing short of tragic, further­more, to see developing countries invest­ing huge amounts of hard earned foreign exchange into expensive sewage disposal schemes when this, altogether m u c h more efficacious, solution is at hand. The irony of the situation is compounded w h e n w e realize that in some of the drier develop­ing countries there simply will never be sufficient water available to provide a 'Western-type' sewage disposal scheme for everyone. In today's society sewage has become a problem: it should be, and could again become as indeed it once was, a solution.

H o w do these examples of alterna­tives in energy and sewage disposal m e a ­sure up to the nine boundary constraints listed in Table 1? Clearly, they d o well in terms of pollution (No. 1), capital cost (2) and use of resources (3). Equally, they are essentially decentralized techniques (7) and their principles would be easily understood and controlled by anyone (6). Further, partly because they are decen­tralized, they would be difficult to misuse (4); indeed, a general principle for this constraint is that technical systems designed to operate optimally on the small or medium-small scale are usually difficult to misuse wherever that misuse involves a scaling up (as it usually does). Put another way , it is not easy to envisage what a solar b o m b or a wind-powered missile would be like.

Certainly wind-power and compost­ing are old and traditional technologies

(8), found in m a n y parts of the world. Neither has been m u c h touched by scien­tific progress; it is not optimistic to assume that if our n e w knowledge were applied to either, w e would find surely that traditional use had already dis­covered, perhaps intuitively, m a n y of the important functional principles but that significant and perhaps radical improve­ments could n o w be m a d e . T h e gearing and control mechanisms on a windmill, for example, can be m u c h improved over what was possible in Holland three cen­turies ago. O n this ground also, their development would be compatible with local culture in m a n y areas of the world (5).

About alienation (9), little can be said, for alienation is usually produced primarily under conditions of mass pro­duction. True, there might be some miti­gating effect through the introduction of technical substitutes, but it would not be a strong one. In general, an alternative technology can be designed to meet the nine boundary constraints listed, but in practice a substitute will always meet some conditions better than others. In a real world, this need not surprise us, nor need it be taken as proof of the imprac-ticality of the idea. T h e important point is that by listing a series of goals for technology to meet, technology is lifted out of the moral vacuum in which it has existed for so long. It can thus, once again, become a moral activity, and like all h u m a n activities will probably always fall short of moral perfection in one or another respect.

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Novel designs for dwellings

There is not sufficient space to detail all the other possible alternatives to modern technology. Today a great deal of inter­est in construction is leading to some novel and satisfactory designs for dwell­ings m a d e from cheap local materials, realized to a high degree of insulation, and with almost complete independence from external services. Designs have been m a d e for dwellings which provide their o w n energy, process their o w n pro­per wastes and trap and purify their water supply. These designs usually fulfil all nine boundary conditions, although their weak points still tend to be that they are too complicated and costly to count yet as perfect examples of alternative tech­nology. But real progress has been m a d e .

Similar advances are n o w being tested in the field of food production. For example, one small-scale system in the United States produces high-quality fish protein at a truly enormous equivalent yield in relation to surface used, without relying on external sources other than the sun and h u m a n excrement. The fertile overflow from a domestic septic tank is led to a small pond over which a timber and glass structure has been built to capture the sun's energy. In the pond are grown insect larvae in great quantities, feeding on the rich nutrient in the pond and thriving in the hot, humid condi­tions. Once a week these larvae are removed and fed to Tilapia fish in another small pond contained in a plastic geodesic d o m e which acts as a hot house, heating the water in the pond to the 25°-30° C in which Tilapia thrive. In a single summer the fish grow to edible

size, and the water is then used to fertil­ize the vegetable garden. This very inge­nious, closed cycle system has m u c h to recommend it; there are without doubt m a n y possible variations applicable in m a n y different parts of the world.

Similarly, m u c h work is being done on the difficult question of protection of domestic crops from predators. Alterna­tive technologists have to find a different solution to that of applying polluting, dangerous and expensive sprays. There are several possible approaches. Perhaps the most important lies in fostering highly diverse, ecological food-growing systems rather than the monoculture to which society is n o w so addicted. There is evidence that diverse-species food pro­duction can be more productive than that of single species. Ecologically, production of this kind clearly stimulates a healthy species balance, with less danger of the monumental and truly savage attacks m a d e by predators and disease organ­isms where and when only one crop is grown.

Alternative techniques such as these will have to be complemented by the bio­logical control of pests and systematic, companion planting programmes in which the beneficial effect some species of plants appear to have on other species is used to the full. Cheap and biologically degradable sprays might also be accept­able; both nicotine and garlic sprays have been shown to be effective against a wide range of pests. Alternative technol­ogy will have to find sound biological and ecological means of maintaining the alter­ed states of nature which farming implies in order to replace those blunderbuss spray technologies which our current clumsy

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approach to things biological has deemed to be the most appropriate means.

T h e future of alternative technology

In the past three or four years the idea of alternative technology has blossomed in the developed world, particularly in the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden and France. Earlier two organizations, the Intermediate Technology Develop­ment Group in the United K i n g d o m and the Brace Research Institute in Canada, had been set up to design and stimulate the growth of an alternative economic technology which would be labour-intensive and use local materials—and hence be more accessible to the develop­ing countries. Since then, m a n y more, less formal institutes and organizations have appeared, proclaiming additional constraints on the technology they wish to develop, in some cases more than the nine listed earlier.

This year some of these institutes are carrying out their first research, and their membership is growing consider­ably. It must be stressed that not all of these are concerned with rural alternative technology; some are directing their atten­tion to the urban situation, where the demands of an alternative technology m a y be different in kind but not different in principle. Considerable numbers of peo­ple, m a n y of them young, are seeking life styles which can be supported by this type of alternative technology in prefer­ence to the 9 to 5 office or factory routine which conventional society and technol­ogy offer.

T h e change in attitude that has come about, therefore, is that the alternative

which was first seen as a means of more rapid development for the Third World has become something of an obsession for the disenchanted in the so-called devel­oped world. Recently, there has been less talk of the implications of alternative technology for development, and m u c h more of the need for viable alternatives in countries which are usually considered to be developed. Whether this change is for the good is not clear, and at first glance it looks like a regression.

Those w h o urge labour-intensive, alternative technologies on developing countries place themselves in an exposed position. Countries without a real tech­nological base tend to see alternatives as second-class options. After all (they con­tend), w h y should they accept forms of technology which the developed countries themselves do not normally use? T h e intermediate technologists have thus become, in m a n y eyes, the 'new imperial­ists' trying to tell the developing world what is good for it. T h e story sounds all too familiar.

Yet the situation is more complicated than that. For one thing, considerable interest is to be found in the developing world for what is normally termed village technology or small-scale technology which can be operated at the village level and used to improve material conditions on the micro-scale. India, in particular, is a stronghold of such thought, but there are indications from other countries too that they find the idea of value.1 A n d if one is discussing the people actually

1. See J. Omo-Fadaka, "The Tanzanian W a y of Effective Development', Impact of Science on Society, Vol. XXIII, N o . 2, April-June 1973.

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facing development problems in the Third World, they m a y often be more interested in making a simple p u m p from local materials than in their governments' far-reaching schemes for a nuclear power programme, or a green revolution which will help only the larger and richer farmers. W h a t people in the developing world think about such things might then be imperfectly articulated by their govern­ments.

T h e important moral is that what must happen is that the new alternatives

be developed. If that is not done, the developing countries will have no choice to m a k e about their o w n future. They can in effect only continue in their present state or adapt themselves to the existing technology of the developed world. That is a poor choice. Those of us w h o believe that the future could have more to offer than the technocratic nightmare are intent on widening the options available for our­selves and for future generations where-ever they m a y be.

TO DELVE MORE DEEPLY

B O O K C H I N , M . Ecology and revolutionary thought. N e w York, N . Y . , Times Change Press, 1970.

C L A R K E , J.; C L A R K E , R . The biotechnic research community. Futures, June 1972. C L A R K E , R . Technology for an alternative society. New scientist, 11 January 1973. E R I K S S O N , B. ; H A R P E R , P. Alternative technology guide. Undercurrents, no. 3, 1972. H E R B E R , L . Towards a liberatory technology. Anarchy, vol. 7, no. 8, August 1967.

Further information is also available from:

Brace Research Institute, McGill University, McDonald College, Ste Anne de Bellevue 800, Quebec (Canada).

Intermediate Technology Development Group, 9 King Street, London W C 2 E 8 H N (United Kingdom).

N e w Alchemy Institute-East, Box 432, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543 (United States of America).

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Social assessment of technology

The latest issue of Unesco's

International Social Science Journal

(Vol. XXV, N o . 3)

treats society's evaluations of modern technological evolution in the following aspects: state of the art, choice and commercialization of techni­ques, military technology, the consumer movement, and case studies from India, Japan and the U.S.S.R. Copies of the Journal can be ordered from your National Dis­tributor or directly from Unesco, P U B / V , 7 Place de Fon-tenoy, 75700 Paris (France).

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Development is a two-way street toward survival

by Mansur Hoda

Technology first emerged as primitive m a n sought n e w comforts in his life. M u c h later, the industrial revolution succeeded in reducing technology to a vulgar pursuit. Today, the world's crises of exhaustion of resources, environmental pollution and unrelenting poverty in m a n y regions stem largely from heedless and abusive indus­trialization. Sane management of our applications of technology is possible, but it will require a major readjustment of the cultural values prevailing in the industrialized societies. Will m o d e m m a n realign his priorities?

W h e n technology first entered the life of h u m a n beings, it must have involved the application of science to practical use, enabling m a n to live more comfortably and securely than before. Fire, for

Mr Mohammed Mansur Hoda, a mechanical engineer who took an advanced degree in radia­tion studies, has worked for Indian Railways and as district inspector of factories in Bihar State. He is honorary secretary of the India Development Group: U.K., and recently com­pleted four years of work with the Intermediate Technology Development Group, Ltd, London. He currently heads the Appropriate Technology Development Unit, Gandhian Institute of Studies, P . O . Box 116, Rajghat, Varanasi 1 (India).

instance, must have been invented to serve as protection against cold and only later used to cook food in order to m a k e it more easily digestible. The wheel, one of the most remarkable applications of science in the service of m a n , eased the strenuous work of dragging heavy loads. Tools from the stone, bronze and early iron ages are similar examples of the application of scientific knowledge to m a k e life more comfortable for m a n ; their use for commerce was probably not seriously considered.

M u c h later, when m a n had become a commercial animal, technology and all available resources came to be used for

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industry and trade. T h e process was a long one, as the professional and trade guilds used technology to add quality and refinement to their work while at the same time earning their living thereby. T h e profit motive was kept within limits by the master or owner of the technique or technology. T h e world m a y well have been a happier community in those days, when the exploitation of m a n was left to kings, noblemen, landlords or warlords.

T h e advent of the industrial revolu­tion brought with it another phenomenon, the possibility of becoming immensely rich with the help of technology to equal the power of the 'lords' as exploiters. The invention of the steam engine revolution­ized production and commerce; western European nations became masters of other regions of the world and, with money realized through these colonies, m a d e risk-involving investments in n e w research and innovative development. Within a short time, one m a n could amass great wealth by exploiting mass production and its repetitive methodology.

The centres of production moved from small shops and guildhouses to fac­tories. This led to Luddite and other abortive movements against the trend to use labour-saving equipment, since fac­tory methods threatened the livelihood of those unable to compete with machines. Thus began one of the darkest eras in European history, the dominant feature of which was the unbridled exploitation of the working class. Those w h o owned the means of production, without necessarily having skills them­selves, were the undisputed masters of the situation. Their workers, later called 'the proletariat', were kept absolutely at

the mercy of these owners of the produc­tive means. Even small children worked in appalling conditions, for long hours, to keep body and soul together. M a r x pro­pounded his theories on the rise of the working class and the establishment of a classless society, and the novels of Dickens and Zola gave us a glimpse of the utter misery of the c o m m o n people of the time.

This state of affairs continued for generations before the wealth began per­colating towards the lowest social strata, the solidarity of the labouring class final­ly forcing the industrialist element to share part of its affluence. It is only relatively recently that the working class has been assured of the necessities of life and some of its luxuries, as well as some measure of reassurance in the form of national health, retirement and other social security schemes. Yet, by no means does everyone in the industrialized world live in comfort. T h e exploiters of tech­nology are not trying to consolidate their gains merely to m a k e technology wide­spread; they are more concerned with achieving supersonic flight than improv­ing living conditions. With the inventions of central and radiant heating, the tech­nique of heating interiors has reached near-perfection; but still there are thou­sands w h o cannot pay their fuel bills in winter, and some w h o die from the cold, while there are rich, incurable patients existing on borrowed time with the help of kidney and heart machines. The fruits of high technology are available only to those w h o can pay for them.

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Depleting resources to gain affluence

The search for n e w methods of produc­tion started a scramble for the world's resources in materials and energy. A s n e w territories were annexed by the industrial nations, the interiors of Africa and the Americas were opened in order to find minerals, coal and petroleum. Cultivable lands were m a d e to produce raw materials like cotton, jute, sisal, cocoa, tea and coffee for industry and trade. M a n ' s hun­ger for material goods became insatiable, and he began consuming non-renewable resources at an alarming rate. With the capitalist order in the industrialized coun­tries distributing a part of its profits to the working class, some thought that m a n had reached the pinnacle of civilization. The primary interest of Western nations became to keep their n e w houses in order and save their society from Russian-style revolution by the working class.

Keeping the entire population of a country in affluence, however, proved to be a stupendous task even for an indus­trial nation. It required tremendous amounts of energy and raw materials, all non-renewable; it necessitated surveying the whole world, from China and Malaya to Canada and Alaska, searching and dig­ging not only for coal in endless supply, but for iron, tin, zinc, copper, gold, dia­monds . But some of the largest reserves of coal reached their end, by the middle of this century. The discovery of petro­leum in large deposits in the Middle East gave the system a n e w lease of life, but it came to be realized that some basic raw materials could be exhausted. In their pur­suit of riches, Western nations had evi­dently not given thought that—instead

of living on income—they had all the time been eating away their capital of unreplenishable resources.

So the indiscriminate use of irre­cuperable natural materials for industrial production brought industrialized society within sight of its first crisis, that of resources. There also came the danger, with 'developing' countries soon emerg­ing on the scene after they had gained political independence, that these (the main suppliers of m a n y raw materials) might cut off supplies. Consequently, n e w research efforts were channelled towards the invention of synthetic products: sub­stitute materials have been found in the laboratory for cotton, jute, silk, rubber, leather. Plastics, those versatile substan­ces which can be as strong as iron or as fine as a hair, can be used as replace­ments for almost anything on earth.

W e can substitute materials as m u c h as w e like, but w e tend to forget that energy cannot be substituted. Producing poly­mers (plastics), the main synthetic sub­stances of our age, requires energy at temperatures and pressures reaching orders of magnitude never k n o w n before. T h e world n o w faces a crisis of energy supply because it has learned to depend on non-renewable materials such as coal and petroleum for industrial production. M a n ' s unappeasable appetite for goods and profits has exhausted vast deposits of the world's resources in no time.

T h e truth concerning the atom

Since the bulk of our petroleum reserves are situated in a region on whose political stability the industrialized nations cannot depend, it was considered wise to develop

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a source of energy which is more reliable —that of the atom. T h e West had, also, to atone for the sin of using superbombs on h u m a n population in 1945. These two motives gave the West a splendid oppor­tunity to continue its research on nuclear weapons while offering the world nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. O n e of the great advantages of this research is that the reactors used for production of nuclear power also produced plutonium, the raw material for nuclear b o m b s and missiles. A n d the false hope was raised that nuclear power would solve the world's energy problem, once and for all. But there were two flaws to this argument: there is not even enough uranium (the only raw material known which can be used to produce nuclear energy) to meet the world's power requirements, and the safety of the methods for producing nuclear energy has not been established beyond reasonable doubt.

Our knowledge of the harmful effects of ionizing radiation is still at a prelimi­nary stage, having gone little beyond what is k n o w n of its effects on the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and on radium-dial painters, radiologists and uranium miners. It is well established that even small doses of radiation can have adverse effects, sometimes showing themselves m u c h later in life or even in subsequent generations of the biological mechanism. T h e amount of wastes and effluents, all radioactive, generated by nuclear-power stations is so unmanageable that it cannot simply be dumped in the oceans or safely stored beneath the earth. Nuclear wastes are a violently lethal mixture of short-and long-lived isotopes the toxicity of which can last for thousands of years

and cannot be artificially reduced. So far, these wastes have been kept in concrete containers, shielded in lead, in the hope that eventually some method will be found for their disposal. In the meantime, more and more wastes are being accumulated.

T h e nuclear power station has a life of thirty years. After that, the station is to be left standing there, leaking its radio­activity into the biosphere for all time to come. N o one knows what might happen if an earthquake or wartime bombard­ment might affect these stations. A n d there appears to be a conspiracy of silence concerning the harmful effects of nuclear energy used for commercial pur­poses. Here again, when the motive is profit from cheap methods of producing goods or services, all other considerations are pushed into the background.

Even some nuclear scientists have argued repeatedly that the average radia­tion exposure from nuclear-power sources is infinitely small, less than one-hundredth that of natural 'background' radiation. But they forget that this natural radiation is the real average, affecting the whole world's population equally, with only slight variations here and there. Taking averages in such cases is meaningless.

In one nuclear country, in a cele­brated court case, it was proved that a worker in a nuclear-energy installation contracted leukaemia eight years after having been directly exposed to liquids used to cool radioactive fuel elements. Managers in the 'modern world', while boasting that nuclear energy can solve the world's problems in power requirements, are capable of disregarding such perils. Small wonder that public opinion in the

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United States, United Kingdom, France and the rest of the industrialized world is growing more and m o r e opposed to the building of nuclear-power plants and the use of the power they produce.

Nature has its limitations

A second crisis gripping the industrialized economies and one which has unnerved everyone is that of pollution—the danger to ecology, or the balance of the living world around us. Without doubt, the most important book on the subject last year was The Limits of Growth, written at the behest of an international group of scien­tists and managers calling themselves the 'Club of R o m e ' ; the most important con­ference was that at Stockholm on the problems of the environment. A s long as the pollution and other ecological dis­turbances wrought by industrial produc­tion were small, Nature could absorb and assimilate them. But with production augmented by a quantum jump during the last few decades, open air, running water and the earth itself no longer have unlimited powers of dissipation or dilu­tion. A slight cut on the h u m a n body heals itself easily, but a deeper w o u n d can kill the m a n . Nature can sustain itself despite small injuries and insults, but it has limits of resistance too.

Even the waters of the seas can no longer absorb the effluents w e d u m p into them. Not only are the oceans and their coasts polluted, but sulphur dioxide-laden air m a y contribute to cancer and defects at birth. Factory fumes bearing SO2 give rise to sodium bisulphate, a compound of S O 2 used industrially in

the pickling of metals and in the cleaning and dyeing of cloth which reacts sharply on R N A and D N A genetic materials. N o modern city is free from SO2.

In analysing this state of affairs, I have criticized severely the market-oriented or capitalist countries; but these conditions are not the result of capitalism alone. It is, rather, technology itself which is to blame, and other economic systems show the same ambiguity in this respect. Both State socialism and cor­porate capitalism are showing signs of a crisis of their legitimacy. T h e legitimacy of State socialism (communism) has been seriously undermined simply by the fifty years of experience with centrally plan­ned socialist socio-economies, revealing that these are neither very m u c h better nor very m u c h worse than capitalist societies. They even exhibit m a n y of the defects of corporate capitalism: diseco­nomies of scale, inflexible hierarchies, distortion of the reward system and, w h e n it comes to pollution, their record is no better that that of the capitalist countries. T h e pressures of five-year plans are just as hard on the environment as those of the market economies. It is a pity that socialist societies, after having changed social structures, did not think about altering the technological structure; instead, they blindly followed capitalist technology, with a vengeance.

Industrial society has used the h u m a n substance as it has raw materials, too. It is for this reason that there is a crisis of youth in the rich nations. S o m e of the best of these youths say, ' A curse on all your houses, w e don't need them,' and uni­laterally discard the vulgar use of pro­ducts coming from modern industry.

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They are rebelling against the established order, the very basis of industrialized society and its institutions.

T h e developing countries, or the so-called Third World, were unable to take part in the industrial revolution because of their political and economic depen­dence on Western, industrialized nations. They had no economic or technological choice except that offered by their masters: they produced raw materials mostly for the industries of the developed world and served as a market for the finished goods of these. Before being occupied by the industrial countries, the Third World had its o w n handicraft industries flourishing in the civilization and accumulated cultural wealth of cen­turies of knowledge and learning. These crafts and trades began to decay and die because of the new competition from foreign-made, factory-produced, glittering cheap goods. Within a few years of the invention of the spinning jenny, the Indian market was flooded with textiles from Lancashire despite the fact that India was producing some of the finest cloth in the world at that time.

B y the time the developing countries had gained their political independence, beginning a generation ago, the industrial countries had largely emerged from the dark era I alluded to earlier, having solved m a n y of their technical and social problems. The emerging nations thought that they could avoid this dark tunnel of history, with massive investment, spe­cialized aid and technical breakthroughs, they would gather sufficient m o m e n t u m to jump over the tunnel and align them­selves with the industrial nations. The sociological problems would be taken

care of by introducing labour legislation and a heavy dose of socialism, with nationalization and planning. Twentieth-century technology would lead them straight into the light of affluence, or so they thought—an erroneous concept based on the interpretation of history which holds that worth-while h u m a n exis­tence began with the industrial revolution.

W h o benefits from economic affluence?

N o w , after nearly twenty-five years of desperate effort, achieving development along Western lines appears to be a pipe-dream for most developing countries. W h a t is worse, the effort has created an imbalance between village and urban life within the societies of the developing nations. T h e majority of their population (about 80 per cent) is rural, but industrial development must be concentrated in urban areas thus by-passing a large majority of the population. Scarce capital has been used to establish modern indus­tries, providing employment for a rela­tive few. There is a dependence on foreign manufacturing equipment, some­times foreign raw materials, thus generat­ing little income at h o m e . Modern technology, using cheap, mass-production methods, crowds village crafts out of the local marketplace; the rural population is impoverished because a large part of its non-agricultural productive endeavour is frittered away.

