"How to thrive without growth..." Great point! I'll have to think long and hard just to grasp what is lying behind our priority there, because I'm sure it's much more than an economic model.
As I'm sure you get, I'm no foe of technology; as you say, I'm cautious about its trade-offs, but we need all our different kinds of human innovation to hold it together. I do like your point about technical progress in a different social context, too -- damn, it sounds like a great premise for a near-future sci-fi(?) novel.
And no, I didn't mean this to be about you, I just wanted to be sure you knew where I was on this because it's so central to who I am. I can't possibly ask any more of anyone than to wrestle with the ambiguity of their own compromises. It's all I can do too, to recognize the paradox of my existence -- that I could live on a fraction of my income (I met someone via my class last term who makes do with $5,000) and still be counted among the wealthiest fifth of the world's inhabitants.
And yet, I'm not about to do even that. It would take several Earths to support us all if everyone lived the way I do. I mean, shit, you know? But I'm still accepting all of this compromise, struggling to stay aware that my name is daily growing larger on the bill that is coming due.
Re: natch
As I'm sure you get, I'm no foe of technology; as you say, I'm cautious about its trade-offs, but we need all our different kinds of human innovation to hold it together. I do like your point about technical progress in a different social context, too -- damn, it sounds like a great premise for a near-future sci-fi(?) novel.
And no, I didn't mean this to be about you, I just wanted to be sure you knew where I was on this because it's so central to who I am. I can't possibly ask any more of anyone than to wrestle with the ambiguity of their own compromises. It's all I can do too, to recognize the paradox of my existence -- that I could live on a fraction of my income (I met someone via my class last term who makes do with $5,000) and still be counted among the wealthiest fifth of the world's inhabitants.
And yet, I'm not about to do even that. It would take several Earths to support us all if everyone lived the way I do. I mean, shit, you know? But I'm still accepting all of this compromise, struggling to stay aware that my name is daily growing larger on the bill that is coming due.