Small Is Beautiful : Economic As If People Mattered

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity”, these are the quotes of the famous German physicist Albert Einstein in relation to how the world has become overly reliant on technology. As a result, we have taken nature for granted while also ignoring the adverse effects of technology. The making of steam engine, the usage of fossil fuel and the creation of chlorofluorocarbon are all technologies which has benefited us greatly and are continuing to do so, but like everything on this earth there are always negatives to counter the positives This is the balance that we must find between nature and humans.

Over the past 25 years, there has been a big migration towards urban areas. This is mainly due to the fact that cities have many resources and organizations that entice those who demand change (Nicholls 4). Many people felt an increase in grievances and consequently went to the city

It has attracted many who are looking for work and a factor of a new exciting way of living. For young men from the rural areas the big cities seemed to offer unlimited job, the ability to enjoy new modern technology such as electricity, transportation, and the telephone. A popular magazine of the era pointed out “The towns are being recruited by those too poor to be able to live in the country as well as by those too rich to be willing to live there”.

The United States of America experienced a nearly one percent population growth rate in 2014 (Lafayette Parish, Louisiana). This growth rate is higher in comparison to Britain, France, and other first world countries. To many, this statement is not surprising. There is always an exaggerated news story about the increasing number of people immigrating to America and how it affects the country. Each woman in America is replacing herself and her spouse by giving birth to an average of nearly two babies in her lifetime (Louisiana). As America grows, more and more people migrate to cities because, generally, living in a city provides an easier life. Cities have plentiful jobs, more housing, and a multitude of places to shop and to eat. Cities also

“Man is a slow, sloppy, and brilliant thinker; computers are fast, accurate, and stupid” –John Pfeiffer. The purpose of technology is to make human life easier, performing simple, medial tasks. Our society has reached a problem, however, that technology is taking over human purpose: computers are thinking, instead of humans making discoveries and ideas for themselves. While knowledge continues to progress, the nature of it becomes significantly more mechanical and technological. In Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan argues that people need to open themselves up to new innovations and technological changes in order for society to progress; however, too much advancement in technology can have the opposite effect, as

Increasing numbers of people beginning to migrate to cities to find work, instead of working in the

We are the creators of technology and what we have created is what will inevitably destroy us. This century is filled with people capable of taking control of our resources but we should first be taking control of what we created. Technology is now controlling this centuries

The problem arises if urbanization is needed for people to have in their life. As people begin to evolve and technology becomes more advanced, the need for space is crucial, and urbanization for people becomes the best alternative for modern life to be stable. Focusing on the benefits only, people become blind from the impact other individuals who are in between urbanization struggle with. The people that are in between the construction of urbanization have no other choice but to accept it and move. Urbanization has become a problem in the life of low-income families, but people have to follow modern life in order to survive emotionally and financially. The benefits from urbanization are high for the economically stable families and those who

As cities urbanize there is a flowing system of uncertainty and mobility limiting practices. A system where, where people “belong” at any given time is fluid and ever changing or completely static. For members of lower socioeconomic class this mobility or static state is progressive and out of their control. This lack of control over their home results in displacement and ethnic enclaves. People higher on the socioeconomic ladder choose to leave their old homes and force people lower on the socioeconomic ladder to leave theirs to cluster in one area. A city can be a cluster and seen as undesirable one year then a trend is sparked and that city suddenly becomes to new frontier. Many factors play a role in why this fluidity or static state is

As our innovative world is rapidly moving into the future, technology is being invented and innovated at every turn. This technology ranges from top-notch video game systems to microscopic robots made to perform internal surgery. Although these impressive technological improvements were recently made, they are not entirely beneficial because this technology damages our social and learning skills, while also damaging us as humans.

Most people think of little villages as these quiet, relaxing, and peaceful communities where nothing major really happens, and because of this people lose a lot of opportunities. Steward Brand talks about how more and more people are moving away from the village lifestyle and into the urban lifestyle, in order to have more varieties in their life. These options include education, employment, and safety. Brand states, “I used to have a romantic view of villages, and it’s because I never lived in one”. This statement is another way of stating that the grass is always greener on the other side, but that’s not always the case. Living in a village is hard work, and little opportunities will come your way. Cities are becoming more popular because people can achieve more in their lives, such as moving up in the social ladder or the corporate ladder.

In what I disagree with Folger is in how he mentions that science makes everything better which I don’t think is totally true. For the reason, that it has made people more dependent on materialistic things. In addition, all this technology is also making people lazier. Which this leads to obesity because now they are just sitting down and with a push of a button things can be brought to them or they can go anywhere sitting down. This is becoming more of an issue and a concern, yes some scientific creations have become very handy but it’s quite scary to see that these creations are taking over. For example, now for some companies they don’t even need people and if they had some, now they are being fired for the reason that robots or some other

In regards to this article, more innovative cities are being separated from other cities because of the domino effect caused by the difference in income. With this intention, higher-end companies tend to cluster together; therefore, workers employed by these companies live locally and result in the amenities around them being more costly. People who earn lower income are forced to move out of these areas because of the higher cost of living; thus, increasing the separation between cities. In contrast, not only are the cities divided in terms of income, services such as education and safety are exclusively offered to the upper class. If higher-income and lower-income people were integrated; they could both be surrounded by these services and

Small is Beautiful is structured in four parts that discuss different issues of economics with an overall theme that the current system in Western nations is not sustainable and there are many ways through which it can be improved. The topic about income and capital is introduced that describes the modern world as one that is ruining itself. The problem lies in the extensive use of natural resources and treating them as income, something that people do not have to pay for and are not concerned with it. It is argued that nature is actually a capital item which must be paid for. People should understand that and start treating it as such when using resources for production as currently in the process of economic growth, the Earth and masses of people are depleted. In that sense, it is discussed what make something economic. Developed nation’s opinion on that matter is that an economic event is one that generates profit. This view of economics disregards joys in life and creates a sense that people are only working for materialistic reasons. Labour is considered as a sacrifice people have to make and are compensated for that in the form of wages. Schumacher’s view on that matter can be described through the idea of Buddhist Economics. This concept presents a metaphysical approach where people work together in order to provide benefits to the society, the function of which is to develop each individual’s

Community Economic Development (CED) is a field of study that causes community engagement when working with public and private organizations to create strong communities, industries, and markets. “Community Economic Development is a multifaceted comprehensive approach to community change that is not limited to just poverty programs, nor is it synonymous with industrial recruitment”, as pointed out by Shaffer et al. (2004), “Community Economic Development is not an attempt to exploit resources to yield the maximum economic return.”