Islands of prosperity and even afflu­ence are created without concern for the rest of the country. High-technology units of production pay relatively well, but at levels absolutely out of reach of

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the majority. Industrialists and their workers appear to oppose each other but, in fact, they are part of an unsigned and unconscious partnership to exploit the rest of the population. Thus the industrial workers in developing countries, while not the exploited proletariat of the nine­teenth century, are actually a privileged social class, participating in the general exploitation of others. The modern or Westernized segment of society thrives at the expense of the traditional sector.

Stated quantitatively, the per capita income in a traditional economy of the developing countries is of the order of £20 to £30 per year. In industrialized economies of the West, this figure is of the order of £1,000 per year and it cannot be reduced to less than £400, otherwise people would die in the streets. (In war­time Britain, more than a generation ago and before annual inflation of currency, the economy was squeezed to the maxi­m u m and individual income was reduced to £200 per head. A t present, Britons w h o live on social-security benefits, which pro­vide a subsistence stipend, earn £400 a year.) The two levels of economy cannot be compared, because they reflect the difference in the respective patterns of living.

If it were possible in a £20 economy to increase individual income to £40, without disturbing the pattern of living, this could be considered as real develop­ment. But if elements of a £400 economy were introduced in order to double a £20 economy, the country in question would turn into a slum: the pattern of Western living cannot begin to be real­ized beneath an income level of £400 per person.

Another important reason for not introducing indiscriminately modern technology in developing lands: an essen­tially foreign body cannot grow naturally and organically without regular injections of foreign capital, foreign management, foreign know-how. The cost of setting up a place of work in current technology runs at about £1,000 to £2,000. A British worker earns about £1,000 in a year; thus, one year's gross earnings enable him, theoretically, to create his o w n work site. B y saving a month's wages each year, a Briton can hypothetically establish his o w n little work place in twelve years' time.

In developing countries, with aver­age earnings even in the Westernized sectors of the economy at about £100, it takes m a n y working lives to save £1,000. The worker in a poor country hasn't the ghost of a chance to develop, by his o w n efforts, his o w n work place on the level of Western technology. So if the cost of a work place in a developing economy could be reduced to the £100 level (remember, that is what the average worker earns in one year), there would be a chance for n e w technology to spread by itself, thus strengthening the entire eco­nomy . The crux of the problem, there­fore, is to find the technologies which are 'human ' , inexpensive and appropriate to the socio-economic setting where capital is scarce and labour abundant and cheap.

'Technology with a h u m a n face'

This brings us to intermediate technology, a term used by economist and philoso­pher E . F . Schumacher to describe the

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technology which is appropriate to devel­oping nations. I a m indebted to D r Schumacher (a former economic adviser to the British Coal Board) as well for the argument and figures in the preceding paragraph. Schumacher calls this kind of technology 'intermediate' because it fills the gap between primitive, indigenous technic—stagnant at the £1 economic level since time immemorial—and m o d ­e m technology at the £1,000 level. H e fixes the intermediate technological level at about £100 per work place, more effi­cient than the native £1 site and m u c h less expensive and complex than Western technology and its consumption of non­renewable resources, as well as its requirements of high skills and trained management. With £100-technology, a large number of easily manageable work places can be created in a poor country's rural areas, accommodating relatively m a n y paid guests at the dinner table of production.

T h e technology thus introduced (I shall give some examples) will keep every­one, even the poorest, in economic step with each other and not create an imbal­ance between city and country life. This should preclude a dual society, or a nation within a nation, and introduction of incompatible foreign elements to a £20-income style of traditional living. If intermediate technology succeeds in doubling this income to £40 per year, without introducing features of Western £400 revenue and life style, the country enjoying this could c o m e close to being paradise on earth.

Intermediate technics (or whatever you choose to call them: appropriate, adapted, third, soft, small-unit, non­

violent technology, or technology with a h u m a n face) need to relate closely to the needs of the poorest people. T h e appro­priate technology has to be devised to improve their methods of working, but at the lowest possible expense. In assessing the appropriateness of the soft technol­ogy selected, one must concentrate on the villages, learn that villagers actually do, and then help them do it better.

Given the importance of food and water, new methods of storing and trans­porting water are begging invention. It is easy enough to ask the World Bank for a loan to bring in monstrous earth-moving machinery, putting hectares and acres of land under water in canals and irrigation ditches, forcefully displacing village communities, and creating hostility all round. But that is not the technical answer to the technical problem.

Alternative technology includes orga­nizing and injecting enthusiasm into vil­lage inhabitants, designing a technique (for example) to catch rain where it falls and, applying modern scientific and tech­nical knowledge, digging or erecting as m a n y reservoir tanks as needed. Water catchment tanks have already been designed, using sheets and 'sausages' m a d e of polythene to stop the percola­tion of water towards the subsoil, a n u m ­ber of them built in Swaziland by the Intermediate Technology Development Group of London. Once these reservoirs, blending beautifully with the environ­ment, have begun to provide a lasting supply of water, the loving villagers give them the maintenance they need.

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Basic technology

Indonesian farmers near Garut (Bandung district) clear land in community develop­ment programme. Simplest tools cost little to buy, nothing to operate, but work is tedious, slow, and produces the least of any tech­nology.

Intermediate technology

Jordanian peasant tills land using wooden-shared plough. Implement costs very little more than several hand tools, can be m a d e locally (and thus provide jobs), facilitate work. Only disadvantage is that the tool drawn by animals is not as productive as mechanized equipment, thereby yielding less.

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Advanced technology Farm-hand learns from another h o w to operate modern tractor turning earth near Patzcuaro (Mexico). Machinery is quick and efficient, but represents a costly investment, expensive maintenance, deprives humans of work, and is ecologically harmful.

Mansur Hoda

Potters, cobblers, teachers, doctors

I T h e same approach applies to other vil­lage activities, whether agricultural or not. Take, for example, two of the most ancient of village crafts, the making of pottery and footwear. T h e potter uses the equipment he had been handed d o w n from prehistoric times: the wheel acti­vated by a stick rotating the wheel at its circumference, the lump of clay formed on the spinning wheel by dexterous hands. Modern technology introduces electronically operated, continuous-kiln ceramic plants built in large towns; it also puts the village craftsman out of work. T h e approach of intermediate tech­nology is to define the technical prob­lems of the independent potter, then pro­ceed to improve his wheel, clay and oven at absolutely minimal cost, while con­serving the uniqueness and improving the quality of his product.

T h e village cobbler, too, has used the iron last, needle, thread, lump of w a x , h a m m e r and nails to work his raw materials just as it was done centuries ago. T h e modern technological alterna­tive is to set up huge shoe factories all over the landscape, constructing even injection moulding plants for footwear materials m a d e of plastic. While the advantage of such technico-economics is that the consumer has access to inexpen­sive footwear, the victim once again is the small artisan. Intermediate technol­ogy, on the other hand, strives to design or redesign simple machinery and meth­odology to help the village cobbler increase the quantity and improve the quality of what he can turn out in one day.

These principles can be applied to; cultivation, stock-raising, and the build­ing of dwellings. In the field of education, intermediate technology first raises the question: what should be the nature of: education in a developing country? The answer is simple. Education should be such that it inculcates in the student the; desire to serve his community and enrich his environment without deserting the vil­lage in search of jobs, elsewhere, which do not exist.

T h e currently expensive training of physicians denies to most villages any sort of medical or health service. If an army of paramedical staff had been trained in hygiene and preventive medicine at m u c h less cost, perhaps 90 per cent of existing disease could have been checked in its early stages—prevention being better than cure. A n d there is still another problem. Engineers, scientists and other profes­sionals w h o do not find the proper uses for their talents in emerging nations pre­fer to migrate to the industrialized world. Developing countries thus subsidize cer­tain technical and research work carried on in Western nations. In the United Kingdom, 45 per cent of the junior medi­cal doctors affiliated with the National Health Service c o m e from India and Pakistan; and the phenomenon is not limited to the United Kingdom alone.

The difference between need and greed

Present-day economics, while maintaining an ethically neutral stance, in fact propa­gates a philosophy of unlimited expan­sion, rejects any idea of voluntary self-

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limitation, and disregards the true and genuine, but limited, needs of m a n . M a h a t m a Gandhi, a great opponent of such a concept, once said that there is always enough for everyone's need but never enough for one man's greed. Soon­er or later, the industrialized world will have to retrace its steps from the eco­n o m y and technology of greed which recklessly exploits the resources of Nature and disturbs its balance.

Perhaps the Third World will be wise enough to veer in the direction of a differ­ent pattern of development and the evolu­tion of a n e w life style so that it, too, will not have to drive in reverse gear over a great distance some time in the future. It is time for the emerging nations to take the lead, showing others a w a y of life more permanent than that led by Western countries for the past two centuries, and offering a model for a n e w society which Western nations might actually wish to emulate.

I and a few others like m e are not the only ones seeking a technology for survival. Kenneth Boulding, professor of economics at the University of Colorado, has said: 'It is in the twenty-first century that m a n must m a k e the first great strides toward establishing a spaceship earth, with a world society based on a perma­nent source of energy such as the sun, and on recycling of materials, a society free from the burden of destitution and violence, in which different cultures can flourish without fear and the enormous richness of the h u m a n potential can pro­gressively be realized. Unless mankind can m a k e this precarious and dangerous transition, it is by no means impossible that the whole evolutionary experiment in

this part of the universe will come to an end [l].'1 The only point of Professor Boulding's on which I differ is that of the next century. The effort should be m a d e right n o w .

A profile of alternative technology

T o sum up, then, the fundamentals of a technology of survival, peace and per­manence should possess a profile some­thing like that which follows.

Small. T h e n e w technology needs to be small in scale, capable of being widely dispersed wherever people live, multi-pliable in its individual units, and geared closely to nature.

Simple. Suitable technology must be m a d e simple again so that its functioning can be understood by the greatest n u m ­ber of people. A n y clever fool can m a k e things complicated; it requires a touch of genius to m a k e them simple again.

Capital-saving. Alternative technol­ogy must be highly economical of capital investment. It is true that with £10 million w e can set up ten industrial establish­ments worth £1 million each and employ­ing a total of 1,000 workers; or 10,000 industries costing £1,000 each and employing 100,000 people. T h e criterion of economy is consistent with the small-ness of the units of production. With low costs, the units will be small and broadly scattered so that the little m a n can become productive once more. Today, no

1. The figures in brackets relate to the ref­erences at the end of this article.

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power source is tapped unless it can yield at least 1,000 megawatts ( M W ) . If, h o w ­ever, small units of 10 M W each could be activated at 100 different places (sources of hydroelectric, solar or wind energy), 1,000 M W production would still be achieved.

Non-violent. T h e great thinker Gandhi protested pointedly and repeat­edly against industrialization not because he opposed progress; it was because he was looking far beyond, visualizing the post-industrial era. ' M e n go on saving labour', he said, 'till thousands are with­out work and thrown on the open streets to die of starvation. I want to save time and labour, and not for a fraction of mankind but for all; I want the con-

REFERENCES

1. B O U L D I N G , K . Towards a 21st century politics. Span. N e w Delhi, United States Informa­tion Service, January 1973.

2. G A N D H I , M . Harijan, 29 September 1940, p. 299. 3. . Young India, 13 November 1924, p. 378.

. T O DELVE M O R E D E E P L Y

ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON THE APPLICATION OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY TO DEVELOPMENT. Appropriate technology and research for industrial development. N e w York, N . Y . , United Nations, 1972. Deals with appropriate technology and effective research, (ST/ECA/152 . )

C U R T I S , R . ; H O G A N , E . Perils of the peaceful atom. London, Gollancz, 1970. F E L K , F . World markets of tomorrow. London, Harper & R o w , 1972. Offers a different

point of view. See esp. Chap. 11, 'Quality of life'. G A D G I L , D . Technologies appropriate for the total development plan. Hyderabad, SIET

Institute, 1964. G L A U B I T T , K . ; S A A D E D I N , F . Umweltschutz und Entwicklungspolitik [Environmental protec­

tion and development policy]. Umschau in Wissenschaft und Technik, vol 3. no. 3, 1 February 1973.

H O Y L E , F . From Stonehenge to modern cosmology. San Francisco, Calif., W . H . Freeman & Co. , 1972. See 'Lecture one, Science and society in modern times'.

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centration of wealth, not in the hands of a few, but in the hands of all. Today machinery merely helps a few to ride on the back of millions. T h e impetus behind it all is not the philanthropy to save labour but greed. It is this constitution of things that I a m fighting with all m y might [2].' Gandhi also had the occasion to add: 'I have no design upon machinery as such: I would prize every invention m a d e for the benefit of all, welcome the machine that lightens the burden of chores of m e n . . . [3].'

Both the developed and the develop­ing parts of our world need to converge towards the same, sane point, seemingly the only wise thing to do in the circum­stances.

Development is a two-way street toward survival

Introduction. An approach to the science and technology plan. N e w Delhi, National C o m ­mittee on Science and Technology, 1973.

M A T H U R , J.; M A T H U R , A . Economic thought of Mahatma Gandhi. Allahabad, Chaitanya, 1962.

S C H U M A C H E R , E . Roots of economic growth. Varanasi, Gandhian Institute of Studies, 1962. . Social economic problems calling for the development of intermediate technology. Lon­

don, Intermediate Technology Development Group Ltd, n.d. (Pamphlet.) . Small is beautiful. London, Blond & Bridge, June 1973.

U N I V E R S I T Y O F S U S S E X . S C I E N C E P O L I C Y R E S E A R C H U N I T . The limits to growth controversy. Futures, vol. 5, no. 1, February 1973. Special issue on world dynamics in resources, popu­lation, agriculture, capital, pollution and energy.

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In search of allies for the soft technologies

by Peter Harper

M a n y harsh criticisms can be m a d e of the 'advanced' societies, but the crucial issue is their technological base and its deleterious effects. The solution is not to cast out technology altogether, because technics can no longer be separated from society, economics or politics. Since neither capitalism nor State socialism can provide rational solutions rapidly enough, other steps can be taken to reduce heavy, centralized industry to certain essential materials and products. In this way, w e can improve the quality and efficiency of all else.

T h e government of advanced and advancing industrial societies can maintain and secure itself only w h e n it succeeds in mobilising, organising and exploiting the technical, scientific, and mechanical productivity available to industrial civilisation as a whole [1].« Although there are profound differences a m o n g the advanced industrial societies,

Mr Harper studied zoology and experimental psychology at the University of Exeter, later did four years of graduate research in the applica­tion of biochemical methods to learning and behaviour. In 1970 he left formal research to devote his full energies to the search for new solutions to the problems faced by a society coping with scientific-technical progress. Address: c/o Gambles, 40 Lexham Gardens, London, W8 5JR (United Kingdom).

when related to non-industrial countries the similarities are remarkable. Compare the machinery, the methods, the build­ings, the cities; the w a y people work, h o w they get to work; attitudes to work and to leisure; the patterns of specialization and control; education, styles of life. Compare agriculture, mining, heavy industry, manufacturing, communications, services, professions. There is a profound rationality in the pattern. W e can see exactly w h y it had to start, and w h y it has become as it has. There are good

I. Figures in brackets refer to the references at the end of this article.

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reasons for everything in it, and each institution, method or principle justifies —even implies—a number of others.

N o wonder, then, that the possibility of alternatives is rarely raised. There is a consensus on both the political left and right that the broad pattern of develop­ment of advanced technological societies is almost a natural law, and a benign one at that. But there are critics. I a m one. There are not m a n y of us, and this essay is a search for allies. Although w e have m a n y hard things to say about advanced, especially capitalist societies, the crucial part of the criticism concerns the tech­nological base, in the broadest sense. But to have no technological base (whatever that m a y mean) is even more absurd, so w e are obliged to say what w e would do instead. This obligation is sometimes embarrassing because w e haven't really got very far, but work is progressing on a number of fronts. W e seek the elusive soft technology, effectively the technol­ogy of Utopia with all the glories and absurdities of that condition, but which w e try to interpret in the most rigorous and practical way possible.

Technological society's ideology

M a n y of the differences between apolo­gists and critics of advanced technological society can be traced to obvious differ­ences in tastes, values and theoretical assumptions. I shall list (a) some funda­mental assumptions of the average apolo­gist, commenting (b) on each in turn. 1 (a) Output must be increased, and tech­

nological development is a sine qua non for this. A s M a r x and Engels

put it, in their colourful way: ' A development of the productive for­ces is the absolutely necessary prac­tical premise, because without it want is generalized, and with want the struggle for necessities and all the old filthy business would neces­sarily be reproduced [2].'

(b) I shall betray m y preferences and assumptions on each point. O f course, M a r k and Engels are right. But this does not imply logically anything about h o w long the pro­cess is to continue, or h o w it is to be done.

2 (a) T h e process of technological devel­opment is best allowed to develop according to its o w n logic of growth. Other principles of guid­ance appear partial, arbitrary or reactionary.

(b) Once technology is given the most favourable conditions for free growth, it starts a compelling dia­lectical dance with the social and political institutions. It demands a whole system of research, innova­tion, quality control, hierarchical decision-making, special education and so on. The effects on working life, social relationships, patterns of influence and control, the values of leisure and the whole m o o d of society are profound and, to the sensitive (and paranoid?) critic, deplorable. H e sees his every dream being thwarted or perverted. H e wants socialism, he gets techno­cracy; he wants equality, he gets hierarchies; he wants control, he gets bureaucracies; he wants c o m ­prehension, he gets jargon; he

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wants community, he gets dormi­tory suburbs; he wants joy in work, he gets buttons to push; he wants shorter hours, he gets unemploy­ment or commuting; he wants clean air, he gets a smog-mask. All this would be regarded by the tech­nological apologist as premature and unfair criticism. H e would say, naturally there are still problems, but they are being steadily over­come.

3 (a) This 'natural' growth always fol­lows approximately the same path,

(b) T h e logic of the process is power­ful indeed, as acknowledged in the last paragraph. But it is not abso­lute. It can be deformed if con­stantly subjected to control by criteria other than the logic of research or the logic of efficient production.

4 (a) H u m a n values are not the pro­vince of the economic system. They are best served indirectly through the medium of wealth (that is, in consumption rather than in pro­duction), because (i) the general good depends ultimately on the output of the economy, and (ii) there is no other neutral court for reconciling the conflict of values,

(b) T h e forces of production should serve h u m a n needs as directly as possible on the job and through production for use, and only secon­darily through the m e d i u m of wealth. Sometimes a less produc­tive process will be chosen, there­fore, for non-economic reasons. Reconciliation of conflicting values is ideally to be obtained by debate,

necessitating smallness of scale and a leisurely pace.

5 (a) Secondary consequences of the above principles affecting the orga­nization of production (such as large-scale, centralized, specialized, complex, capital-intensive units) are not intrinsically undesirable. T h e social effects of this kind of organization (see below) are on the whole beneficial, or neutral, or can be compensated, or progressively corrected,

(b) A number of levels of secondary consequences need to be distin­guished. There is the organization of production, formed in such a w a y as to m a k e most efficient use of the 'forces of production'; the social consequences of that organi­zation; various 'obvious problems' like disease patterns; and very serious problems, discussed under 6, below. In the case of organiza­tion of production, critics can hard­ly argue that complexity or cen­tralization is bad in itself. They would complain, however, about the social effects because their tastes differ from the orthodox, w h o would probably defend at least some of the effects (such as intense specialization) as symbolic of the civilized w a y of life. At the level of 'obvious problems' such as the incidence of mental or degen­erative disease, or commuting time, there are differences of both taste and theory. With respect to taste the apologists would consider these a reasonable price to pay, while the critics would not, owing either to

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social costs in the means of con­trol. At worst, cascades of prob­lems, remedies, and side effects will eventually surpass the system's capacity to deal with them, per­haps with unpleasant consequences. Such a theory is highly conjectural, but no more so that its converse.

7 (a) A n y apparent shortcomings or

injustices attributable to the advanced development process m a y be weighed against the Baconian promise of an eventual free and equal society without toil, known to liberals as post-industrial society and to Marxists as communism,

(b) For reasons similar to those above, the promise of the great technol­ogical Utopia is illusory. A n y w a y , as pictured by technological opti­mists, it is unattractive to most critics, w h o prefer News from Nowhere to Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth [3].

8 (a) T h e Baconian promised land is not

far away. Don't rock the boat! (b) N o comment .

their exceptional distaste for some of these disamenities or their indifference to the compensations. With respect to theory—and this is perhaps more serious—the cri­tics would doubt that these prob­lems can be progressively solved without throwing up further prob­lems of at least equal social cost.

T h e suggested alternatives, for reasons discussed further on, are (i) reduced emphasis on output; (ii) a production system giving greater weight to relatively small-scale, decentralized, low-capital units involving less intense specialization and greater participation in plan­ning and day-to-day decision­making by both producers and consumers.

6 (a) There will be no other problems that cannot be avoided or remedied at an acceptable cost,

(b) T h e case just discussed rests on par­ticular theories held by each side about the nature of problems and technical solutions. The theories clash strongly in the case of poten­tially crippling problems which both sides would agree it makes no sense to tolerate or compensate. They must be remedied quickly or avoided entirely. Acute environ­mental or resource problems, and vulnerability to large-scale sabo­tage, are cases in point. A typical theory among critics is that more and more technological (hence economic) effort will be needed in augeanics—solving problems caused by the system itself. At best, this will involve unacceptable

Dominance of technical constraints

I hope that this gives a foretaste of some of the assumptions and values which drive this eccentric minority to criticize the technological state. There is no self-conscious movement or coherent philos­ophy. In their place, I have assembled a zoo of specimens which might benefit from a bit of cross-breeding. These are strictly social and political tendencies, but they are conveniently identified by that in which they most clearly differ

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In search of allies for the soft technologies

from the conventional viewpoint. That is, the intimate structure of life and work have become dominated by technical constraints, very m u c h to the detriment of h u m a n society; other forms of organi­zation are possible for which changes in the organization of technology (and per­haps n e w kinds of technology) will be necessary—although not sufficient—con­ditions.

