Newsgroups: bit.listserv.biosph-l
Date:         Wed, 26 Aug 1992 13:22:39 GMT
Reply-To:     Terence Sommerville <TSOMMER@IRLEARN.UCD.IE>
From:         Terence Sommerville <TSOMMER@IRLEARN.UCD.IE>
Subject:      Industrial Society, Objectives of Society

I would like to add further to the debate about energy and industrial
society.

I think we must step back for a moment and ask what are all these things
that industry manufacutures. Clearly of course they are the things we need
for maintaining our life, food, clothing, buildings and essentials tools.

However we are all aware that there is an awful lot of crap produced that
people buy, but either use once or do not even need. These then become
inefficences. We must ask ourselves does our society just function to
produce things and increase production still further. Surely the value of
any society is measured in cultural things and activities. For example art,
science, literature, good health, education (not addiction to TV soaps) and
the chance to experience wilderness areas and so on.

  When you look at Western socity we find then that it is not very efficient,
because when you compare the amount of energy and resources put into industry,
with the amount of cultural acitivity and quality of life, then we are not
getting very much out of it. (That is taking society as a whole). To be more
specfic I am also taking about the environmental effects that the West has
on the whole world, in terms of resources it sucks in, and damage it creates
throughout.

Western society is beginning to sound like the old communist regimes where
all the progaganda talked about were increased production. In the West,
particulary in the sphere of economics, all that seems to matter is that
GNP is rising, and stocks and share prices have increased. This is pure
crap, because to the bulk of the population, it has no net effect on the
quality of life.

 To get back to industry, the issue is then we have to stop at some point
producing endless amounts of goods. Otherwise you could theorise that if
all was well, everyone in the world, could have every conceivable item
that they might want or need. Having too much material items distracts from
who you are and what you are about. True industry should try to be efficient
as possible in producing the goods we NEED to maintain a reasonable standard
of living and this MUST encompass almost total recycling of most things.
This therefore brings us to limits of energy required for what any society
should need to reach what should be worthwhile objectives. Clearly if it
is using excess amounts, some portion of this has to be therefore mis-directed
and ends up causing resource problems, degradation of quality of life, and so
on through wasted time (say in traffic jams) and pollution.

I would consider that most of Western society uses too much energy, and
partially because of this can't possibly reach goals I have pointed out
above. This has alot to do with the structure of our society, towns and
cities, and perhaps most important, there is absolutely no consenus or
plan to what our overall goals are.

What we have now is the tail wagging the dog.

-Terry.
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