To put it simply:
Our farming practices are industrial. Our education system is industrial, our infrastructure is industrial and our societal assumptions all tend towards industry. But our technology is several steps ahead, having moved through post-industrial into electronic and is now at a place I’d describe as Ethereal. It is everywhere, it is wireless, and it has no place for the factory workers our schools are training or the commodity soybeans our farms are growing, which in any case are making us all sick.
The loudest argument in favor of preserving these obsolete practices is the “The economy depends on it!” argument, which is as absurd as saying that we can’t make new-shaped jugs because that will upset the water. The Economy is more resilient than the status quo would have us believe, and is more likely to suffer from clinging to old ways than from embracing innovations.
So in short, I want a world where industry is put in its proper place: the past. I want polycultural farms to become the norm, a drastic reduction in pesticide use, and farming to take its place as a societally accepted career choice for young people. I want schools that focus on a love of learning, and enthusiasm for change, over obedience to bells. I want nationwide mass transit, universal healthcare, free higher education and renewable energy.
Would the economy survive? Of course it would. Would the middle class survive? Honey, it would thrive. Would America feel like it had finally entered the 21st century? Oh yes indeed.
What would suffer then? Well, insurance companies, Monsanto, big pharma, big oil, and for-profit universities. Our billionaires might have to adjust. But don’t worry too much about them; they got where they are by being very good at seeing needs and filling them (which would still be useful) OR taking advantage of the culpability of others (which will always be applicable) OR their daddies had these skills (in which case, let them eat shit.)
Our farming practices are industrial. Our education system is industrial, our infrastructure is industrial and our societal assumptions all tend towards industry. But our technology is several steps ahead, having moved through post-industrial into electronic and is now at a place I’d describe as Ethereal. It is everywhere, it is wireless, and it has no place for the factory workers our schools are training or the commodity soybeans our farms are growing, which in any case are making us all sick.
The loudest argument in favor of preserving these obsolete practices is the “The economy depends on it!” argument, which is as absurd as saying that we can’t make new-shaped jugs because that will upset the water. The Economy is more resilient than the status quo would have us believe, and is more likely to suffer from clinging to old ways than from embracing innovations.
So in short, I want a world where industry is put in its proper place: the past. I want polycultural farms to become the norm, a drastic reduction in pesticide use, and farming to take its place as a societally accepted career choice for young people. I want schools that focus on a love of learning, and enthusiasm for change, over obedience to bells. I want nationwide mass transit, universal healthcare, free higher education and renewable energy.
Would the economy survive? Of course it would. Would the middle class survive? Honey, it would thrive. Would America feel like it had finally entered the 21st century? Oh yes indeed.
What would suffer then? Well, insurance companies, Monsanto, big pharma, big oil, and for-profit universities. Our billionaires might have to adjust. But don’t worry too much about them; they got where they are by being very good at seeing needs and filling them (which would still be useful) OR taking advantage of the culpability of others (which will always be applicable) OR their daddies had these skills (in which case, let them eat shit.)