Y o u will find a number of character­istic confusions throughout the discus­sion, problems of logic or principle which I cannot see h o w to solve. T h e first is where technology ends and economy-society-politics begins. B y technology I m e a n the organization of the production system, both live and dead; sometimes I m e a n simply methods and machines. T h e second is the w a y technology and society influence one another. O n some levels technology deeply influences society and the less edifying aspects of this influence are the chief burden of complaint by soft technologists. At other levels, rela­tions of production (e.g. capitalism) deep­ly influence technology. This is obviously a dialectical relationship of some kind, but I a m far from seeing exactly h o w it works. Third is the question whether (a) the critical consensus presented here is supposed to be the antithesis of the ortho­dox consensus (perhaps awaiting the advent of some unknowably glorious synthesis in the future); or (b) it is itself a kind of synthesis transcending desic­cated technicism on the one hand and impossibly romantic neo-Luddism on the other. Finally there is the problem of whether to take itself seriously: whether to regard itself as a beautiful, and con­ceivably influential, dream; or as the germ

of a possible reality. These uncertainties will continue to be evident to you. N o w let us pass to our zoo, returning at the end to see whether any half-plausible chimeras can be constructed.

Although the raison d'être of social­ism is its fundamental h u m a n values, it has been forced to get involved in the process of production in order to realize the values. Science and technology have had a special place in most varieties of socialist thought—seen clearly in, say, M a r x , O w e n , Kropotkin or H . G . Wells. This special place they shared with their enemies the capitalists, but they tried to go further, suggesting that only under socialism could the true potential for growth of science and technology be real­ized. For Marxists, science and tech­nology were particularly favoured allies. Capitalism needed technology, although it would hasten the demise of capital by deepening 'the contradictions between the productive forces . . . and the social rela­tions of production [4]', and at the same time lay the foundations for the new society. 'Such productive forces as tech­nology, science, skills and knowledge, and abundant dead labour were considered assets that would greatly facilitate the transition to socialism [4].' After this, technology would be used to construct the communist society or, to misquote Lenin: ' C o m m u n i s m equals socialism plus elec­trification.'

So both before and after the Rus­sian revolution, science was on the side of socialism. A n d it was to be 'big science', and 'big technology'. History has put some strain in the meantime, on the credibility of this picture. While socialist revolutions have occurred in a respect-

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able number of non-industrial countries, not one of the advanced has fallen. C o n ­trary to Marxist hopes, advanced tech­nology has acted like a magic charm to protect capitalism from its o w n contradic­tions. Meanwhile, outside the developed world w e see everywhere massive tech­nology in the service of imperialism and counter-revolution. A n d , far from being unable to develop freely the forces of production, the last twenty-five years have been seen a dazzling explosion of growth and technical virtuosity under capitalism, with socialist countries lining up behind in order to buy the latest gadgets.

The harsh environment's reality

Science lives and flourishes under capital­ism. In both Marxist and social democra­tic States the problems of social alienation and popular control remain; classical revolution seems to be ruled out by the massive technological control of the modern State. Here is bitter disillusion. T h e technological cuckoo's egg is hatch­ing out in socialism's o w n nest. It is time for a return to first principles, to the hopes and dreams of the communitarian and neo-anarchist current in Western radicalism, an ancient and powerful cur­rent that has surfaced again prominently in the N e w Left, partly in reaction to the political success and moral decomposi­tion of authoritarian Marxism and West­ern liberalism [5].

N o w w e can see more clearly what is happening. In the realm of necessity the harsh environment strongly favours the tough, materialist, rationalist, dirigiste,

centralist action-oriented strains of social­ism, with strict realism prevailing about the sequence of socialist goals: develop­ment of the economy, economic security, elementary social justice, and only then the dreamier h u m a n goals of the realm of freedom. T o insist on achieving all these goals at once was , in the nineteenth cen­tury, magnificent but quite unrealistic. But n o w the dominant socialist pro­g r a m m e is looking tatty and hopelessly unbalanced. T h e tradition of Blake, C o b -bett, O w e n , Thoreau, Morris, Kropotkin and Simone Weil emerges as a n e w spectre to haunt Europe and m a y b e a few other places as well. Their ancient ques­tions are beginning to look more reason­able. These are, essentially, h o w to organ­ize a post-scarcity decentralized society, without the distortions of markets or bureaucracies, that finally defeats the problem of alienation in all its forms.

There is another great question not answered by the conventional left: h o w to transform capitalism. Ordinary Fabian reform gets co-opted; insurrectionary organizations get wiped out or alienate the people; organizing within the produc­tion system, although vital, is insufficient. Revolutionary alternatives are needed which simultaneously (a) reveal the con­tradictions and absurdities of the status quo; (b) erode the prerogatives of the established institutions and economy; and (c) create visible alternative institutions which express the post-revolutionary Ufe styles, relationships and economy. This is a kind of revolutionary Utopianism in which the great slogans are taken liter­ally, 'from each according to his capacity, to each according to his needs', 'the end of the subordination of individuals to the

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"division of labours" and with it the contradiction between intellectual and physical work [6],' and so on.

T h e alternative institutions are c o m ­munities of equals without hierarchies, relating as people rather than as roles. They need to be quite small for this to work. M a x i m u m independence of the sur­rounding economy is desirable so that a real price system can be developed (if prices are to be used at all) to demon­strate the feasibility of the alternative, and to avoid economic control from out­side. This favours labour-intensive pro­cesses, use of cheap materials and simple tools, scrap technology, recycling, shar­ing, 'making do ' and making 'making do ' fun. T h e slogan 'Production for Use ' dictates gearing production and services to local needs, perhaps by consultation. T h e values of equality and non-alienated labour suggest the rotation of jobs and positions of responsibility. T h e role of scientists and technologists is to become Everyman,

. . . a liberatory technology will be a pro­duct and a process of the revolution. It m a y have no logic in it other than when seen in the context of our time. O n the one hand, it is manifest when workers take control, it is realized when that control is used to determine what is produced, it is reinforced by rejecting the existing order by changing the whole nature of specialized work. O n the other hand, it is a process of weeding existing systems to let useful functions of the past grow through and be adapted for the present. Invention is a product of these processes, inventions will take place not in the laboratory but in the street. There are no white-coated pioneers of liberatory tech­nology but rather amateurs dabbling with tools, energy and devices like gardeners pottering in their garden [7],

or at least to serve the people in a

completely integrated way .

Communi ty science

Worker-scientists might be based in pro­duction collectives like the one which has been started in Sheffield [8], an industrial town in northern England, which also serves as a community workshop. Although 'the technology he deals with will be . . . largely of an everyday practi­cal kind geared to production for living' [8], there m a y be a place for n e w tech­nologies 'that are simple enough for ordinary people to involve themselves in, so that they can to a greater extent pro­vide themselves with the things they need, rather than rely on the commercial appa­ratus of experts, advertisers, middle-man, packagers, bureaucrats, etc. [9].' This community science forms a natural alliance with all the other community-based services which are springing up in cities everywhere, the food co-ops, the community newspaper, the free clinic, the free school, the day-care centre, the squatters, the claimants' unions, the swap centre, and so on. W e shall have to wait to see h o w it develops.

Could such 'red bases' ever be the foundation for a total national economy? T h e old anarchist writers obviously thought so, but the basis was never quite convincing. Like their grumpy socialist comrades, the anarchists were dogged by the problem of scarcity. N o w , insists a contemporary anarchist, Murray Book-chin, it is time to heal the great historical rift between socialists and anarchists and together build a post-scarcity socialism,

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Peter Harper

or as he quite naturally calls it, post-scarcity anarchism [10]. A 'liberatory technology' can be built from carefully selected modern techniques which lend themselves to 'a system of small-scale pro­duction, based on a regional economy and structured physically on a h u m a n scale' [11]. Productivity in the conventional sense would be low, but as any number of socialist writers have shown, m u c h of the advanced economy is complete waste and quite unnecessary [12, 13]. M e a n ­while, in odd corners of the academic world, N e w Left economists amuse their more orthodox colleagues by their quaint preoccupation with the problem of inte­grating an economy without markets or bureaucracies [14]; meanwhile, China, as w e will see later, just gets on with it.

The environmental debate

Reasons for concern about the environ­ment (in which term I include resources) range from romantic feelings about nature (the death of whales), through aesthetic considerations (fields instead of roads), questions of individual or group health (lead, the metal, in the tissues of ghetto children), to sheer survival (col­lapse of a major ecosystem).

Although technology is a popular scapegoat for environmental problems, it is hard to pin the blame securely to it. Take the whales, for instance. Is the decline of whale stocks best attributed to love of whalemeat in certain countries, the greed of whalers, population growth affluence, lack of enforceable regulations, indifference to the natural order, or improvements in detection and hunting

techniques? Obviously any of these could be a factor, but to look for a single cause is obviously ridiculous. There is a web of social, political and technical conditions involved. This is true for any environ­mental problem. But to attack the social or political parts of the complex is often m u c h harder than attacking the technical parts; where a problem can be clearly defined a technical solution is nearly always favoured.

A technical approach of this kind is called fixing. There are several philoso­phies of fixing, not mutually exclusive. O n e approach is to leave the problem to the market forces. Another is to create a device or system B which will suppress the effects of device or system A , such as catalytic afterburners on cars. Another is to replace A with B , which does the same thing but more cleanly (such as the electric car). Still another is the employ­ment of massive power and capital to solve a whole range of problems at one stroke, such as the fusion torch [21] which, based on the unlimited energy of a fusion reactor, eats solid waste and con­verts it to pure elements. Finally, there is the 'brave new world' approach of arti­ficial food, and drugs to m a k e people believe there are no problems.

These approaches are socially ration­al because they do not disturb the social structure or the pattern of demand— given conditions which cannot be ques­tioned. They are economically rational because, since most environmental prob­lems depend on processes connected with high output, part of the surplus can be used economically to fix the problem.

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In search of allies for the soft technologies

Stopping pollution

There is another approach, based on a suggestion of U Thant's that 'the best w a y to stop polluting the environment is to stop' [22]. In the present organization of industrial societies, this is so economically irrational it would probably be fatal to try it on a large scale. But an alternative economy based on such a principle is an attractive candidate for the soft technol­ogy zoo! A n ecological economy would have to have a set of ecological theories to guide its planning. S o m e examples of the kind of theories it might find attrac­tive, cast as a set of contemporary eco­logical proverbs, are given below, together with a little exegesis : Nature knows best

Learn from her and mimic her. Everything is connected to everything else

Be careful which strings you pull, and never pull anything too hard.

There is no such thing as a free meal Don' t cut corners, even in odd moments ; the price has to be paid in the end, and you might have to pay all at once.

Everything has got to go somewhere Put it back where you got it, or use it again; and watch where you step.

Everything has got to come from some­where

Use your waste and any very abun­dant or renewable materials; old is beautiful; share a bath with a friend.

The sky is not the limit

Leave yourself some space; watch your growth and your reserves.

Everything takes time

Slow d o w n : keep within the natural flow-rates.

There's stability in diversity

Let a hundred flowers bloom. S o m e of the practical conclusions which might follow from such ecological canons as these are illustrated in Figure 1. T h e use of renewable resources can be seen in the solar water heater, the wind-pump, and the collection of rain-water from the roof. Recycling is shown in the use of sewage for generating combustible meth­ane gas, and the passage of excess nitro­gen on to the land or to fertilize the fish-pond. Mimipry of Nature is seen in the recycling of materials in a small local loop, involving the use of local resources as far as possible.

Notice that the ecological and social features are all in the same scheme. They cannot easily be separated. There is a sug­gestion of a larger-than-family unit, the slow rural pace, the confluence of pro­duction and consumption, the mixture of old and n e w , the craftsman in the work­shop, and the political pun on the tail of the windmill. Wherever w e look to find a vision of 'ecological technology' w e also find the politics of decentralization and community:

W e are beginning to witness the develop­ment of an entirely new type of technology. This technology is based on alternate sources of energy which need not pollute, or at most yield only a minimum amount of pollution. It is based on labour-saving devices which can n o w be scaled to human dimensions and produce lasting products. These are technologies which lend them­selves to decentralized types of communities and thus accord with the vision of human social life scaled to human dimensions [23].

The first step towards countering homoge­neity would be to create a biotechnology

295

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In search of allies for the soft technologies

based upon an ecological ethic. This bio­technology would function at the lowest levels of society, providing inexpensive life-support bases for individual families, small farmers or communities w h o desire more independence and a way of life that restores rather than destroys this fragile planet [24].

This is not Luddite stuff. T h e new tech­nology is not advocated faute de mieux. Murray Bookchin asks indeed, 'what is the liberatory potential of modern tech­nology, both materially and spiritually? [10, p . 86]' Nevertheless the new technol­ogy again raises the question of h o w all this sophisticated smallness can operate without w o m e n and m e n d o w n in mines and in factories making the windmills, the pipes, the stoves, the glass, the clothes, the tools, or what have you. This is the question.

Again, the anarcho-utopian and eco­logical visions point in the same direction. It would be absurd to claim complete identity of goals and solutions, or that solutions have yet been found, but the similarities are plain. They include inte­gration of town and country, balance of mental and manual work and of industrial and agricultural practices, concentration on really needed long-life products of quality, use of local resources, and an appreciation of the small: ' A n economy which uses neither people nor nature as its proletariat [15, p . 386].' In such ways the need for heavy centralized industry could be greatly reduced to certain crucial products and materials that greatly improve the efficiency or quality of all the rest. This is, of course, easier said than done.

The 'counterculture'

Question: H o w do you see the organic ecological point of view expressing itself?

Bookchin: It expresses itself primarily in the 'counterculture', not scientific and technical conferences. T h e youth counterculture is' making some attempt, whether consciously or intuitively, to develop non-hierarchi­cal attitudes towards people and the natural world. A n d I think that this impulse is more important from the standpoint of the ultimate achieve­ments of an ecological outlook than all the official government or even professional conferences that are held, or the campaigns that are launched, or the legislation that is passed [23].

F e w people have this m u c h confidence in the forces outside the established insti­tutions of society, but the influence of 'freak' culture is quite clear throughout the younger generation. O n e would expect few novelties of technical or eco­nomic thought from this quarter, and yet youth has an influence through practice and style: the delight in being outsiders, the sensuality, the laughter, the amateur­ism, the sense of the absurd and the dramatic, the toying with transcendent experience, the complete irresponsibility, the unashamed utopianism. For example, 'a sheep grazing in the High Street, or a workshop at the gate of a field, exposing us to unalienated stimuli and liberated experience [7]', or 'bite the hand that feeds you [7]', or 'Brothers and sisters, get high together, trust in the Lord, m a k e domes and revolution together. There's

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Peter Harper

Critiques of the roots of technocracy

'Where social thought on the dilemmas of urban-industrial life refuses to touch science critically, it betrays its essential conservatism and can only finish with shal­low understanding [15].'

In the last two decades there has been an impressive sequence of writings attempting a comprehensive critique of modern technological society. Of these, four authors stand out as having m a d e particularly forceful contributions: Jacques Ellul, Herbert Marcuse, Lewis Mumford, and Theodore Roszak. It would require s o m e stamina to attempt a sequential read­ing of La Technique (1954), One-Dimen­sional Man (1964), The Myth of the Machine (1967, 1970) and Where the Wasteland Ends (1972). Taken together, however, and despite considerable differences in out­look, they present a disturbing impression of what lies behind the tangible problems of technically advanced societies. Take Ellul's position, for example:

'The technological society has sup­planted nature; it is artificial, autonomous with respect to values and ideas, it is self-determining in a closed circle, it grows according to a casual but not a goal-directed process, means have primacy over

no point in building revolutionary struc­

tures to shelter reactionary life-styles

[25]'.

T h e influence of the style can be

seen in counter-cultural technical m a g a ­

zines such as Undercurrents or Alterna­

tive Sources of Energy or Street Farmer

[26, 27], or in beautifully self-published

works like Domebook Two [28], where

solid geometry, trigonometric calcula­

tions, stress factors and building speci­

fications are found in an impossible mêlée

with cartoons, stories, photographs, doo-

ends, and all parts are mutually implicated to the greatest possible degree; individual techniques develop "ambivalently" (i.e. for every problem solved another arises); all social phenomena are not so m u c h influ­enced by it as situated in it; ideas, judge­ments, beliefs and myths have already been essentially modified by the technolo­gical society and the traditional state of freedom with respect to choice and judge­ment no longer exists [16].'

A central idea here is the implied metaphor of a trap into which part of humanity has stumbled, or been tempted. This image is shared by the other writers (the metaphor 'prison' is also frequently used). What is it that keeps the trap shut?

For Ellul the lock is la technique—the technical methods that dominate the run­ning of technological society, the opera­tional and behavioural methods that m a k e up what Marcuse calls 'technological ratio­nality". Such methods cannot be questioned because any other criteria or methods strike us as less rational—biased or quite obviously 'not the best way' . A s Marcuse points out, the over-all effect of all these methods Is sometimes absolutely insane (are w e more secure because s o m e of us

dies and quizzical reports of work in

progress. All of this is for the real, practi­

cal purpose of making dwellings. This is

what science should be like.

Another strong strand in counter-

cultural thought is identification with non-

industrial groups such as the American

Indians. This extends also to their tech­

nology:

Walking amid the magnificence of Indian craftsmen with M I T dimly in mind, I real­ized that there m a y not be any wondrous

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In search of allies for the soft technologies

have the hydrogen bomb?) and at the least ambiguous. Society 'turns everything it touches into a potential source of progress and of exploitation, of drudgery and satis­faction, of freedom and of oppression [1]', and people are not entirely oblivious of this. But at each decision-point there seems no other choice, and each point implies all the others. This is what Marcuse calls 'one-dimensional society', Mumford 'the megamachlne' and Roszak 'the technologi­cal wasteland'.

If it is institutional imperatives that keep the prison locked, what is It, as each author asks, that keeps the prisoners unable, or unwilling, even to attempt escape? For Ellul, the minds of the citi­zens too are controlled by the habits of la technique. For Marcuse, the one-dimen­sional society is above all pleasant, in a shallow sort of way ; a 'comfortable, smooth, reasonable, democratic unfreedom' pre­vails. [1]. For Mumford and Roszak, any attempt to escape requires a probing of the roots of our worldvlew, the 'collective mindscape . . . like a groundtone so con­stant that it is only perceived as silence', but with which 'all else must harmonise or seem intolerably discordant'. In their view

new solution to housing at all. That there is far more to learn from the wisdom of the past and from materials appearing naturally on the earth, than from any further exten­sion of whiteman technoplastic prowess.

Relics of the past (Indians) v. Visions of the future (MIT)

N o contest W e ' v e been losing ground [29].

our collective mindscape Is the myth of the machine—the scientific worldvlew Itself— which Blake called 'single vision'. Here Is the lynchpln. According to Roszak, to cure the Ills of the technological society w e must go right to the root; but the deeper w e go, the more sacred the roots are and the more agonizing it is to touch them. To agree with Einstein that it might have been better for humanity had he been a plumber is one thing, and shocking enough; but to suggest that Bacon should have restricted himself to affairs of State Is deep heresy. As for questioning Newton's wisdom In publishing his work . . . unthinkable! And when Robert Graves mockingly tells us that the rot began with Socrates [17], w e real­ize that what is at stake is reason itself, the ground on which stands the whole of much civilization.

So Ellul is right. 'All parts are mutually implicated to the greatest possible degree," our culture is seamless cloth joining the day-to-day mechanics of technocracy to our most sacred beliefs. H o w can there be any way out? W h e n It comes to solutions, these critics are caught In two dilemmas. First, they are aware that great scienti­fic and technical adventure has played a

T h e Third World and China

Third World countries have a natural

attraction for those elsewhere w h o are

disaffected with advanced industrial

society. They present the possibility of a

clean slate, of avoiding technocratic traps.

They also share some of the same prob­

lems and hopes: lack of capital, a hostile

economic climate, desire for indepen­

dence and balanced development. In

m a n y countries development is blocked

or perverted by the effects of imperialism,

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Peter Harper

crucial role in the 'conquest of bread'; they are all deeply humane m e n . Is that to be rejected, even by implication? A s Roszak admits, 'where people go hungry, to say that m a n does not live by bread alone is too easily seen as an argument in favour of starvation [15, p. xxvii].' Second, their theories concern an all-but-perfect prison in which not only are the doors locked but the prisoners are not aware of the fact. The only logically possible way out is repulsive or even fatal.

Ellul is deeply pessimistic, but he puts forward a somewhat intellectualistic plan for 'demythologizing technique'. Marcuse confesses the dilemma of his o w n thesis, which 'vacillates throughout between two contradictory hypotheses: (1) that. ad­vanced industrial society is capable of containing qualitative change for the fore­seeable future; (2) that forces and tenden­cies exist which m a y break this contain­ment and explode the society [1, p. 13]'. According to him w e need a theory of society which will join forces with the marginal and dispossessed.

"It is nothing but a chance. The criti­cal theory of society possesses no con­cepts which could bridge the gap between the present and the future; holding no promise and showing no success, it

neo-colonialism and a national bourgeoi­

sie which sees development only in West­

ern terms. But development should grow

naturally from the indigenous culture.

'Such indigenous progress*, Marcuse

suggests,

. . . would demand a planned policy which, instead of superimposing technology on traditional modes of life and labour, would extend and improve them on their o w n grounds, eliminating the oppressive and

remains negative. Thus it wants to remain loyal to those w h o , without hope, have given and give their life to the Great Refusal [1, p. 201].'

