The rising world population, and the probability of unstoppable mass migration, offer little hope. More conceptually radical possibilities merit exploration. One possibility lies in delinking quality of life from the tangibles promoted by economists and commercial interests, and clarifying how it might be carried by the intangibles of community life. As many have discovered, the quality of tangibles is no guarantee of quality of life, although it is in the interests of conventional economic growth to present it so. The fact that they are not is itself of interest.
Extreme cases are perhaps hermits and austere religious communities.
Perhaps also of little interest are contemporary examples such as New Age travellers, gypsies, and young people exploring newly acquired independence. Most striking is the case of those in love or imbued with an ideal. Little wonder that the role of intangibles in community life remains unexplored except as an advertising gloss to assist the sale of tangibles. The key may lie in recognition that a sense of social exclusion results from identifying well-being with the tangibles used as symbols by particular social groups . There is pressure to acquire more expensive foods when this sense of well-being is lacking.