Mumford likewise appeals for a change in the prevailing vision:

' W e shall have to overthrow the myth of the machine and replace it with a n e w myth of life, a myth based on a richer understanding of all organic processes, a sharper insight into man's possible "role in changing the face of the earth" . . . and above all a deeply religious faith in m a n ' s capacity to transform and protect his o w n self and his o w n institutions in co-operative relation with all the forces of nature, and above all, with his fellow m a n [18].'

W e are to move from a power complex to an organic complex; from a money economy to a life economy; a society not of abundance, but of plenitude (remarkably similar to Bookchin's post-scarcity anar­chism) marked by '. . . indifference to money incentives . . . the diversification of vocational activities, the deliberate slowing-down of the tempo of production, whether industrial or intellectual, the renewed concentration on higher functions and cultural values, not least the active "resorption" of government [19]'.

Roszak, in the literal sense the most

exploitative forces (material and religious) which made them incapable of assuring the development of human existence [1].

T h e conventional developmental proce­

dure of transferring advanced technol­

ogy directly into non-industrial situations

is worse than mistaken. A s George

M c R o b i e puts it:

If poor countries, striving to introduce industry, rely on the capital-intensive tech­nologies of the rich, then:

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radical, insists on a rediscovery of the transcendental core of our being, or Blake's 'fourfold vision'. That, for him, is sine qua non. But, acutely aware of the grand inquisitor's objection, he has engaged In 'a little Utopian brainstorming about'the world I think I see on the far side of the urban-Industrial wasteland': 'About the proper mix of handicraft labour,

intermediate technologies, and neces­sary heavy industry.

'About the revitalization of work as a self-determining, non-exploitative activity— and a means of spiritual growth.

'About the new economics elaborated out of kinship, friendship, and co-opera­tion.

'About the regionalization and grass roots control of transport and mass c o m ­munication.

'About non-bureaucratlzed, user-developed,

user-administered social services. 'About the relevance of w o m e n ' s liberation

and extended families to population balance.

'About labour-gift and barter exchange systems in the local economy.

'About the c o m m u n e and neighbourhood as a basis for personalized welfare services.

1. Development concentrates in the cities, exacerbating the rural/urban imbalance and the social and economic disparities of a 'dual economy";

2. Production and consumption patterns reflect not the needs of the poor but the interests of the rich;

3. There is an ever-growing dependence on the rich countries, and a weakening of self-reliance;

4. Above all, the mass of the population is excluded from the processes of produc­tion.

'About the role of neighbourhood courts in a participative legal system.

'About the society-wide co-ordination of worker-controlled industries and pro­ducers* co-operatives.

'About credit unions and mutual insurance as an alternative to the big banks and insurance companies.

'About de-urbanization and the rehabilita­tion of rural life by way of an ecologi­cally diversified organic homesteading.

'About non-compulsory education through free schools, folk schools, and child-minding co-ops [15].'

That could serve as a work-book of experi­ment for fifty years.

T o summarize the contribution of these writers: (a) they have given us a sense of the metaphysics of technological society, and a possible means whereby w e can stand outside it; (b) they have given a pic­ture of the way rationality of means (Zweckrationalität) can c o m e to supplant a wider rationality of ends (Wertrationalität) [20]; (c) w e should think more about the place of transcendent experience, or true poetry, In keeping open the wellsprings of our sense that life is worth living; (d) per­haps w e can have a flourishing little economy that takes all this into account.

The alternative is to recognise that develop­ment begins with people, that production by the masses, not mass production in the hands of a small elite, is the only w a y to eliminate rural poverty and stagnation [30].

If this does not lead to its o w n form of

local capitalism, then

. . . conditions would prevail which do not exist in the old and advanced industrial societies (and never existed there)—namely,

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Peter Harper

the 'immediate producers' themselves would have the chance to create, by their own labour and leisure, their own progress and determine its rate and direction. Self-deter­mination would proceed from the base, and work for the necessities could transcend itself toward work for gratification [1].

A s a living example of h o w this could work (and of the 'appropriate political climate'), the People's Republic of China has had a profound influence. Perhaps it would be improper to compare it too pointedly with the erratic 'revolutionary utopianism' of the West, but China too takes its slogans seriously. 'Serve the people', 'one speciality, m a n y aptitudes', 'small (tackle only things within your ability), earth (native land, use native ingenuity), group (collective action, as opposed to individual)', and so on. T h e similarity of sentiments is obvious, and this holds true for methods also. (See also the article beginning on page 341 of this issue.)

China has developed a mixture of largely small production units, with an extensive programme of rural industrial­ization; a decentralized economy in which there is no unemployment, but multiple use of materials and recycling of wastes, and guaranteed basic necessities for all. T h e cult of the expert is discouraged, scientists spend part of their time as workers, workers and peasants contribute to research and innovation, and a balance of mental and manual work is sought. Development is guided by a mixture of criteria, some economic and some non-economic, some national and some regional or local. M u c h time is spent in discussion : and face-to-face decision­making.

T h e crucial lesson of China for us is to show clearly that, even at a relatively low state of development of the forces of production, all the basic needs of the people can be met. W e do not have to put off our ultimate h u m a n goals until the requirements of production are fulfilled. O n the contrary—and this could well turn out to be China's major contribution to humanity—the great h u m a n goals can become the basis for a phenomenally successful economy.

Towards a general theory?

Is it possible that a coherent philosophy and politics could emerge out of all this, a philosophy and politics whose produc­tion system would be based on soft tech­nology? Looking back over the menag­erie, one cannot deny the unity in the diversity. In spite of one or two wistful backward glances I've described, there is no overwhelming desire to return to the Stone Age . T h e appropriate technology movement is supposed to be a practical and creative revolt against the hyper-trophied industrial state which leads to a joyous human-sized society-economy-technology which is clearly an advance, not a retreat.

T o the c o m m o n core, each tradition adds its unique contribution. T h e revolu­tionary Utopians remind us that this is a political business and that political consciousness and activism must be an essential part of the task. T h e scholarly critics of technocracy remind us that the n e w organic culture will not grow with­out a renewal of the poetical and meta­physical roots of the dominant worid-

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view. T h e ecologists remind us that w e cannot ignore the physical and biological constancies on which any economy is ultimately based. T h e counterculture offers us s o m e tangible examples of de-institutionalized living, at the micro-level. China shows us, on the contrary, an example of ' re-institutionalized living at the macro-level.

Trying to distil all this into a set of principles is not easy. O n e protagonist tried recently to s u m it up as:

. . . m e n before machines, people before governments, practice before theory, student before teacher, country before city, small-ness before bigness, wholeness before reduc-tionism, organic materials before synthetic ones, plants before animals, craftsmanship before expertise, and quality before quantity [31].

T o get it to the level of implementation is of course even more difficult. There are m a n y problems, and perhaps some are insoluble. M a n y of the cardinal principles potentially conflict with each other. Equipment that is simple to operate m a y be complex to manufacture; that which is simple to manufacture m a y require great skill to operate [32]. Trying to m a k e every aspect simple m a y reduce output to even lower levels than soft technol­

ogists would be prepared to tolerate. At current costs devices like windmills or solar collectors do not provide cheap power [33], and if economies of scale are to be foregone, could they ever be feasi­ble alternatives? These and a thousand questions like them form a vast and challenging research-and-life programme for all those looking for another alter­native [34].

T h e search goes on in the interstices of the industrial society. Slowly, the alter­natives form. Alternative science, which might be a mixture of normal scientific information, craft knowledge, folklore and bits of what are currently tabooed areas; alternative research and develop­ment, mixed up with the n e w science, carried on partly in research communities, partly in the fields and streets; alternative economics, the art of 'putting poetry into work' [35] and still having time to go fishing; alternative politics, harnessing 'pre-revolutionary structure-making' [36] to the cause of dissolving the old order; and alternative philosophy, a critical theory of capitalism, imperialism, tech­nocracy and alienation from the natural world.

There might be something in it all. It would be a long social revolution, but it could be fun.

REFERENCES

1. M A R C U S E , H . One-dimensional man. Boston, Mass., Beacon Press, 1964. 2. M A R X , K . ; E N G E L S , F. The German ideology. 3. F U L L E R , R . Operating manual for spaceship Earth. Carbondale, 111., University of

Southern Illinois Press, 1969.

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4. G o R Z , A . Technical intelligence and the capitalist division of labour. Telos, no. 12, summer 1972 (as reprinted in Science for the people, vol. 5, no. 3,1973).

5. M O O R E , B . Reflections of the causes of human misery, p . 19. Boston, Mass., Beacon Press, 1972.

6. M A R X , K . Critique of the Gotha programme. 7. H A G G A R T , B . ; C A I N E , G . Ramifications and propagations of street farm. Undercurrents

in science and technology, no. 4, 1973. (This is a new periodical, published at 275 Finchley Road, London N W 3 60Y.)

8. H A Y E S , D . ; F I E L D E R , R . ; K I R K H A M , M . Radical technologists: workers' control in an urban community. Undercurrents, no. 3,1972.

9. H A R P E R , P . ; E R I K S S E N , B . Alternative technology: a guide to sources and contacts. Undercurrents, no. 3,1972.

10. B O O K C H I N , M . Post-scarcity anarchism. San Francisco, Ramparts Press, 1971. 11. . Towards a liberatory technology. Post-scarcity anarchism, p. 196. San Francisco,

Ramparts Press, 1971. 12. P A T O N , K . W o r k and surplus. Anarchy, no. 118, 1970. 13. G O O D M A N , P . ; G O O D M A N , P . Communitas, p . 188. London, Vintage Books, 1960. 14. L I N D B E C K , A . The political economy of the new left. N e w York, N . Y . , Harper & R o w ,

1971. 15. R O S Z A K , T . Where the wasteland ends: politics and transcendence in postindustrial

society, p . xix. Los Angeles, Calif., Anchor Books, 1973. 16. S K L A I R , L . The sociology of the opposition to science and technology, with special

reference to the works of Jacques Ellul. Comparative studies in society and history, vol. 13, no. 2,1971.

17. G R A V E S , R . The white goddess, p. 10. London, Faber, 1959. 18. M y annotation is incomplete, but I a m quite sure that the quotation is found in: M U M -

F O R D , L . The myth of the machine. N e w York, N . Y . , Harcourt Brace & Jovanovich, 1967.

19. M U M F O R D , L . The myth of the machine. Vol. II, The pentagon of power, p. 404. Lon­don, Seeker & Warburg, 1970.

20. W E B E R , M . The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism. N e w York, N . Y . , Scribner, 1930.

21. E A S T L U N D , B . ; G O U G H , W . Energy wastes and the fusion torch. Germantown, M d , United States Atomic Energy Commission, Division of Research, 1971. (Pamphlet.)

22. C O M M O N E R , B . Closing the circle. London, Jonathan Cape, 1972. 23. B O O K C H I N , M . Environmentalists versus ecologists. Undercurrents, no. 4,1972. 24. T O D D , J. A modest proposal. The New Alchemy Institute bulletin, spring 1971. (This

new periodical is published by the N e w Alchemy Institute, P . O . Box 432, W o o d s Hole, Massachusetts, 02543.)

25. The red rockers. Domebook two. Bolinas, California 94924, Box 219, Pacific D o m e s , 1971.

26. Alternative sources of energy. Minong, Wisconsin 54859, Route 1, Box 36B. 27. Street farmer. London N . W . 6 , 63 Patshull Road. 28. Domebook two. Bolinas, California 94924, Box 219, Shelter Publications. 29. K A H N , L . Smart but not wise: reflections on Domebook two, plastics and whiteman

technology. Bolinas, Calif., Shelter Publications, 1972. 30. M C R O B I E , G . China now, September 1972. 31. C L A R K E , R . Technology for an alternative society. New scientist, 11 January 1973, p . 66. 32. S T E W A R T , F . Intermediate technology: a definitional discussion. Paris, O E C D Develop­

ment Centre, Study Group on the Choice and Adaptation of Technology for Developing Countries, 1972. (Background paper no. 11.)

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33. S M I T H , G . Autonomous housing study, III: Economics of solar collectors, heat pumps and wind generators. Cambridge, University of Cambridge Department of Architecture (Technical Research Division), 1973.

34. C L A R K E , J.; C L A R K E , R . Soft technology: blueprint for a research community. Under-currents, no. 2,1972.

35. Solidarity workers' councils and the economics of a self-managed society, no. 40, 1972. (Pamphlet.)

36. B U B E R , M . Paths in Utopia, p. 44. Boston, Mass., Beacon Press, 1960.

TO DELVE MORE DEEPLY]

B A T T E L L E C O L U M B U S L A B O R A T O R I E S . Science, technology and innovation. Washington, National Science Foundation, 1973. Short version of a longer report. See esp. section on hybrid grains and the green revolution (p. 15) for a different kind of analysis of need.

F A R V A R , T . IS there an environmental crisis in the third world? Universities quarterly, vol. 27, no. 3, summer 1973.

F E L K , F . World markets of tomorrow. N e w York and London, Harper & R o w , 1972, as quoted in International management, December 1972: 'It's up to us to control in a more imaginative w a y the allocation and distribution of wealth—to spend more on hospitals and universities and pay more attention to the needs of the environment But according to historical evidence, there is no need to take drastic action to the point of halting economic growth.'

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF AUTOMATIC CONTROL and YUGOSLAV COMMITTEE FOB E L E C T R O N I C S A N D A U T O M A T I O N . Technological causes for change in the modern world. Dubrovnik, 1971.

S A C H S , I. Soft technology, blueprint for civilization, development. Prospects, vol. 3, no. 2, summer 1973. This is yet another opinion on author Peter Harper's theme.

V O N W E E A E C K E R , C . Grenzen des Wachstums. Die Naturwissenschaften, vol. 60, no. 6, June 1973.

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Interview with Philippe Arrêteau

The practice of alternative technology is not so m u c h an innovation, technically at least, as it is a return to an environment simpler than modern m a n has c o m e to know. Those w h o reject a society of advanced technics and endless gadgets are those w h o live (by their o w n choice) on its fringes. It is these 'marginal' groups and individuals w h o dare take the plunge backward into time, but there are a few serious pitfalls they must avoid. S o m e first-hand experiences are recounted in the selection of proper personnel for a centre using only appropriate technology.

Where do you fit in the order of things, in the world of soft or revised technology?

Perhaps w e ought not stress soft technology. W e are not really talking about a n e w form of arts and crafts since there are no specifically technical features involved. W h a t w e shall discuss is soft technique, found throughout k n o w n tech­nology. Soft techniques share in c o m m o n , indeed they are characterized by, a direct relationship with n e w socio-ecological requirements.

Ethnologist Arrêteau, a graduate of the École Nationale des Langues Orientales, traces his spirit of protest back to Huguenot ancestors. The author lived for two years in a village of Bolivian Indians. After­wards he organized and now directs a soft technology research centre in southern France. His address is 'La Terrisse', La Ribeyre, 07140 Les Assions (France).

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Soft technology is by no means novel; m a n has used it for thousands of years without realizing it, without defining it, because that is all he knew. W h a t has m a d e soft technol­ogy significant is the 'hard' technology weighing us d o w n and drowning us in the industrial society. W e describe soft technology by cataloguing what it isn't: non-polluting, non-alienating, not exhausting or our energy sources, and so on. Technically speaking, soft technology is less inventive and less interesting. But what is exciting about soft technology is the social phenomenon which has brought it about.

People w h o are the products of our civilization have brought soft technology to the fore in a radical, unexpected manner; young m e n and w o m e n have purposely m o v e d to the fringes of society in search of alternatives to the dead­end toward which the rest of us are hurtling. There lies its significance. S o m e of these fringe-types (I'll call them) have found the modern city an insufferable place, and have gone off to the country seeking a more h u m a n setting. They don't accept established social hierarchy—so they form communes . They reject the entire gamut of labour-saving machines and useless gadgets. It is thus that they c o m e to use technique which is appropriate to their new-found needs. This is what I m e a n by soft technique (or, more commonly in English anyway, soft technology).

Rationalization of the subject came after the deed, as always. It was intellectuals still comparatively involved in the established culture w h o identified the concept of soft tech­nology and proceeded to define it. Very quickly, soft tech­nology became fashionable. Research and development, industry and the commercial world would do well to seize upon it and bring out still more products of mass consump­tion. Right here, w e should m a k e a distinction between: soft technology used by the fringe-types already mentioned, technology which is not very original technically speaking but which is 'soft' because of the w a y they use it; and soft technology within the established culture which will become (technically) very sophisticated but not at all soft because it is meant only to extend current technology.

Needless to say, it is the first of these two categories in which I a m interested. For m e , however, there is something else even more important than soft technology: to succeed in surviving in the countryside, turning m y back as m u c h

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as possible on a civilization which I renounce and to develop a life style which pleases m e . If, to accomplish this, I need to be somewhat unfaithful to soft technology itself, that's too bad. If an engine or motor helps m e manage the land more ecologically than otherwise, I'll use it. T h e scrupulous and near-religious respect for the prohibitions which help define soft technology will lead more than one fringe-type to failure w h e n he decides to m o v e back to the land. I would like to discuss, therefore, the social dynamics behind soft technology instead of its techniques; the latter, after all, are only instruments in the process.

Where did the alternative technology movement begin?

Ideas and attitudes originating in other parts of the world helped Western m a n step back a bit to survey his o w n cul­ture; the limited range of his intellectual horizons broke open, the extent of that which was imaginable was pushed further outward.

This upheaval is the result of the improvement of the means of transport and communication. I a m speaking of international travel, study grants, translations of foreign books, imported cinema films, all the world's music n o w available in recorded form, journalism and broadcasting done on a world-wide basis, even research trips undertaken by ethnologists or the like. I a m not forgetting the young of the Peace Corps; if they brought little to the countries they were supposed to be helping, they took back with them to the United States first-hand observations of an altogether different life.

T h e phenomenon appeared spontaneously almost every­where in the occidental world, but it is probably in Cali­fornia that it developed most rapidly. Even before M a y 1968, I thought it would be there that a cultural revolution would begin.

What does the alternative technology movement mean to you? '

I was a rebel in school. T h e things I was taught seemed stupid to m e , and I couldn't stand the discipline. O n looking back, I think that I was right, but a child cannot help feeling that he is in the wrong if he is different from everyone else.

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There have always been dissenters. Formerly they were treated as individual cases, either to be brought to heel or to be treated medically. Since M a y 1968, dissent or protest has been given the freedom of the community; for m a n y , it has permitted them to emerge from isolation—an enormous relief. Today, it isn't as disagreeable as one might think to be a fringe-type.

So what does the alternatives movement m e a n for m e ? It is the only style of living which interests m e ; the other, the one the technocrats would impose on m e , I don't want at any price.

At any rate, the alternatives do not imply constraint from outside, for it is w e w h o have freely chosen to use appropriate technology. There is already m u c h to be said for that. O n e should not misinterpret privilege as penitence, at least to m y w a y of thinking. Living in contact with the elements, the sun, the earth, the wind; taking care of ani­mals; working with one's hands; creating objects; eating food which has taste to it—these have truly become the rare luxuries of our age.

A s to contending that w e insist on using soft technology for the sole purpose of avoiding pollution or not making noise, that would be hypocrisy worthy of a puritan. Let us not confuse the motives which are the Ufe force of a m o v e ­ment with rationalization that misidentifies cause-and-effect.

THE EXCESSES OF INDUSTRIALIZATION

What do you mean, exactly?

Let m e explain. W h e n I 'm in Paris, I ride a bicycle because it is the fastest means of transport, the most convenient and the cheapest, because I need daily physical exercise; I hate being a prisoner inside an automobile, and I enjoy observing the street scenes I can see wheeling along on m y bike. If I don't pollute, if I m a k e no noise, if I don't run the risk of knocking someone d o w n , I 'm all the happier for it. I have optimized m y situation: a m a x i m u m of pleasure for m e , and a m a x i m u m of advantages for everyone else.

I believe that the same can be said for other soft tech­nology and most of the choices m a d e by the fringe-types I

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a m discussing. It is noteworthy that, in seeking a personal advantage, one tends to ease the burdens of industrialized society. Perhaps this can be explained by the fact that it is the very excesses of industrialization which brought about, as a reaction, changes in our scale of values. T h e n e w values m a k e possible new actions, and so on. A self-regulating mechanism comes into operation (we are its operators); it carries us along with it, whether w e are aware of it or not, whether w e analyse the process or not.

But to come back to individual discipline, it is certainly true that soft technology means giving up some facilities, even comfort to a certain extent. Alternative technique demands work which is not always pleasant and a learning process which requires a certain amount of perseverance. O n e can't have everything. T h e fringe-types w h o k n o w fully well that they have chosen a life that is (let's say) ecologi­cally balanced, accept—theoretically, anyway—to pay the price. They will stand reasonably well the relative lack of comfort and the privations. This is astonishing, because they've been brought up to be fond of comfort instead of inured to hardship. But things become sticky the m o m e n t when there is heavy manual labour to be done. They are not in the physical condition, they haven't the stamina, and they are not accustomed to being compelled to work regularly.

Quite a few fringe-types have visited you. What are the characteristics of the people you met during these visits?

S o m e w h o came to see us did it to establish a contact, to exchange views with people poured in the same mould, while others wanted to stay on to work with us. Most were young people between the ages of 17 and 35, with the average age around 25 years. There were as m a n y w o m e n as m e n , arriving alone or in couples, their children inevitably being quite young. Almost everyone seemed to come from the comfortable or middle classes, the great majority having had some university education or equivalent intellectual back­ground. Out of approximately five hundred persons, only four or five had farm backgrounds, only five or six came from the working class.

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Outside of a few white-collar employees, most of the callers (including those with university training) seemed to have no restraining ties or family responsibilities. T h e farmers' sons worked only seasonally and the labourers were busy only sporadically. This is the kind of journey­m a n worker w h o has always existed, w h o works in one spot for three months then packs his meagre belongings to go work elsewhere.

What did they talk about when they came to see your group?

They all had one c o m m o n pre-occupation: they wanted to find a place to live in the country, either to settle d o w n right away or else after a few years w h e n they had put some m o n e y aside. S o m e were ready to take the leap alone or as families, some thought they couldn't succeed without group­ing themselves into communes , and the balance wanted to train with us.

T h e second topic of discussion (in descending order of frequency) was the loss of quality of man's environment, basically pessimistic comments on the present state of things and h o w they might look in the future. Measures to protect nature (on the macroeconomic level), through the established culture, weren't even considered. T h e alternative solution, on the other hand, by w a y of the counterculture and parallel economics, was implicit from the outset

T h e third subject of conversation was biological agri­culture—with everyone in search of practical information. Thereafter came the rest of the soft technologies. T h e visits I'm describing ensued from a very brief mention m a d e of our activity in a major weekly magazine. If the words "soft technology' had not appeared in print, I think that the same people, with the same pre-occupations, would have turned up.

Did those who remained with you have difficulty in adjusting themselves to the new conditions?

T o m a k e a first trial of collective effort in soft technology, I organized a period of instruction in the s u m m e r of 1972 which was limited, in order to simplify problems, to the hot months. T h e idea was to gather some city-dwellers attracted to the countryside but possessing a m i n i m u m of practical

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experience and technical sense, provide them with a setting of rural life, work spaces, information, and some soft tech­nology methods to put into practice. The physical where­withal and the pooling of their knowledge should allow them, working as a group, to achieve those things they could not have done alone in their o w n surroundings.

W e formed a team of a dozen persons (girls, boys, small children, adults), the atmosphere was very pleasant, and everyone was actively willing to establish harmonious group relations. Except for a few cases, during the early days there were no complaints about living conditions which I must say were fairly grim: no beds, no running water, all the cooking done over w o o d fires. At first it was organized chaos then, under the pressure of events, w e had to put things in order. W e m a d e up work details, organized for a week at a time by duty roster. Each day, two persons were responsible for kitchen operations.

Household chores were shared by all, boys as well as girls; one thing to note is that if the so-called feminine jobs were spread equitably between the sexes, then no one at all did the other kinds of work. Yet almost not one of the scheduled jobs was completed: the m i n i m u m of work fore­seen on the physical plant itself, the frame for a weaving loom, a special model of rabbit cage—these are about the only things which were accomplished.

W H A T WAS LACKING

How do you explain that?

T h e fact that this was a first trial and that everything had yet to be done explains quite a bit, but it was when the trainees got d o w n to work that they realized what was missing in the picture.

Physical condition. It wasn't strength as such which they lacked, but good physical condition and stamina: they became tired the m o m e n t they began working. T h e fault lies in the urban atmosphere and its creature comforts. It is the easiest obstacle to overcome, however, and disappears with country life and a bit of training.

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Work habits. Whether student, university alumnus, or other, not one of this group was used to well-defined rules of living or to strict personal discipline. They would extend their impassioned conversations well into the night, but then could not wake the following morning. Working several hours consecutively at the same job struck them as repug­nant. Yet, in refusing to m a k e use of an electrical planing machine, one must accept hand-planing with all that this implies: a sustained effort and a regular cadence of work.

Indeed, no one had the least idea of what it means to work all day. Only after they had realized h o w their projects had c o m e to a standstill did the trainees begin to observe h o w farmers work. T h e contrast was enough to m a k e them dizzy! These things work themselves out with experience, but one can say that very few fringe-types will succeed in working as m u c h as country folk.

Manual dexterity. Contrary to earlier expectations, no one possessed practical knowledge or special manual apti­tude. T h e few w h o had technical qualifications lacked the talents w e needed. W h e n one has neither k n o w - h o w nor the intuitive knowledge of h o w to handle materials at the age of 20, it is difficult to acquire these.

Sense of reality. Along the same unes, our trainees had some difficulty in facing reality, whether by showing exaggerated optimism in assessing a job to be done, of the work and time necessary, of the relative importance of tasks, of technical impossibility, or of failure to realize the need to select priorities. This is h o w one of the groups, gripped by a current fad, flung itself into the construction of a weaving loom without admitting that there would not be time to finish the job. N o one cared to learn that it takes several years to establish oneself in the country before there is even time to think about weaving. It is the most urgent demands that require, immediate attention: the roof, the workshop, preparation of heating facilities before winter comes, and so forth.

What happens on the intellectual side of life?

A certain intellectual/im sets in. W h e n one of us would learn a new w a y of doing something, for example, the usual reaction would be to forget about it a few minutes later,

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explaining 'I understand'. In the world of ideas, it is sufficient to understand; in the real world, however, the important thing is to do. W e lost an incredible amount of time in speechifying. O n e wonders if this passionate interest in theories doesn't merely mask a dread of action. The need to be explicit, to analyse, and to comment inhibits the develop­ment of the intuitive processes, a sense for manual labour and the accumulation of reflex actions.

But one has to judge by appearances. Not only is intel-lectualism useless, it is also a handicap in the kind of life w e wish to lead. Our group m a d e up a kind of microsociety where the phenomena are simple ones and any imbalances are readily perceptible. W e came to realize quickly that the team-member dedicated to the spoken word lives at the expense of those w h o work. But by summer's end, work was moving along more regularly, the trainees had toughened up and, novel thing, they found that visitors talked too m u c h .

This was a very positive experience for us, especially from the h u m a n point of view, but it is one which doesn't work. Lumping all the incompetence together, w e could not have got very far even if w e had prolonged the experiment. A m o n g the fringe-types I've met over the past few years, 2 per cent would have succeeded at this sort of period of training, but these are the ones w h o are the most concerned. They k n o w that they can m a k e out alone, and only after that do they think about leaving for the countryside. It would have been better to organize real training periods, complete with instructors and perhaps even discipline. But that kind of thing doesn't interest m e at all.

Lack of vigour, no work habits, little manual capability, intellectualism—you paint a rather grim picture

T h e difficulties must not be minimized, above all, but that is no reason to be downhearted. The motives of young people w h o m o v e to the country are extremely powerful; there are some w h o , starting off in the worst conditions from any point of view, manage to m a k e the grade. It's barely believ­able when one realizes that ten years ago m a n y city dwellers dreamed of living in the country, but didn't dare try. They thought that one cannot live as a countryman without having

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done so since childhood. The repelling power of a society that is falling apart knows no limits.

STAYING IN THE RURAL SETTING

How far have you come now, and what do you plan to do?

At the m o m e n t , there are six trainees on our farm—six persons living in ill-defined association, on a semi-permanent basis (the group renews itself from time to time). This is a better prepared group of co-workers than those w e had in s u m m e r 1972. W e concentrate on improvement of the physi­cal plant, bio-agriculture, stock-raising, truck farming, as m a n y applications of soft technology as possible. But at the present time w e are trying only to satisfy our immediate needs.

I don't k n o w which form of collaboration w e shall adopt in the future, nor even if w e will continue to live as a group. That will depend on future developments and the people w h o will come to join us. A s for m e , I shall stick to country life in order to continue m y research on the economics of self-subsistence, bio-agriculture, and appropriate technology in general.

When living in the country by the standards of the soft technologist, what kind of relationship can one have with the external, post-industrial, society?

Enthusiasts of the alternative movement evidently wish to have a m a x i m u m of independence from the established culture in order to create something else, but they also realize that self-rule, absolute autarky, is visionary. I a m not aware of a single case of a closed-circuit economy but, if someone did succeed in establishing complete economic independence, there would still remain the matter of legal dependence. H e couldn't build without first asking for a permit, nor do an archaeological 'dig' underground without seeking authori­zation from the owner (the State).

Thus, fringe-types living in the country are content with relative economic freedom in so far as it permits them to live more or less as they please. In order to dissociate this free-

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d o m from subservience to the consumer society, they cut their costs to a m i n i m u m and produce a part of the food they eat (by w a y of bio-agriculture). But they still need a m i n i m u m of cash to take care of certain inevitable expenses. S o m e take on temporary work in the area where they live, as farm hands or in the building trades. S o m e sell the surplus of their agricultural production on local markets: very little, really, a few goat cheeses, eggs, vegetables grown organically. Others prefer to go work in town for two or three months of the year. It is customary in communes that their members take turns going to work in town.

There is yet another category of soft technologists. These are the ones w h o are convinced that ecological cata­clysm is inevitable if not imminent. They believe that by taking to the hills and developing their o w n self-sufficiency in shelter, clothing, food and fuel they can save themselves from disaster. These candidates for individual survival are different from the representatives of the counter-culture. S o m e of them tend to share an affinity with followers of eccentric religious sects, and there are very few of them. Their outlook is at least very clear, making those w h o hold such views the most fervent practitioners of appropriate technology. ( A m o n g dyed in the wool fringe-types, the prob­lem of survival is generally not dealt with as an individual matter. It isn't considered good form.) A s for our o w n group, w e happen to be within the dangerous perimeter of two nuclear-power plants; what bad luck!

Does embracing soft technology mean opting for social isolation?

M a n y people think that the fringe-types w h o leave for the country live hermetically sealed off. That's rarely the case: independence does not m e a n isolation. I think that back of the idea are the old pictures one conjures up of monastic seclusion or the hermit in his cave.

T h e n e w old-fashioned farmers—if I can introduce another n e w term—almost all have cars. This m a y seem paradoxical, but the automobile is the last thing they want to let go, precisely so as to avoid becoming isolated.

Contacts a m o n g ourselves are numerous. Adding our relationships with neighbouring farmers and our visits from city people, w e find that our social life is more active and

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well balanced than when w e lived in town. In our immediate region, there are some two hundred newly arrived persons living either alone or in communes . T h e embryo of a parallel society is in the process of taking shape, a society in which w e practise mutual help as well as the barter of craft and farm products. Our relations with the native farmers are pretty good, considering the cultural differences at play. T h e countrymen look inquiringly on the spectacular turnabout of the rural exodus they have known. They doubt that 'those youngsters' can ever become good farmers, but they are interested in the fact that w e are trying. In a deserted countryside where remained only a few old persons, they are delighted to see young people once again.

THE STRENGTH TO BREAK THE TIES

What is the significance of the example you are setting?

A reproach w e often hear is that w e are looking for selfish, individual solutions to a generalized problem. Our solution is perhaps egotistical, but I don't see w h y w e have to justify our actions. After all, w e strive to be in no one's care; the intellectuals w h o reprove us so cannot always m a k e the same claim. H o w m a n y of them define their o w n activities in terms of the real needs of society?

Those w h o tackle the soft technologies are convinced that they couldn't accomplish anything within the established culture, and that the establishment's leaders will never take steps which would call into question our very society. A s the fringe-types multiply and organize themselves into a parallel society, it becomes less easy to accuse them of looking for individual solutions.

For m e , the most significant thing has been the value of setting the example itself—to be able to show to Western m a n that people just like him, raised in the same conditions, having neither unusual means nor special training, had the strength to cut their cultural ties and succeed in a n e w life. That seems to m e to be capital. The fringe-type js a muta­tion, a n e w kind of m a n whose behaviour and hopes are radically different from those of his parents. A s he succeeds in forming a new, viable society and this success becomes

318

Can the luxury of personal freedom be a reward for work?

tantamount to evasion, liberation from prejudices, true advantages or harmonious life, he will have created a struc­tured and plausible model of protest-and-demand. Heretofore protest was blind, being based on criteria of social justice which did not challenge our m o d e of life. W e demanded more money, more cars, more refrigerators without pausing to ask where all this would lead.

W e wouldn't be talking so m u c h about the quality of life if the hippies and other dissidents hadn't said to their fellow citizens: 'That life of yours . . . w e don't want any part of it. It m a y be making you rich and comfortable, but its quality is terrible.' The movement itself is a kind of test laboratory of future society.

What are the risks that the soft technologist takes?

O n e thing certain is that there has been more success than one could have hoped, yet a large number of individual fail­ures must be expected. In this respect, the public acclaim for soft technology and the resulting smugness on the part of some people should not push others, insufficiently motivated, to try the trick. T h e latter can be sure of what awaits them —a return to the city at the beginning of the first winter. W h e n I say failure, you will think that I m e a n selling house or land, going back to town to resume one's former work, but of course there are all kinds of intermediate endings which also crop up. If worse comes to worst, let m e say simply that it is better to have tried and failed than never to have ventured out at all. Y o u can always entertain your friends later with tales of your experiences.

Converting oneself from town dweller into a n e w old-fashioned farmer is not an easy matter. O n e has to keep in mind that the important thing is to stick it out, to conserve your energy in order to get over the first two years. If one gets bogged d o w n with the doctrine of appropriate technol­ogy, he runs the risk of compromising all chance of success.

But what are these dangers, really?

First, that of turning into a tramp. Traditional technology requires a lot of work, which is exactly w h y people gave it up. The more primitive the technology, the more demanding

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it is of labour. Because the fringe-types w h o choose soft technology are not very active people, they prefer to deprive themselves of everything and work very little. Then the pri­vations which at first seemed preferable to manual labour become intolerable after a year or two, and those deprived simply give up. That's what I m e a n by turning tramp, a rut not easily got out of. O n e would need cash or the kind of work enabling you better to organize yourself in order to m o v e ahead to more advanced techniques. But m o n e y is inevitably lacking and the daily chores monopolize one's time.

The second danger is that of perfectionism. S o m e fringe persons want to use sophisticated and costly equipment to maintain the same degree of comfort they had in the city. They're ready to pay the price, in funds or labour, provided they have electricity (via windmill), hot water (thanks to a solar heater), a gas cooking stove (using gas from a compost pile)—sources of energy which have been k n o w n for years. But these are not in current use because they are not practical and require m u c h maintenance, which brings us right back to a surfeit of work. Instead of tedious tasks and rudimen­tary technique, however, it involves feverish activity, pre­occupation, dispersion of effort, and breaks in the work rhythm. Probably, in a few more years, devices of this kind will work efficiently, but w h y stop there? There will always be n e w objects to invent and accumulate. In seeking alter­natives within confines that are too technical, w e run the risk of falling into the rut of perfectionism and to reinvent (without realizing it) the very universe w e wished to flee.

There is a third point, involving the crucial period when setting up in the country. At the m o m e n t when those on the fringes of the established culture take possession of their place in the countryside, they have to face all problems at once. There is the repair of buildings, preparation of accom­modations, purchase of supplies and tools, costs of transport, clearing of land, reworking abandoned plots—without for­getting household chores, which are all the more burdensome if moving in is a precarious proposition. T h e soft technol­ogists cannot earn a living during this period; if they haven't put away a s u m of m o n e y at least equal to the cost of the farmhouse, they won't reach cruising speed within a reason­able time. W h a t they don't appreciate is that they must have

Can the luxury of personal freedom be a reward for work?

available enough capital when they m o v e to the country to bridge the gap between their previous circumstances and the final technical-economic balance they wish to achieve. Other­wise, their m o n e y will be eaten away by the costs of main­tenance and our migrants will be nicely on their way to becoming vagabonds.

ONE TECHNIQUE LEADS TO ANOTHER

So moving in can be a very dramatic moment?

Indeed. During its earliest stages, our friends on the fringe see that they cannot use soft technology as m u c h as they had thought. W h a t is unfortunate is that everyone has to expe­rience this in order to realize the fact. Technology knows no spontaneous generation of itself: any technique derives from an earlier one, and so on. It is customary to describe the chain-reaction process of technology which proceeds, link by link, in ascending order of complexity. But in the opposite sense, there is a relationship of dependency between the hard technology one calls upon at the outset and the soft techniques one desires to employ. This downward progres­sion is easier than the upward path, although there are neces­sarily intermediate stages to be observed along the way.

It is better to select these stages intentionally than to have them forced on you by events. For example, you could have a kitchen redone by specialists using power tools to install the sinks and chimney to enable you to save two hours of labour each day on cooking chores. W h e n moving in, those two hours are extremely important Even if you had professionals build the entire house using hard technology, the house could still be planned so as to m a k e use of only soft technology. Until today, people have m a d e investments in order to produce more; w h y not n o w m a k e similar invest­ments in order to spend less?

Is there some kind of cohesive spirit, internationally, between centres 'and groups involved in reformed technology?

Yes, but only if you do not interpret 'cohesion' to m e a n a deliberate scheme. There is, indeed, agreement and conver­gence of opinion; everyone's objectives are nearly the same.

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T h e definitions of the soft technologies proffered by their British practitioners are accepted world wide.1 A n d one must not lose sight of the development centres concentrating on light technology for use in poor countries. That is soft tech­nology, too.2 W e have quite a bit to learn from these specialists.

How do you feel about the future of the soft technology movement?

Dissidence in our society will increase in the years to c o m e . It will be interesting to see h o w it will be perceived in the developing countries. A s to the different movements of today —alternative technology, the counter-culture, the c o m m u n e s —they will probably undergo all kinds of fluctuations, some­thing normal in any kind of advanced activity. It's impos­sible to foresee the forms they will take but there should' be a great diversity of them. Soft technology requires no special qualifications. Each will find his o w n form of soft technology, the diversity of the forms merely reflecting the multitude of different movements.

Industrial research and development are increasingly concerned with the shortage of energy. This sector will con­centrate increasingly on non-exhaustible energy sources. It might well be that, in a few years, a notable proportion of the power used in cities and towns will c o m e from solar, wind, geothermal or tidal power sources. This isn't really because of the soft technologies; as our wastefulness grows at an anarchic rate, w e shall be forced to restrict consump­tion. W e shall also agree with the fringe-types by realizing that technical reform is meaningless if w e don't also give thought to h o w w e apply it.

1. See the article by Robin Clarke, page 257. 2. See the article by Mansur Hoda, page 273.

TO DELVE MORE DEEPLY

B A U E R , R . et al. Second-order consequences: a methodological essay on the impact of tech­nology. Cambridge, Mass., M I T Press, 1969.

K A M I N S K I , G . Umweltschutz aus der Sicht der Psychologie. Umschau in Wissenschaft und Technik, vol. 73, no. 8,15 April 1973.

L E B R U N , O . Fundamental aspects of underdevelopment and aims of development. Univer­sities quarterly, vol. 27, no. 3, summer 1973.

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Model for a decentralized, self-managed urban community

by Josefina M e n a A b r a h a m

The structure of the village, town or city as ¡t has devel­oped in the societies considering themselves as advanced is grossly inadequate to the needs of m a n ­kind. Specialized use of buildings and c o m m o n spaces has led to segregative separation of individuals and groups, and ultimately to lack of coherence or cohesive-ness in the over-all community. A competition in Chile offered an opportunity to conceive and describe a total model for use by humans in a living culture.

T h e field of study in which w e have been working, that of alternative tech­nology which implies new social and eco­nomic structures, appears to lack specific orientation. T h e work of our group is one in which various points of view coincide as a result of the diversity of

Ms Mena Abraham, a Mexican architect with professional experience in her own country, France and the United Kingdom, was assisted in the preparation of this article by Ms Joan Westcott and Messrs John Bleach, Graeme Geddes, Gary Keborth and Roger Willis. The drawings are based on photographs by Mr Cyril Wilson. Ms Mena Abraham can be reached at 59c Warrington Crescent, London W9 1EH (United Kingdom).

its members' personalities and of a cer­tain attitude of learning together which w e developed amongst ourselves and regard as our most valuable possession and our best contribution to others in the field.

There are groups in the United King­d o m working in the following areas: (a) decentralization in the matter of housing and local services: community activists, advocacy planners; (b) decentralization in the work structure—workers' councils (e.g. the Yugoslav system); (c) radicaliza-tion in science—community scientists; (d) ecological systems; (e) social organization systems—analysis of systems; (f) soft, or alternative, technology; (g) the relation­ship between social organization systems

Impact of Science on Society, Vol. X X m , No. 4, 1973 323

Josefina Mena Abraham

and ecological conditions, for example the work of a group at the University of Lancaster (Peace and Conflict Research Programme), which is planning to set up an experimental community in the south of Chile.

For one reason or another, each of these groups tends to confine its attention to its o w n field of research. The groups working on ecology, for instance, tend to ignore socio-political realities and favour the formation of ecological reservations (or large-scale scientific laboratories). Here, a group of people, the majority of them scientists, will go off to an isolated, attractive and uncontaminated area in the country and experiment on h o w natural resources ought to be exploited. This can result in a n e w m o d e of social organiza­tion which these groups will tend, sooner or later, to force on others that did not take part in the experiment. Generally, these groups maintain that the population of the world needs to be reduced; but what w e wonder is w h o is to do this, and w h o is to be killed. Another of their postulates concerns the world shortage of resources. W e take the view that resources are badly used, and even more badly distributed, but that there is no shortage. For this reason, political chan­ges have priority over scientific innova­tions.

Philosophical premises

W e conceive of the totality of h u m a n experience as a continuous oscillation between a m o d e a pre-logical perception (at the level of operation of the sensory system) and a m o d e of logical perception

(at the level of operation of the cerebral

system). [In an intermediate area w e find

the m o d e of perception of concrete real­

ity, which governs our relation with the

ambience.]

Pre-logical mode

At this level, the conceptual parameters are formed. The creative process follows a different kind of time from the rational process, for at this level clockslie and time eddies, wholly unsequenced. T h e exter­nal world is perceived as part of a whole, and the accumulation of information acquired—once it has been processed by the cerebral system—operates like a series of superimpositions which condition our emotions and sensations, which, however, never mature at this level.

Logical mode

At this level w e conceive abstractions. Time is consecutive. The external world is perceived after the manner of separate units which follow a sequence; the induc­tive and the deductive processes of the Socratic tradition both belong to this m o d e .

These modes of perception interact continually in h u m a n experience and respond to different capacities of the h u m a n entity.

Thus, then, the h u m a n experiential process is a movement between the inter­nalization of the external world (which conditions our internal stability) and the externalization of this process (which determines social action). This movement generates an energy which Western m a n has come to forget. It is a

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Model for a decentralized, self-managed urban community

two-headed (inward and outward) spiral which has helped us to understand, for instance, that one of the problems of party politics in our society is that c o m ­munication is established at this level only. T h e concept of democracy can adopt a form external to the experience of the individual, reduced to voting for an u n k o w n person called the candidate, w h e n the democratic process does not bring into play his sensorial system. In this w a y , considering the individual in his totality, democracy is a farce which can only be lived at the level of the logical m o d e of perception.

T h e science-oriented society of the West has developed this m o d e of logical perception above all. Hence its desire or compulsion to control and plan, its sense of history, and so on. Persistence in this m o d e of perception ends by producing an ambience which the individual cannot integrate into his experience. Primitive peoples to this day retain a pre-logical m o d e of perception; their capacity for conceiving abstraction has been very little developed.

M o d e as reference parameters

W h e n w e talk of a system's feedback, w e must bear in mind that feedback can occur at the level of any of the three modes, but that total feedback embraces all three. Only thus can the individual internalize total experience. A m o n g the various Tines of thought with which w e are so far acquainted, w e have fixed on the following modes which establish refer­ence parameters for each of the three modes of perception already listed.

Pre-logical mode

A non-Socratic m o d e which stipulates that:

As to knowledge—there is an experi­mental knowledge, different from the one pursued by the Socratic tradition, with a tempo different from that of the rational process and transmitted globally. (Verbal communication is no more important than the tension of the facial muscles.)

As to nature—it is not a matter of making better use of nature, but of becoming part of it once more.

As to manual work—it is not a necessary evil but fulfils at least three functions: (a) affording m a n the chance to use and develop his faculties; (b) permitting him to overcome his egocentricity in carrying out a group operation; (c) providing the goods and services necessary for positive living.

As to ritual—there is a need for ritual­istic (and non-religious) experiences, to follow a structure different from that of ritual as k n o w n hitherto. T h e difference rests on the fact that, once w e have experienced the logical m o d e of percep­tion, w e are able to enter on these ritual­istic experiences with a certain awareness of the total phenomenon. Ritual would thus m e a n consciously relaxing mental controls. ( W e would all be aware of the existence of a collective structure, but no one would k n o w what was going to c o m e about, and anything could.)

The relation between the central figure of a ritualistic experience and the

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Josefina M e n a Abraham

other participants is extremely interest­ing: this person is not chosen by verbal assent, but through sensory processes. Social action is set in motion with no need to give orders but through recourse to a m e d i u m (an amplifier) into w h o m the participants externalize their conscious experience, thus permitting communica­tion at sensory levels far more complex than those so far k n o w n to science. Take, for example, the case of the consultation of a sorcerer {brujo) a m o n g the Bolivian Indians to obtain information on an unsolved problem. Faced with this pheno­m e n o n , the 'European' would say that 'the sorcerer is reading the coca leaves' and factually, by the logical m o d e of per­ception, that is just what he is doing. If our observation of the phenomenon is after a pre-logical m o d e , this prosaic interpretation of the concrete reality has no meaning.

W h a t is really happening is that the coca leaves act as a m e d i u m which gets us away from the logical m o d e of percep­tion. T h e sorcerer is a catalyst w h o listens to the vibrations emanating from those consulting him and transposes them to a logical m o d e of perception by verifying that the others perceive or have per­ceived sensorially.

As to conflict—it is a phenomenon which is inevitable at this level of perception. System theory tells us that, in order to avoid conflicts, w e have to change the system and m a k e it more complex. But the problem is h o w to change the system while preserving the integrity of the group, h o w to carry out a social opera­tion without leaders to centralize the energy of the rest. T o regulate conflict,

w e need socio-cultural models which will generate processes able to cancel out the dichotomies and logical contradictions. Through these processes, the participants achieve a reality—different from the con­crete reality—in which the individual is not 'objectified' by the others: personal identities do not count, and the only important thing is the degree of inter-penetration achieved by the group. Once this reality has been experienced the par­ticipant finds himself, in relation to the others, in that state of mind in which changes in the system can be implemented by rational processes, simply because the group will have gone beyond the stage of inner fear and mutual mistrust

Mode of relations with the concrete reality

A m o d e of phenomenology and dialecti­cal relationship with the environment. O u r relationship with the environment, in Western society, has changed from a symbolic to a schematic one, in which our connexions with the concrete reality develop on prosaic lines. Objects have taken possession of living space, w e are out of contact with our o w n environment, and the power which objects exercise over us is terrifying.

It is vitally important to internalize the experience of the environment ; hence the need for our social organizations to be reflected in concrete reality. T h e main forces which shape our society are local­ized in the cities; this is the chief reason w h y w e concern ourselves with the urban and not the rural setting.

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Mode l for a decentralized, self-managed urban community

Logical mode

Marxist-anarchist—here, there is decen­

tralization and a different political con­

ception from that of party politics. W h e n

w e talk of organizing world resources,

there is danger of begetting totalitarian

systems never before manifest in the his­

tory of mankind unless w e establish

(beforehand or concurrently) n e w socio-

cultural models able to generate over-all

concepts, able to condition along new

lines the experience which people have of

their fellows and of the outside world.

This would help us to confront the diverse

interests of different countries.

A model for Santiago (Chile)

This model was produced for an inter­

national competition organized by the

Chilean Government in July 1972. The

subject of the competition was defined

as 'pilot project for urban redevelopment

in the centre of Santiago', within the con­

text provided by the national govern­

ment. This had established in its pro­

g r a m m e that 'the present stage is a period

of structural changes that will form the

basis of the future socialist society'.

Planning models of developed coun­

tries cannot be applied to developing

countries. The bad effect, in social terms,

that these models are producing in devel­

oped countries would be catastrophic in

Latin American countries for the follow­

ing reasons:

1. They tend to produce a lack of cor­

relation between supply-and-demand

and real and immediate needs because

they are concerned with long-term

planning.

2. In Western capitalist countries, urban

redevelopment leads to the displace­

ment of the working-class population

by the middle-class population. In

Latin America, urban renewal results

in an excess of dwellings for upper-

class occupancy with some buildings

left unoccupied because economic

differences between the two groups are

m u c h greater there. A situation which

in the West is socially unjust becomes

economically non-viable in Latin

America.

3. Urban centres become deserts at night

because only business firms can pay

the high prices (purchase or rent)

resulting from urban redevelopment.

4 . There is increased social segregation

through the centralization of services.

5. T h e dependence of Latin American

countries on foreign building materials

constitutes a severe constraint which

these models do not take into con­

sideration.1

The application of another kind of model to Santiago (prepared at Cambridge) underestimated the services in middle-class areas and overestimated them in working-class areas because the equilibrating para­meters used are for a society with a differ­ent economic and social make-up. In Latin America, the majority of the 'base ele­ments* follow a line of work not classifi­able as the 'basic employment' of this model (i.e. work which produces basic export goods). The base elements pursue activities which, using the terms of this model, can only be classified as services. These services do not relate to, and can-

. not be extrapolated from the basic-employ­ment component of the resident popula­tion. Moreover, a large percentage of the

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Josefina Mena Abraham

6. T h e solution of the housing problem lies in the provision of houses which people need, want and look after themselves, homes which can be given a personal touch. T h e notion of cen­tralized State control of the'developed' socialist countries is incapable of solving the housing problem as thus defined because it does not allow of full and direct participation by the householders; it is incapable of pro­viding an inducement for them to care for and constantly improve their physical and social environment. Cen­trally administered housing estates are as m u c h a social failure in the devel­oped socialist as in the capitalist world. State control leads to specialization, bureaucracy and alienation; delegating the people's social responsibility to the State is not essentially different from delegating it to private capitalist developers.

Self-management of ambience

W e have therefore to create n e w social institutions appropriate to the countries

base elements in Latin America do not use cash-based economy only. Thus, if w e consider the majority of the population, the main reference parameters of the base-elements concept are those defining the social structure of a city—the basic struc­ture of the city's dynamics. T h e concept of basic employment neither defines nor has parameters keyed to this basic structure, since its o w n parameters are mainly econo­mic and refer to a totally different social structure. Briefly, the other model neither represents nor projects the basic structure of such cities.

of Latin America, which can induce popular commitment to the management of environment. Such institutions must be represented in the spatial structure of that ambience (see Fig. 1).

Latin America must produce its o w n planning models. These should be, amongst other things: (a) ecologically sound; (b) designed for a society whose chief purpose is not production but the promotion of an active, living culture in every individual m e m b e r of the c o m ­munity; (c) capable of distinguishing between the mechanization which enhan­ces people's skills and power and that which transforms the work of the people into mechanized slavery to which they must submit; (d) capable of distinguishing between the value of the machine and that of the tool, between industry (as an administrative organization whose role is not to produce the cultural expression of the individual) and technology (as a source of h u m a n advancement); it is extremely important that work should be organized so as to become an integral part of a living culture, capable of creat­ing an ambience which will reflect the inner psychological processes of the h u m a n mind; and, finally (e) models able to m a k e the planners' premises and prin­ciples plain to those w h o will experience the consequences of their work.

For us, laying the foundations of a future socialist society means: 1. Decentralization at all levels. 2. Vesting all power in the people for the

people. 3. Démystification pf the 'experts'. W e

proffer the idea of having community scientists; this means that profession­als in all fields should work, live and

328

F I G . 1. Strategical model at early stage of development. A . Underground railway; B . Covered motorway; C . Underground station; D . General assembly, educational m u s e u m , entertain­ment; E . (in black), Multilevel bazaar with public pockets for commercially motivated out­siders; F . Neighbourhood association, for self-management of the community—1 per 1,000 inhabitants, m a x i m u m ; G . Educational community workshops accessible to 'friendly' out­siders from street level; H . Shops and ateliers with public pockets; removed from the public transport axis, these rise only two floors and are mainly for local, intracommunity use ; J. Roof communication system linking roofs (community workshops) with neighbourhood association ; system is private to the community, accessible through staircases opening only to flats (dwellings); K . Existing flats, offices, church; L . Open space for market, entertain­ment outdoors; M . Example of possible arrangement for multilevel bazaar (see also Fig. 4).

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Josefina M e n a Abraham

learn with the community. It is their job to serve. They should be politi­cally aware—we do not believe that science is neutral—and should con­sider themselves not as leaders but as one part of the community imparting its knowledge to others. T h e greater this knowledge, the greater should be the wisdom and humility of the c o m ­munity scientists.

4. Integration of h u m a n activities: w e reject the classification which breaks the continuity of the individual's experience, by having him 'wear different hats' according to the time of day. Hence our objective is a system of interactions illustrated by the loop

. you see here:

Living < > Working A A

I > Learning

T h e rigid separation of these activities in space and time inevitably leads to alienation. T h e living-working dichot­o m y reduces work to tedium; and the working-learning dichotomy makes learning an abstraction divorced from

> reality, only useful for producing a society of bourgeois intellectuals.

5. T h e role of the architect in such a society should be to produce strategi­cal hypotheses, not tactical solutions. His strategical models need to c o m ­prehend administrative considerations as well as those of physical layout and economic feasibility.

6. Preserving the h u m a n role is one of our main concerns. A s w e disagree completely with large-scale urban redevelopment, w e treat the problem

in terms of small units defined by social constraints reflected in physical reality. It is essential, if w e wish to achieve decentralization, to reintro­duce the h u m a n scale into our ambience.

Description of activities

S o m e characteristics of the activities pro­posed include no segregation and no zoning on a large scale.

A s to housing, it should have: (a) possibilities for expansion, contraction and growth; (b) socialization of c o m ­munal activities with the object of making better use of resources and breaking d o w n the isolation of the restricted family unit tending to occur on housing estates; (c) direct integration with training shops, places of work, and their sales outlets; (d) children's o w n ambience independent of adults for playing and learning, but stopping short of explicit segregation; (e) direct integration with a decentralized primary school and training shops; (f) no segregation of old people, these should play a role in the community; activities requiring little physical effort should be organized for them by the community as a whole; (g) exchange of apartments instead of property speculation.

In education, theoretical and practi­cal studies need to be wedded. A n y theory represents a moral attitude which must be applied in order to acquire reality. Free­d o m of expression has as its basis the pos­sibility of choosing from the widest pos­sible range the information which the individual desires to acquire, the right w a y of using it. This means:

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M o d e l for a decentralized, self-managed urban community

1. Schooling and training, therefore, must be available to all according to their individual abilities.

2. School buildings should serve solely as centres for the organization of acti­vities or as meeting places. T h e real learning process should be pursued mainly outside the building (in the streets or in workshops—i.e. on the actual spot where the activities the child is trying to understand are

. taking place).

3. T h e school building should be a multipurpose plant, with its functions varying with the time of day.

4. W e need to demystify the expert further by an education treaty con­cerning real situations, because educa­tion with over-emphasis on abstrac­tions assists the alienation process.

In the case of work, the most effective and least alienating means of producing what the community needs has to be find-able within the community itself and, further, in workshops that can fulfil a number of meta-functions apart from pro­ducing the goods necessary for daily living. These meta-functions constitute part of what w e choose to call a living culture. For example:

1. T h e place of work is also a place of instruction through interaction with the scientists of the community.

2. W o r k space is neither socially nor physically isolated from non-work space, whether public or private, but forms, as it were, the threshold or transition area between the latter two.

3. T h e success of this type of workshop will be conditional on advanced tech­nology—we are not arguing for primitivism.1

W h e n it comes to services, w e are revising the brief submitted to the c o m ­petition by eliminating all those activities which involve a segregated m o d e of living, which finishes by isolating the majority of the community. Using the means available to architects, w e seek to exert a specific influence on certain social interaction models, and to eliminate others. Our main concern is to do away with all those elements which characterize urban centres in a compartmentalized and compartmentalizing capitalist society in which the interactions of individuals with each other are partial, and according­ly, unstructured and inhuman. O u r inten­tion is to generate and activate to the m a x i m u m the h u m a n potential. T h e per­son w h o works in the city during the day and sleeps in a suburb at night renders artificial both aspects of his life.

W h e r e consumption meets production

Therefore, as a preventive measure against impersonal capitalist monopolies, w e wish to employ architectural means to influence the w a y in which a super­market, for instance, will function. W e shall not leave it to chance. T h e services

1. The type of technology known as 'back­pack' technology, which has become fash­ionable as the plaything of the rich and bored in the Western world, could be a valuable adjunct only if applied rationally as a tool for community work. The tech­nology to which we refer is mainly alter­native technology, or the material covered in this issue of Impact.

331

Josefina M e n a A b r a h a m

for the community should be managed by

the members of the community, and

should be the meeting point between pro­

duction and consumption.

There should be no offices and shops

not surrounded by residential a c c o m m o ­

dation. Further, w e can conceive of a self-

administering community interacting with

the rest of the city and the country at

the higher and more complex service

activity levels. A s Figure 2 shows, w e

suggest three levels of in-service activities:

1. A self-sufficient level, whose boun­

daries are the community (as defined

below). This level marries work, edu­

cation, housing and self-government

within a non-monetary economy.

2. A level of inter-community action on

a neighbourhood scale: general assem­

bly, exchange of goods, and so forth,

on a mixed economy basis.

3. A level of interaction with the State,

through services such as social secu­

rity, savings organizations and trade

unions; in other words, institutions

which co-ordinate the national m o n e ­

tary economy. B y progressive decen­

tralization, it would be possible to

arrive at a State without a centralized

government.

A s far as transport is concerned, w e

favour the gradual elimination of private

automobiles and the reconversion of the

spaces and other resources used in the

construction of motor highways.

W e also favour gradually reducing

the cost of public transport and, even­

tually, making it free.

Car parks should be located in the

outskirts of the city,1 and roads should

be covered over so that pedestrians are

able to circulate freely.

Social places for people

T o be more specific, let m e describe

some of our concepts of site usage and

management.

Housing

A s regards existing buildings, w e would

like to preserve them as m u c h as possible

but, given our ignorance about them, w e

accept the competition specifications.

Dwellings should be for families of

four, five and six persons, with socialized

facilities managed by the tenants: green

spaces and games areas, and areas under

cultivation by n e w techniques such as

hydroponics * permitting of greater yields

with m i n i m u m acreage.

There should be a shopping centre

with co-operative stores. Communica ­

tion facilities should include rooms for

meetings and community television and

radio, offices for the neighbourhood

association or residents' council, meeting

rooms for exchanges of apartments,

premises for the community's professional

elements, a printing office for the c o m ­

munity newspaper, a directory of profes­

sions and trades in the community,

1. ' Experience has shown that motorways and car parks situated in city centres do not solve the traffic problem but, on the con­trary, m a k e it worse by attracting more drivers to the city centre. They argue, per­fectly logically, that since car parks exist, w h y not use them?

2. Method for growing plants using, instead of nutrients found in the earth, solutions formed by dissolving certain minerals in water. This method does not require m u c h technical knowledge.

332

Level of authority Worte- Education Self-management

t. Self-sufficlenl level: Community socialized activities

2 . Neighbourhood level: Inter-community action

3. Slate Interaction level

Multi-level dwellings <-

$. Kindergartens <r

Green areas Farm. Hydroponics

^

<-

w v Educational workshops

7 T X

<-?> Educational m u s e u m . School

/v

Community scientists

-±- V

<-

Clinic Chemist

Neighbourhood law centre

-i> Co-operatives Warehouse ' <r

Multi-level shopping centre

Co-operatives Warehouse

™ Bookshop

- ^ 7 T

<r

Shopping centre

Guest houses

Multiple shops (chain stores)

Visitors' information

->

-P>

-±-Community interaction

Residents council. Forum

Communications Printers Radio. Television

Visitors' information

Exchange of flats

Entertainment

4____4 v v v y

General Assembly Junta de Vecinos

Education and health consultation

Community Expression Centre

_ & _ r ^— State organizations <e- - >

T V

Notaries

Social-security offices

Savings associations

(Every space is lived in.)

F I G . 2. Strategical model for a decentralized self-managed urban community.

333

Josefina Mena Abraham

advisory bureaux (for legal, drug, biologi­cal and childbirth questions), lists of free services provided by the community and of articles available second-hand.

Vocational training plants with ter­races, open market spaces and multi-level bazaar are also included in this category. (These plants should function as an ele­ment of school education.) Also needed are day-nurseries, laundries, bakeries, bookshops and shops for chemists, car­pentry, cobblers, hardware, leather work, general repairs, hairdressers, tailors, jewellery and handicrafts, and shops for the sale of second-hand building materials.

• Community facilities

These, run by a joint committee of the

residents' councils and the State organi­

zations, should be provided. They would

include electrical-equipment installations,

guest and boarding houses, visitors'

information centres, folk arts-and-crafts

shops, libraries, and the like.

Education and health facilities

These are administered.by a joint c o m ­

mittee, embracing a clinic, a secondary

school directly linked with training

workshops, an educational m u s e u m with

theatre, lecture halls, laboratories, a film-

projection room, a television room, and

travelling bookshops.

Administrative services

These are needed, with a point committee

participating in the direction of co-opera­

tives, a precinct legal-aid centre, a general

assembly hall for residents' councils, trade unions and community professional ele­ments, public notaries' offices and social-security offices, as well as savings associations.

Philosophic-architectonic concepts .,

For a decentralized urban community

(as w e have defined it) to work, it must

be on a scale that the emotional and

perceptual system of the individual can

cope with. A t the social level, the archi­

tectonic setting needs to represent or pro­

ject the different levels shown in Figure 2 .

A t the individual level, the architectonic

setting needs also to represent the thresh­

old between the community and the

'others'. This is of fundamental impor­

tance.

This transition area, where the con­

frontation between a m e m b e r of the

community and an outsider will occur,

must be open in its material quantities;

the setting must reflect and reinforce the

individual's psychological attitude, one

of openness. T h e individual should, at the

same time, feel that he is psychologically

protected by the spiritual presence of

other members of the community. There

is a direct relationship between the exis­

tence of these thresholds and the pos­

sibility of what would be an optimally

fashioned community. Primitive c o m ­

munities throughout the world have used

transition areas and experiences to assist

the lifelong evolution of their biological,

psychological, political and economic

systems. W e have lost the balance that

such people still maintain.

334

Model for a decentralized, self-managed urban community

For an individual to be able to open himself unreservedly to the group he or she needs the means of maintaining his ontological security, in such a w a y that it is possible for h im to grow, change and learn from the others. O n the possibility of this process being accomplished depends the structure of a 'living' culture, because individualism is like a young plant in a glass case. It is too fragile to open the door and let in the elements which will help it to grow, yet too feeble to develop an active culture by itself.

W h y the architectural project?

Our group is sincerely of the opinion

that there is in Chile a possibility of

developing a n e w society, with patterns

of behaviour different from those n o w

obtaining in the 'developed' Western

world. Our project was suggested to us by

the high level of political and social

awareness n o w existing amongst the

Chilean people, and what w e propose is

based and conditional on this circum­

stance. Our scale-models and diagram

seek to exhibit more a strategy for growth

than a definitive solution of the tradi­

tional type. W e proffer a structure of

interrelations within which the people

using that structure m a y be able to con­

trol the development and organization of

their physical setting.

T h e strategical model is based on a mathematical module from fifteenth-

century India, developed over a long

period of time. W h a t w e found extra­

ordinary about this module was: (a) the

great variety of different configurations

possible; (b) the idea of a unit within a unit; (c) the possibility of interweaving open and empty spaces. T h e terraces and roofs are like arms linking the neighbour­ing units at all levels; (d) there is the possibility of achieving all this with tech­nologically unadvanced materials (such as timber and bricks); (e) the possibility of being able to increase the number of houses according to the community's needs, the houses to be built by the c o m ­munity or under its supervision.

W e are proposing houses of m e d i u m height (there are excellent examples of ancient cities built to six floors high). W h a t w e oppose, on moral grounds, is the segregation that necessarily occurs at the higher levels, the confinement of activities within isolated blocks and, above all, the fact that the people living on the top floors are cut off from all live community interaction (television is no substitute for h u m a n contacts).

Smoothing the h u m a n flow

T o effect the integration of activities and avoid the isolation of the restricted family, w e suggest, as in Figure 3: (a) two parallel systems of pedestrian cir­culation—one private to the community, linking all units via their roofs; another for contacts with the public at street level, and through the multi-level bazaar; (b) social activities at all levels—for the outsider, in the multi-level bazaar; for the community, in the community ser­vice areas on the top floors.

In accordance with our concept of thresholds (or transition areas), w e have

335

f

'S IM

I^^M::Wx!:!:S«4!i¥>!«

w&m

For the public; bazaar.

Housing for community.

Educational and organizational com­munity workshops. Highest buildings are for neighbourhood associations. Roofs intercommunicate for community residents only.

F I G . 3. T w o parallel pedestrian communication systems: street level (stippled area) accessible to outsiders, with public pockets; roof level (in black) accessible to community's inhabitants only through the c o m m u n a l staircases. [For complete legend, see Figure 1.]

336

Model for a decentralized, self-managed urban community

promised the creation of community pre- the threshold of the precinct, everything cincts or enclaves of not m o r e than 1,000 can be reached via this system of corn-persons. Each precinct will have its o w n m u n ¡cation, but the crossing is possible residents' council which can be reached only at the foot of the community stair-physically from any part of the precinct cases (sometimes traversing the residential by the system of moving over the roofs section). These are the thresholds between and through the community's private the precinct and the thoroughfares which staircases (white in Fig. 3). Once across run round or through it and constitute

F I G . 4. A n example of a possible arrangement for multilevel bazaar. E . (in black), Multi­level bazaar with public pockets for commercially motivated outsiders; F . Residents' council or neighbourhood association for self-management of community; J. Roof communication system, as described for Figure 1.

337

Josefina Mena Abraham

the public system of pedestrian traffic.

The public also has access to the community through the shops and work­shops located on every level of the bazaar. T h e staircases for the general public in the centre of the inner court­yards (shown in black) do not afford entry to the precinct; contact can be m a d e across shop counters, or visually across the inner courtyards. These points of contact between the public and the c o m ­munity constitute the psychological threshold area which w e call public pockets.

W e envisage two classes of visitors or outsiders to the community, those coming as social friends and those coming for commercial purposes. The former can obtain access either through the work­shops which bridge the streets at first- and second-floor level, or else via the c o m ­munity staircases which lead only to family flats. Commercial visitors will arrive via the public pockets in the bazaar, on either side of the public thoroughfare.

A word in conclusion

Thus within the community precinct are

work-places for most of the inhabitants,

together with community-run training

shops, schools, and similar facilities.

Privacy within the community precinct is

Note. M s M e n a Abraham's article was pre] change in government in Chile, September

not a priority consideration, since the community as an entity is protected against outside elements.

The residents' council is the nucleus around which every precinct develops. It is established first and the modules then grow up around it, so that the area of the precinct increases but its integrity is preserved at all times. T h e sketches of the scale-model show the area in question at an early stage of the growth process (see Fig. 4).

Our intention in producing this model was to submit it for the considera­tion of the group of people living in the area. W e do not think it should be regarded as definitive. T h e design prin­ciple used implies active and continuing participation by the users of this model urban community.

In the past few months, w e have come to realize that the residents' coun­cils in Santiago have not evidenced the revolutionary potential w e had hoped for. Still, our model continues to be valid, observing that by 'residents' council' w e m e a n any organization which will func­tion as a catalyst to trigger direct action by the inhabitants of an area, restore the connexion between housing and location of work, and maintain relations with the monetary system and the State as indi­cated in Figure 2 . That is the ideal w e seek to achieve.

jared for publication a few days before the 1973.—Ed.

338

Model for a decentralized, self-managed urban community

TO DELVE MORE DEEPLY

B E C K M A N N , M . ; H A W K E S , N . , et al. (eds.). International seminar on trends in mathematical modelling. Berlin, Springer Verlag, 1973. Deals with planning of systems, modelling theory, and h u m a n interaction with modelling.

B L O O M , J. Before the virgin met the dynamo. The architectural forum, vol. 139, no. 1, July-August 1973. Without complicated technology, vernacular architecture combines native wisdom and resources to provide luminous and thermal comfort. Supported by excellent photographs from the 'developing countries'.

C H O A Y , F. , et al. Meaning in architecture. London, Banie & Rockcliff, 1969. Asks if the urban environment is a semiotic system and should city planners orchestrate the symbols of the community or let the inhabitants invent them. Emphasizes that a feeling for life is a feeling for the community.

D U B I N , F.; V I L L E C C O , M . Energy for architects. Architecture plus. July 1973. Conservation of energy in building design and operation ranges from material economics to details of construction.

G L A S S O N , D . Social welfare and town planning in the metropolitan area. Archetype, vol. 2, no. 3, November 1972.

N I C O L A I S , J. Balkrishna Doshi. Architectural forum, vol. 138, no. 1, M a y 1973. O n combining traditional forms with evolving technologies in India.

ROSZAK, T . Where the wasteland ends: politics and transcendence in post industrial society. Garden City, N . Y . , Doubleday, 1972; London, Faber & Faber, 1973.

R U S H M A N , G . N e w towns—the British experience. Archetype, vol. 2, no. 3, November 1972. S P R A G U E , C . American Indian communities: toward a unity of life and environment. Tech­

nology review, vol. 74, no. 8, July-August 1972. W A R D , B . A n urban planet? Architectural forum, vol. 137, no. 5, December 1972. What on

earth can w e do? Abitare, no. 113, March 1973. A special issue devoted to the frustrations of living in the city and the consternation of the thwarted city-dweller w h o finds only pollution in the countryside.

Z E T T E R , R . Towards less participation in planning. New society, vol. 25, no. 566, 9 August 1973. What will be the future credibility of environmental planning?

339

The suitability of technology in contemporary China

by Jon Sigurdson

What was appropriate to China fifteen years ago, at the time of the 'great leap forward' and its exploitation of selected intermediate technology, no longer meets the needs of today and tomorrow. Agriculture continues to play a key role, however, in its intimate relationship with the country's need to develop n e w technological capa­bilities. Here are examined s o m e of the problems of industrializing the world's largest single society as well as the sociotechnical options open to the leaders of the major developing nation.

Rural industrialization in China is an attempt to m a k e agriculture and industry complementary. But the idea of industrial­ization in rural areas will suggest to most of you the picture of industrial complexes integrated with a highly developed tech­nology or mat of cottage industries using

Engineer and economist Jon Sigurdson served as cultural attaché at the Swedish Embassy in Peking, 1964-67. He has been on leave from the Ministry ,of Industry in Stockholm since 1971. doing research on the internal transfer of tech­nology and rural industrialization in China (sponsored by the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Fund and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences). Address: c/o Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Fack 5073, 102 42 Stockholm 5 (Sweden).

traditional methods. T h e present Chinese attempt to industrialize rural areas tends to fall somewhere between these two extremes. This is because it is generally accepted that neither large high technol­ogy enterprises nor cottage industries can provide a universal solution for the needs of industrial diversification and future employment opportunities. There are cer­tain physical and h u m a n obstacles which must be overcome or reduced in influence if rural industrialization is to succeed. It is also necessary to find the technology which is most adequate to local needs and can utilize manpower still inadequately qualified, and which will, with little equip­ment, satisfy the local market.

Impact of Science on Society, Vol. XXIII, No . 4, 1973 341

Jon Sigurdson

I shall first discuss some of the general principles for rural industrializa­tion in China before going on to the question of technology. A number of 'rural technologies' will be briefly dis­cussed but it must be stressed that China, on the whole, is not using any alternative technologies which are not available in other countries. Certain technologies m a y have been developed, indeed, to suit the rural industries; this includes, for example, the 're-development' of small vertical cement kilns and small chemical fertilizer plants. The distinguishing fea­ture of rural industrialization in China is that the existing socio-economic structure in the rural areas is used to integrate industrial and agricultural activities. Finally, I shall mention future possibilities and the problems lying ahead.

Rural industries are not a new con­cept in China; the comprehensive and integrated development of rural indus­tries dates only from the 'great leap for­ward' initiated in 1958. Most readers are likely to have heard of the tens of thou­sands of very small blast furnaces which were set up throughout China during that year. Less well known is the fact that a great number of other small enter­prises also were set up during 1958-60, producing almost everything: sulphuric acid, petroleum products m a d e from oil shale, ball-bearings, even nails. Most of these enterprises were run by the people's communes which had been established in 1958.

A number of external difficulties forced China to retreat from the develop­ment of rural industries; there was also the problem that a number of these same enterprises were not properly conceived

and lacked technical and economic justi­fication.

A substantial number survived, h o w ­ever, and certain developments took place before the 'cultural revolution' (1966-69) which released m u c h n e w local energy and initiative. The decentralization m e a ­sures of that period very m u c h favoured the rural industries. But—in comparison with the 'great leap forward—there was a cautious and gradual approach in setting up the rural industries. A significant n e w element was that the counties (hsieri) and small country towns were given responsi­bility for m a n y of the industries which previously had been run by the agri­cultural people's communes . T h e c o m ­munes and even brigades (under the communes) are still responsible, today, for a considerable share of the smaller rural industries.

Role of small industries

T h e rural industrialization programme is

part of the general policy of China to

stand on her o w n two feet, a policy

dating from 1957. This stipulates a m o n g

other things that China in her industrial­

ization should m a k e use of enterprises of

all sizes, use modern as well as primitive

methods of production and utilize both

local and central initiative. In this con­

text the small industries serve social as

well as economic objectives but China has

never indicated that small enterprises

should be preferred to large, modern ones.

At the present stage of development, the

small economic establishments serve a

very useful purpose; they are found in

urban as well as rural areas. I deal here

only with the rural industries.

342

The suitability of technology in contemporary China

It must be noted that rural industries in China are intended to serve a number of different objectives. First, they should serve agriculture by providing industrial inputs and the necessary means for mechanization. Second, they should serve the people's livelihood by producing con­sumer articles of various kinds. Third, they should support big city-based industries through subcontracting. Fourth, they should produce export products based on either local handicraft skills or more advanced modes of production.

It is natural to find that rural areas near the big cities have a very different industrial structure from those which are far removed. T h e former usually have a considerably larger industrial base than the latter and are also m u c h more engaged in subcontracting and in pro­ducing for export markets. T h e main emphasis in China is on the development of small-scale industries which tend to integrate the rural population into the process of industrialization. Chinese politi­cal leaders and planners have stated from time to time that overriding objectives should be to reduce the differences between cities and the countryside and between industry and agriculture. For that reason rural industrialization should be attempted on as wide a scale as possible.

Yet, in other countries attempting rural industrialization it is usually argued that resources available for this kind of integration are never sufficient for the task to be accomplished. A s a conse­quence óf this reasoning, rural industrial­ization should be applied only in certain areas and with enterprises which have been carefully selected. With appropriate means and assistance, considerable results

can then be achieved. These results should then be publicized in order to motivate that part of the population still outside the sphere of industrial activity.

This approach is also followed in China. But on two occasions, during the 'great leap forward' and during the 'cul­tural revolution', China attempted to introduce rural industrialization on a very wide scale. In the second attempt, the local resource base and the local skills apparently were considered more care­fully than earlier. Increased attention was given to different local characteristics. This, in turn, m a y have required more attention being paid to the problems of technology.

Rural industrial technology

Rural industrial development is based to a considerable extent on local resources of manpower and capital, although equip­ment from cities is a prerequisite to the initiation of m u c h of the development. It should be stressed that the chief feature of rural industries is not their smallness of scale but their local character: this requires that they be based on technol­ogies making optimal use of locally avail­able natural resources, manpower , and equipment. Rural industries are often small, particularly in their initial stages of development. This is a reflection of the restricted local supply of capital as well as the limited local market for the products manufactured. A s markets devel­op, so do the industries and the tech­nologies utilized so that a plant m a y go through successive stages of changing pro­duction technologies, as long as its resource base permits this.

343

Jon Sigurdson

T h e technologies used in rural areas quite often are different from those which would be used outside China, or in the modern industrial sector in general. Even within the contemporary industrial sector a number of technologies can be found which are different from those employed in the fully industrialized countries. Here, however, I a m concerned only with tech­nologies found in the rural industrial sector. T h e discussion is further limited to technologies found chiefly in the m a n u ­facturing industries or related activities. There are two main areas where appro­priate technologies are m o r e evident than in others : (a) exploitation of energy resources; (b) technologies suited to small-scale rural process industries.

Without modern forms of energy— electricity and petroleum products—it is hardly possible to sustain any industrial activity except handicrafts. China has very rich resources of hydroelectric power and oil, but the means to distribute them are not well developed. Power grids for the long-distance distribution of electric­ity exist (except in the north-east) only in a few areas in China. T h e railway and road transport network is one of the weakest sectors of the Chinese economy. In addition to this, China has barely started large-scale exploitation of her resources of hydroelectric power and oil; in the future, these are likely to play a very important role in the process of further industrialization.

A n example of local technology and local application of its product Farmers in Winning County are shown operating mechanical harrows in the cultivation of rice fields. (Sketch by Madeleine de Sînéty, after a photograph © China Photo Service, Peking.)

344

The suitability of technology in contemporary China

So it is quite natural that localities, far from the industrially well-developed areas, have been urged or forced to look for local energy sources in order to be able to initiate and sustain a local indus­trialization programme. In m a n y places it has been most logical to exploit coal deposits. China is rich in coal, and small or even very small deposits are widely scattered all over the country. These deposits often fail to justify a large-scale operation, but they can be mined locally with relatively primitive methods. The use of seasonal surplus in manpower and reduced transportation distances often make this an economically viable alter­native.

In recent years, the exploitation of hydropower in hilly areas has received m u c h emphasis. There has been rapid proliferation of small and very small hydroelectric power stations wherever there is sufficient difference in water levels and amounts of water. This applies to irrigated lowland areas, as well. Alto­gether, there are n o w more than 35,000 small power stations ranging from a capacity of a few kilowatts up to a few hundred kilowatts. These small stations produce about 16 per cent of the total of China's hydroelectric power.

Economic considerations

The present widespread use of small generators had its precedent in the 'great leap forward' w h e n these machines received m u c h attention. T o be able bet­ter to understand the justification of small hydroelectric stations, it is useful to look at some of the arguments brought for­

ward in a People's Daily article in the summer of 1958 when one of the vice-ministers for water conservancy and elec­tric power discussed the question of preliminary electrification.

The official pointed out that the economies of scale were substantial. H e mentioned that, as to the capacity of generators to be installed, the relevant factor is the unit cost of construction which tends to diminish by 15-20 per cent with each doubling of capacity, that is from 6,000 kilowatts, to 12,000, to 25,000, to 50,000, to 100,000 kilowatts. So adoption of large generators is neces­sary and rational where there is an elec­tricity network or where there is an established industrial area. But large generators are not suitable for regions where the industrial foundation is weak, so universal emphasis should not be put on such generators because China needs to adapt the supply of electricity to the demand for universal development of local industry.

The size of generators is a problem inseparable from the capacity to produce, the supply from abroad, and the specific conditions of the subscribers. In vast areas such as some of the provinces, where the industry remains undeveloped —and especially at the two levels of special district and county—medium-and small-sized plants are needed. Most of the rural areas need only generators with a capacity of several kilowatts. For this reason, the vice-minister noted, the largest percentage of generators would be those destined for the m e d i u m and small power plants.

In order to achieve the desired pro­liferation of small power plants in rural

345

Jon Sigurdson

areas, the same vice-minister promised to reinforce the co-operation and balance of technical forces between different regions. But he realized also that it was necessary for the State to provide the necessary installations, apparatus and technical guidance. In s u m , it appears that the indicated policies of the late 1950s are very similar to those n o w guiding the development of small rural power sta­tions. This development is geared, further­more , to a proliferation of relatively small rural enterprises which are able to manufacture simple generators and elec­tric turbines.

T h e government's guidelines

T h e local character of developmental effort is clearly spelt out in reports indi­cating that m a n y localities lack m a n u ­facturing skills or perhaps the capital necessary to buy a modern water turbine m a d e of iron or steel. Instead, they have used w o o d as a substitute material; this is possible within certain ranges of speed, height and water volume. A national handbook on h o w to construct small power stations gives detailed instructions on h o w to m a k e wooden water turbines. Eventually wooden water turbines will be replaced by ordinary, m o r e expensive types which can be bought when funds have been accumulated from the profits arising from industrial activities m a d e possible through the introduction of elec­tricity. Insight into local modifications is provided by the following county report:

Some of the equipment for the hydroelectric stations is made of bamboo or wood instead

of iron. The fast fluctuations in the flow of mountain streams had to be taken into account. Foreign technical literature says that power stations should not be built on such streams, but the peasants of Fokang County reduced the weight of the rotor of the water turbine by substituting wood for iron, modified the angle of the rotor blades so that the rotor was turned even by a small flow, and made three kinds of rotors with different blade angles to suit the different flow in various seasons to ensure that the stations operate the year around.

Sometimes the locality has constructed first only the water wheel (without a generator) which then powered only local machines on the spot, the generator being added at a later time. But the distribu­tion of electricity even within a locality remains a problem for two different rea­sons. First, the distribution involves sub­stantial capital expenditure. Second, the transmission lines require copper or alu­minium, and China's production capacity of both metals is very limited. In order to overcome both problems, but particu­larly the second, m a n y localities have adopted the principle of one-wire distri­bution with the earth-ground substituting for the second. There are disadvantages (the lessening of safety being one), but the system appears to be widely used; some places report that their two-wire distri­bution Unes have been stripped of one of the wires in order to extend the network.

W o o d is a scarce commodity and cement poles are used throughout the country instead of wooden poles; this has considerably added to the d e m a n d for locally manufactured cement. S o m e places also report that they have extended considerably the distance between poles in order to reduce the costs involved in

346

The suitability of technology in contemporary China

setting up the system for the distribution of electricity. It is not clear, however, if this has been m a d e possible through the introduction of the one-wire system.

A variety of energy sources is exploited, although coal and hydroelectric power remain the prominent ones. There are places where wind-powered machines are c o m m o n . In one of the Shanghai counties and also further d o w n the coast, there are some small tidal power stations, most of which appear to operate in both directions of tidal flow. O n e county in Kwangtung is said to have built 320 hydroelectric power stations by making use of waterfalls only 30 c m high. In other places natural underground hot water is used to power small generators; natural gas is reported also to be used to meet local energy requirements.

Methane in Szechwan

Yet there is no indication of a revival of the former campaign to build small refineries using locally available oil shale to produce petroleum products. Reports indicate that simple methods to produce marsh gas (methane) have been widely popularized. A provincial report from central Szechwan province has mentioned that a mass campaign to operate marsh gas has been vigorously promoted since 1970. Marsh gas seems to have solved the peasants' problems of lighting fuel and to tiave saved coal and paraffin. Every dis­trict and c o m m u n e within a particular :ounty has a leadership group for the popularization of marsh gas, and the :ounty has set up a special office for this tfork.

Another (national) report discusses the use of locally produced marsh gas, saying that c o m m u n e s in m a n y parts of China are adapting simple methods to use marsh gas as fuel. A national meet­ing on the subject was organized, by the Chinese A c a d e m y of Science and the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, in a Szechwan county in 1972. Rural c o m ­munes in more than a dozen provinces are n o w using marsh gas which is pro­duced by (among other methods) fer­menting grass or straw in sealed pits. The gas is used principally for cooking, but marsh gas lamps are becoming increasing­ly popular. The method is said to have spread to m a n y areas remote from the electricity system.

T h e inclusion of small heavy indus­tries (like nitrogen chemical fertilizer, cement, and pig-iron plants) has been pos­sibly the most outstanding characteristic of Chinese local industrialization in addi­tion to its comprehensiveness. T h e three industries mentioned are basically pro­cess industries; their economies of scale are almost as prominent as those, cited earlier, for the production of electricity. But the Chinese plants are very small, usually serving only a county or an even smaller area. Consequently it has been necessary to modify processes and equip­ment in order to m a k e it possible to pro­duce the synthetic fertilizer, cement, and pig iron at reasonable costs.

The industrial technology which has been developed outside China or in the urban-based industrial sectors within China is usually inappropriate for use in small-scale industries in the Chinese countryside. Therefore central (region, province, nation) research and design

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institutes have been assigned the task to develop designs more suited to local small-scale production.

Most of the nitrogen fertilizer pro­duction comes from relatively small syn­thetic ammonia plants, usually run by counties. A new type of process was introduced for the manufacture of syn­thetic a m m o n i a using reciprocating piston compressors, the first plants using the new process having been set up in 1958. At that time, there were three different plants with annual production capacities of 800, 2,000, and 10,000 tons of synthe­tic a m m o n i a . T h e smallest, designed for the communes , was the one to be empha­sized. T h e bigger ones were for counties and special districts but were not pro­moted until it became clear that the commune-run nitrogen chemical fertilizer plants were not a realistic alternative. Still, a number of the smallest plants were built. These usually have been taken over by the counties and expanded. The annual production capacity of n e w plants is n o w usually between 3,000 and 5,000 tons of synthetic ammonia , depending on slight variations in design. Synthetic a m m o n i a is usually further processed into a solid fertilizer, a m m o n i u m bicarbonate.

Choosing the fuel

High-quality coke was originally required for the production of this ammonia , but the process was changed to permit the use of high-quality anthracite; additional changes have m a d e it possible n o w to use relatively poor-quality coal. Lignite and low-quality anthracite (which previously could not be used) are n o w mined in all the southern provinces of China. After

processing, the materials are used in m a n y places for local production of ammonia .

This development has meant a thoroughgoing adaptation of the design and production process to suit the market demand of counties having an average population of 300,000 and a cultivated area of around 60,000 hectares. It has also meant adaptation of the process to accommodate raw materials which are locally available. Without this last development, the costs of transporting coal would have m a d e it impossible to set up local plants in m a n y places where there are n o w local chemical fertilizer factories.

Almost 70 per cent of China's more than 2,000 counties n o w have their o w n small cement plants, although they are in different stages of development in terms of both technology and size. The biggest ones use vertical kilns and produce around 50,000 tons of cement. The small­est m a y produce not more than a few hundred tons per year, but are usually only in their initial stages of develop­ment, being run only intermittently. S o m e of the smallest plants use simple concrete pitches on the ground for the sintering process. Costs and quality are usually related to the size of the installa­tion; above a certain capacity range, the vertical kiln is considered as obsolete everywhere outside China; however, it appears that production costs and factor consumption compare favourably with the very large factories when the element of transportation is considered when deciding to use the vertical kiln.

Iron foundries are the third main category of small process plants. T h e design of a small blast furnace still m a y

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be partly indigenous, but its production technology is modern in order to be able to maintain standards of quality. Equip­ment allocated from central sources is based on standard blast furnaces of 8, 13, 28, 50, 100 and 120 m » . The smallest of these yields an annual production of approximately 2,000 tonnes of pig iron. It should be noted that it is only in the blast furnace that an up-to-date process is used. T h e casting of ingots, production of coke, and internal transportation are usually all done with indigenous, labour-intensive methods. Thus, these plants are modern and small only in the core process.

Smaller blast furnaces set up in 1959 with a furnace volume of 6.5 m 3 or less have been renovated. Reports during the past two years increasingly have m e n ­tioned that counties and communes in a

few provinces have set up blast furnaces with volumes as little as 0.5 m3—reminis­cent of the backyard furnaces of the 'great leap forward'. Apparently there are places in China where the quality of the iron ore and the high level of local skills justify the minuscule furnaces. It is not likely that these will spread, however, and they m a y be more important as training centres than for the iron they produce.

Role of local factories

The present stage of production tech­nology in small plants has been reached through a gradual process. Central research and design institutes are likely to have played an important role in the early stages, but local plants are n o w an important source for improvements and

T h e agriculture—technology interface in China

Recent changes in agronomic habits in Tangshan special dis­trict, one of the administrative subdivisions in the northern province of Hopei, will serve to illustrate recent alterations in agricultural methods and their socio-economic impact in this district of China.

During the last few years the acreage under wheat cultiva­tion has risen considerably because of the intercropping of that grain with maize. This has necessitated the allocation of research resources during that time in order to find the most appropriate seeds and determine the most suitable times for sowing and harvesting the two crops. The changes in cropping patterns m a y have resulted in new seasonal distribution of manpower resources, requiring certain tasks to be mechanized.

Appropriate machinery needs to be developed, in turn, to meet this new need—both hand tools and mechanized equip­ment to be used in the fields. Successful changes in cropping patterns could favourably influence, in their turn, the condi­tions for further rural industrialization.

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incremental innovations. T h e smallest sizes eventually m a y not be used to set up n e w process plants because the develop­ment of raw materials, equipment and markets can be controlled in order to match the larger plants' output from the outset. It appears that the development of the small process plants (at least for chemical fertilizer and pig iron) is cen­trally supervised to enable continuous and widespread improvement. This makes it possible to compare the performance of alternative innovations and adaptations in order to choose yet better designs for n e w plants.

T h e use of appropriate technologies in rural industries is dependent on a n u m ­ber of factors upon which transfer of technology mechanisms and simple local adaptations often have played important roles. Even if great responsibility has been delegated to the localities, there are also indications that over-all supervision and co-ordination remain at the higher administrative levels.

Innovations in productive equipment used in rural enterprises which produce or repair machinery are left, to a consider­able degree, to the communities to enable them to m a k e best possible use of their combination of capital, manpower and raw materials. T h e manufacture and use of indigenous machines is encouraged wherever the capacity of modern, special­ized, and expensive machines would not be fully utilized. Machinery and equip­ment used in agriculture are still a princi­pal area of rural innovations; it has often been stressed that mass campaigns to improve farm tools and developing semi-mechanical farm machinery could greatly improve the efficiency of labour.

T h e continuous development of appropriate technology for rural indus­tries takes place as the rural industrial system becomes more and more differen­tiated. There is an important progressive element here in that, as the market devel­ops and the slack of underemployment is reduced, the appropriate technologies will adapt to both larger scale and higher capital intensity. A s the volume and sophistication of local industry develop, so does local capacity for finding its o w n solutions. Thus, when development becomes partially self-sustaining and the locality becomes increasingly able to ana­lyse its requirement for further economic and social development, a symbiotic rela­tion between urban-based industry and rural industry becomes essential.

T o function effectively, small rural industries not only have to be able to con­vert techniques to meet the standards of the modern industrial sector, they must also be able to co-ordinate their activities effectively and schedule over-all produc­tion within the large industrial complex. These conversions and management skills are developed in rural areas as the local industrial systems become more and more differentiated. Industrial organization which permits the efficient use of small-scale industries in co-operation with m o d ­ern industrial complexes seems already to have been developed in m a n y sections of China.

Little internal migration

Chinese planners and political figures rare­ly have considered that rural industries should be used primarily for the genera­tion of employment. They have always

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emphasized other aspects, like better util­ization of h u m a n and local raw material resources. The reason for this is obvious. The Chinese planners have not been faced, since the early 1960s, with the problem of uncontrolled migration into the cities which is a serious problem in most of the other developing countries. The primary reason is that everyone in rural areas is a m e m b e r of a people's c o m m u n e which provides him with basic security. Furthermore, there are admin­istrative measures (including local food rationing cards) which hinder undesired migration. Important also is the fact that the people's communes , which were set up in 1958, have m a d e it possible to use efficiently any surplus manpower for capi­tal construction projects during the slack farming seasons.

It would appear that there has been a tendency to look at increased industrial employment as a positive factor in itself, but at the end of 1973 this is n o longer so. It is n o w being stressed in China that (a) agriculture can spare little manpower, and (b) increased production in rural enterprises should be achieved largely through technical innovation and the use of more machinery. During the 'cultural revolution' and until quite recently, there was a rapid expansion of industrial employment in rural areas. Foreign visi­tors n o w are being told that rural industrial development is entering a consolidation phase.

There can be no doubt that m a n y people—particularly young people—in China would prefer industrial employ­ment to agriculture, but there does not seem to be m u c h hope for a large-scale transfer of manpower from agriculture to

industry in the immediate future. W h a t , then, is the present scale of industrial employment in rural areas? Planning offi­cials in the northern province of Hopei mentioned last July that employment in county- and commune-level enterprises was approximately 500,000.

T h e population of Hopei at the same time was reported to be 48 million; rural industrial employment consequently would amount to 1 per cent of the popu­lation or approximately 2.5 per cent of the labour force. These figures include only those industrial workers employed on a permanent basis. The communes and the next-downward brigades also run a con­siderable number of small enterprises on a seasonal basis. These include m u c h of the local agro-processing industries as well as brick kilns, which are usually operated only when manpower can be spared from agriculture. T h e total employment in these considerably smaller and simpler enterprises is likely to be in the region of 1 per cent of the popula­tion in a province like Hopei. Taken together, these figures would indicate that 2 per cent of the population or 5 per cent of the labour force in this province is in the rural industrial sector.

Agriculture's key role

In the rural areas of Shanghai the figures are considerably higher: approximately 7 per cent of the rural population is to be found in local enterprises. But in the south-western and north-western regions of China, the percentages are likely to be considerably lower than those for Hopei. Thus, for the country as a whole,

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employment in rural industries m a y be slightly lower than in Hopei. Moreover, there are likely to be considerable differ­ences in rural industrial employment within a given province. This depends on a number of factors, of which the supply of raw material is a significant one.

Closeness to big industrial centres clearly has a favourable effect on rural industrialization. At the same time, it should not be forgotten that rural indus­try depends on agriculture for its m a n ­power, raw materials, and capital. So if agricultural production increases only slowly, it will not be possible to release m o r e manpower for industrial employ­ment out of fear that agricultural pro­duction could not keep pace with an increase in population. Similarly, acreage for the cultivation of industrial crops cannot be increased if there is not already a considerable augmentation in the pro­duction of grain and other foodstuffs.

Neither is the purchasing power in a particular rural area likely to rise unless there is an increase in agricultural pro­

ductivity or related activities. This point seems to explain the heavy emphasis given by the Chinese to the development of sideline occupations: these often appear to be a relatively quick w a y of raising incomes and local purchasing power, and naturally add to the potential savings which can be tapped for local industrial projects.

These comments underscore the cen­tral role of agriculture in the Chinese economy. In economic terms, agriculture provides only 30 per cent of the total pro­duction value but provides employment for about 80 per cent of the labour force. A n d until productivity of both labour and the land is increased considerably, it will be difficult for Chinese agriculture to release more manpower and provide more industrial raw materials for the country's rural industrialization programmes. Therefore, n e w agricultural technology and its rapid diffusion m a y be more important than rural industrial technol­ogy at the present stage of China's development.

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The following letter comes from an American author and science writer who obtained his doctorate in biophysics at Pennsylvania State University; and who is currently Head of Science at the River-dale Country School, Bronx, N.Y. (United States of America).

Sir: The importance of Impact's issue on 'Science and the sub-Sahara' (Vol. XXIII, N o . 2, 1973) is underscored by the fact that few persons in the industrialized world think in terms of the southern hemi­sphere. For those of us w h o , despite verbal commitments to the exciting chal­lenges of the Third World, must plead ignorance about this large section of the planet, the introduction via science is direct enough to delineate a coherent image:

1. In counterpoise to the thought that the problems of developing Africa are quite different from those of m y country, for example, a number of concerns are strikingly similar in form to those in America.

2. A n y differences are primarily those of method, or approach. T h e implementa­tion of technical innovation was clearly stressed by the authors as having to fit the styles of the political institutions or nations in which the innovation is intro­duced. In this there are direct parallels to the deliveries of health, education, wel­fare and urban technologies in developed nations, where these technologies are applied differently from one political sub­division (county or state) to another. T h e African experts did not strongly empha­size, however, high or 'mega-' technol­ogies. I find the omission intriguing: on the one hand, the introduction of clean technologies free of the dreadful pollu­tion that must accompany fossil-fuel power plants is a 'Western' ideal. O n the other, high technology and heavy indus­try are necessary to support the softer technologies which m a n y Americans would call parasitic by their very nature.

I a m aware that locally published books, with reduced vocabulary in a foreign language (English), are being introduced in East Africa. This experi­ment is similar in some respects to the introduction of reduced-vocabulary (Eng­lish) texts in Spanish-American schools

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in N e w York City, and has led to a wide­ly publicized controversy in which two dominating groups have emerged. O n e argues that the Spanish-speaking popula­tion should not be forced to learn Eng­lish; it argues for a change in standards. T h e other group contends that the intel­lectual requirements for success include knowledge of the English language; it opposes, thereby, a reduction of stand­ards.

3. W h a t science and technology—as opposed to raw material—has Africa to offer the West? In his brilliant exposition on three-dimensional farming, Sholto Douglas not only outlined an ecological problem which is comparable to those faced here, but he caused one to wonder if there is a 'fourth dimension': might it be possible to use protein-producing strains of bacteria to produce food direct­ly from tree products? This emphasis makes his work quite compatible with that of our o w n microbiologists. In Afri­ca he m a y be able better to test ideas which are of extreme interest here.

W e have all (Africans, I a m sure, as well) become accustomed to a geographical perspective which says that north is above the equator and south is d o w n below. M a n y feel that it is Western technology that will help Africa. I have seen little acceptance of a thought expressed else­where that by the year 2000 the only 'real' science will be done in Africa and South America. It is thus more than worth while to examine the parallels and differences in the approach of the African scientists.

The parallels abound. In ecology,

Savané's statement that technologies must be developed as a result of a relation between research aims and development objectives is identical to those offered by environmentalists here. Motivation of research workers, a topic discussed by Savane and Odhiambo, is a widespread concern here. The concern of overspe-cialization in the sciences, especially at the doctoral level, is also often expressed in industrialized societies. Another paral­lel can be found in L e m m a ' s article: the introduction of chemical treatments for biological control closely mimics the D D T story. His proposal for a biological solution is precisely the challenge that w e face. A further parallel is the concern with the nature of early education.

There are some differences of approach. Matching technological inno­vation to the environment is a question of widespread controversy in the United States. While an ecologist might be of one mind with another ecologist, he would almost certainly differ with a repre­sentative of a power company. In con­trast the Africans seemed unified on this point and, as an American, I find the unity puzzling.

T h e question of early toy-model education is also controversial here. The n e w methods, especially 'new math', are undergoing severe criticism. [See the edi­torial in Physics Teacher, March 1972.] I saw little emphasis given to the special needs of pluralistic minorities within a nation. There was nothing equivalent to the delivery of technologies to 'minority groups', to be found in a similar Ameri­can discussion, especially in the field of education. Emphasis on small-scale tech­nologies is contrary, as I've already sug-

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gested, to dominant business practice in this country.

W e r e I able to ask a panel of the authors a few questions, these would immediately come to mind: 1. Whence will the energy for African

industrial development come? 2. In spite of the excellent example of

the endod berry, is it ever possible to introduce a major technological change without causing severe imba­lances in the ecology and other large systems?

3. Is it possible to motivate research workers under conditions which stress practical (as opposed to pure) research?

4. H o w can one educate youngsters to a model-oriented world when they live in a non-model-oriented society, and will receive contradicting educa­tion from their h o m e and extracur­ricular life?

5. W h o is being trained to handle the foreseeable broad-reaching interac­tions of systems?

I would also like to see a further discussion of the following, even though the implicit benefit might go to any West­ern participant involved:

The philosophical basis of the older sciences m a y be able to contribute to a modern scientific establishment (such as the one here) that has been tied to 'West­ern' philosophers. T h e world view of the so-called Bantu and Nilotic peoples m a y be able to pose scientific questions in another framework. African pharmacy, for instance, in light of current broadened studies in American medical schools, would be of interest. W e could take a look at pre-modern science in Africa

with the aim of integrating its philosophi­cal basis into a global post-modern science.

In the field of applications of tech­nology, the African scientist has two advantages. A s Sholto Douglas has indi­cated, it is possible that the African can m a k e a fundamental contribution to the h u m a n environment. W e are behind the African ecologists in the sense that w e have to react to our industrial sins of the past. Secondly, the lack of previous con­straints provides a basis for Africans to progress rapidly without the burdens that can be imposed by tradition. The state­ment about the 'careless felling of the woodlands' could be written of m a n y 'advanced' countries. But Africa seems to be the place where—as opposed to the rhetoric of the 'new Jeremiahs'—some­thing constructive can be done to rectify the situation with far more ease than here. 'Finally the forest-farmer becomes . . . fully compatible in status to the [urban] industrial worker.' It's an intrigu­ing thought for an American w h o is con­cerned with the quality of life, and a thought that (in principle) would be well received here. Impact has provided a timely starting point for such discus­sion.

JONATHAN B. B R A M W E L L

281 West 253 Street Bronx, N . Y . 10471 (United States of America)

Correspondent Moiseyenko recently con­tributed to Voprosi Filosofii (Philosophi­cal Problems) an article titled 'The

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Scientific-Technical Intelligentsia in Mod­ern Capitalist Society'.

Sir: In m a n y respects w e differ in our inter­pretation of the phenomena which arise out of the scientific and technical revolu­tion and the development of which leads in particular to a certain reordering of the scale of spiritual, moral, social and other values and of the driving forces both within society and in the conscious­ness of its individual members belonging to particular levels and classes. But as w e contemplate the widening range of uses to which knowledge can be put— either for good or for evil—opened up for m a n by modern science and technol­ogy, there is at least one essential point on which w e must all agree, namely the need to m a k e a sincere effort to under­stand aright the essence of these processes and to attempt, while there is time, to work out effective evaluatory criteria and methods which will enable us to keep these processes under control, should this be necessary for the safety and well-being of the majority.

I a m particularly interested in the nature of the evolution taking place in the social and political outlook of the representatives of the various groups and sectors forming the scientific and tech­nical élite, which is undoubtedly of the greatest importance in the light of its expanding role in the economic, social and political functioning of contemporary society. In the course of studying the basic material for this research, I have become a regular reader of your journal.

O u r approach to, and interpretation of, the processes taking place in the con­

sciousness of scientists and engineers, as well as in the functioning of society, which I dealt with in m y article in Voprosi Filosofii, m a y differ. Neverthe­less w e both recognize the importance of the problems under consideration and the need to m a k e a sincere effort to find a solution that would benefit the majority of members of society. This realization should unite us in the face of the dangers latent in the prospect of an anti-human use of knowledge, and in the face of the growing threat of the harmful conse­quences of the practical application of the results of scientific and technical progress.

I a m interested in the representatives of the traditional sectors of the scientific and technical élite as well as those of sectors and groups that have arisen as a result of contemporary conditions and needs, created and stimulated by the scientific and technical revolution.

I a m also interested in the nature of the attitude to the scientific and techni­cal élite of contemporary Western sociol­ogists and philosophers and their assess­ment of the social and political outlook of scientists and engineers. O n these and other subjects w e receive ample and regular documentation from Soviet and foreign sources, but additional material might reveal further important aspects of these n e w problems.

I hope that your journal will con­tinue to study these important issues.

G E O R G I Y M . M O I S E Y E N K O

Ul. Kommunisticheskaya 23 Kv. 66 Syktyvkar, Komi A.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)

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The author of the. following letter is a writer and broadcaster of travelogues. He reports that his main interest is 'man and his job', especially 'what the job will do to the man'.

Sir: In his letter appearing in Impact (Vol. XXIII , N o . 2, 1973), M r Frank J. Evans wrote: 'Science has never, in the whole period of its existence, been fully accept­ed, and there is a contemporary opinion that is transforming this non-acceptance into a positive rejection.... In spite of a similar rejection of established religion in some communities, there is, in parallel to the flight from science, a growing attrac­tion to mysticism '

F r o m which it appears that (in the opinion of M r Evans) science is always a G o o d Thing and that mysticism (as undefined by M r Evans) is always a Bad Thing, that the two are necessarily antag­onistic opposites and, finally, that M r Evans cannot k n o w very m u c h about mysticism.

Mysticism is a many-splendoured thing; it has been treated with as m u c h respect and competent insight as has any of the sciences, by contemporaries as well as compatriots of correspondent Evans. O n e of these, incidentally, was the poet William Blake.

While reading M r Evans' letter, the following paragraph from Werner Hei-senberg's book Physics and Philosophy came to mind: '. . . T h e great scientific contribution in theoretical physics that has c o m e from Japan since the last war m a y be an indication for a certain rela­tionship between the philosophical ideas

in the tradition of the Far East and the philosophical substance of quantum theory. It m a y be easier to adapt oneself to the quantum-theoretical concept of reality w h e n one has not gone through the naive materialistic way of thinking that still prevailed in Europe in the first decades of this century.' Thank you, M r Heisenberg, for treating the naïve materi­alistic thinking of Europe as a thing of the past.

Mysticism and philosophy are not synonymous. Still, it could be worth while investigating Heisenberg's 'certain rela­tionship' between science and mysticism. Yet another version of the same idea can be found in Martin Gardner's The Ambi­dextrous Universe, in which I found the following enlightening paragraph: 'It is a pleasant thought that perhaps the familiar asymmetry of the [Yin-yang] symbol, so m u c h a part of Chinese culture, m a y have played a subtle, unconscious role in making it a little easier . . . to go against the grain of scientific orthodoxy, to pro­pose a test which their more symmetric-minded Western colleagues had thought scarcely worth the effort.'

Wouldn't it be better to investigate the subject matter of this 'pleasant thought' than merely strive to provide an effective counter-argument? A n d w h y is it that respected and respectable scientists sometimes k n o w no better w a y of describ­ing phenomena they have observed than by citing passages from Alice Through the Looking-glassl (See Fred Hoyle, for example, in The Nature of the Universe, and Grey Walter in The Living Brain.) In this modern age when legitimate talk of anti-particles leads to equally legitimate speculation on the possibility or even

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necessity of an anti-universe, it might pay H A R R Y K J E L D M E I E R to study Alice from a new angle. After Ordrup Jagtvej 40A all, author Lewis Carroll was one of the 2920 Charlottenlund greatest mystics ever! (Denmark)

Monetary inflation affects Unesco as it does m a n y of its M e m b e r States. The cost of an annual subscription to Impact of Science on Society, a relatively modest 16 French francs per year, has not changed in three years. During the same period, the value of currency in general has fallen continuously. T o cope with rising costs of production and distribution, Unesco regrets that it must raise the price of the journal to 28 francs annually, effective the beginning of the coming year.

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Jean-Paul C H A R N A Y

L'intellectuel arabe entre le pouvoir et la culture

Antoine C. M A T T A R

La langue arabe et la conjoncture du monde arabophone

Léonide M . BATKIN

Le paradoxe de Campanella

Raimundo PANIKKAR

Apologie de la scolastique

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C o m m e n t

Trojan horses Muting the social sciences at Berkeley

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M I N E R V A , 59 S T M A R T I N ' S L A N E , L O N D O N W C 2 N 4JS

Pramana in Sanskrit has m a n y meanings, not the least significant of which is 'source of reliable knowledge', an appropriate n a m e indeed for the new physics journal to be published by the Indian A c a d e m y of Sciences in collaboration with the Indian Physics Association. T h e outcome of serious nation­wide discussions and the co-operative efforts of the majority of Indian physicists, Pramana will serve as a vehicle for rapid publication and widespread dissemination of the best research papers from India and elsewhere. It is expected to become essential reading for physicists everywhere.

Initially, Pramana will publish original research papers in all branches of physics. It is hoped that by 1975, Pramana will branch out into theme journals devoted to areas like solid-state physics, nuclear physics, cosmic physics and other fields in which there is the necessary demand.

Editorial Board

Honorary Editor and Chairman: S. Ramaseshan, Bangalore Joint Editor: B. M . Udgaonkar, Bombay

Members

M . K . V . Bappu, Kodaikanal V . G . Bhide, N e w Delhi S. Chandrasekhar, Bangalore M . K . Das Gupta, Calcutta H . S. Hans, Chandigarh P. K . Iyengar, Bombay S. K . Joshi, Roorkee P. Krishna, Varanasi D . Lai, Ahmedabad A . N . Mitra, Delhi P. T . Narasimhan, Kanpur M . K . Pal, Calcutta E. S. Raja Gopal, Bangalore

Executive Editor: S. Arunachalum

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