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PeaceSymbol Ah the alure of technological solutions!
Deus ex machina—the idea that an all powerful solution is just around the corner and all we have to do is wait for it to save us. Michael Hale

The above comment was my reaction to the portrayal of a technology that seemed to be coming to save us all. Some scientists and engineers believe that we do not have to worry about what we are doing to the earth, because we will either "fix" it with technology or, failing that, build a flotilla of rocket ships that will enable the human race (or those who can afford it) to rocket to another star system and live happily ever after, so we don't have to worry about what we are doing on earth. Michael 18:40, 11 August 2006 (UTC)


Category[]

Should this go in Category:Energy or Category:Technology or something else? CQ 19:35, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

Dunno. Too early to tell, perhaps. Michael 13:10, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Alternatives[]

An alternative to a "clinic" in an aborigional village might be the domicile of a Shamin or medicine man. In modern terms it has the usual connotations.

The "school" is a western idea with an aborigonal equivalant being that of the domicile or structure where the most skilled crafts person or persons would spend their day showing youngsters the tricks and trade secrets.

The "chapel" may be a chantry or enclosed space with special acoustic properties for the performance of cerimonial chants or encantations used in liminality and rites of passage. To modern westerners a chapel can be nearly anything.

These are just my views (or my just views, according to my point of view). Just shoot me. • CQ 17:24, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

This is good stuff, CQ. I think you have hit on the core aspects of culture and/or community. We might want to add industry. I'm not sure if that is the right word. Anyway, in hunter-gatherer societies that would be hunting and gathering. In agricultural societies it would mean farming and alied trades. In feudal societies the trades and services expanded within a hierarchical organization. Then came industrial society which gave us the factory. Even the three core activities you mention became "industrialized" (think of high schools with thousands of students--little more than factories). But we need to work. Any scale society has to make things. It could be cottage industry. What should we call it? Industry? Work? Michael 19:57, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
I was concentrating on the core. Industry, agriculture, crafts, hunting-gathering, and other activities take place on the periphery, fanning out from the core. The core is according to this simplified theory a "commons" or "town square" in more modern/western terms. See Original affluent society and Communitas. CQ 06:36, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
Imagine a village square with a clinic, a school and a chapel. No crafts, no market. Do you think it would be viable? Wait a minute, that is what is missing: a market. The market would be the venue through which agricultural products or crafts from cottage industries would be offered to the wider community or to travellers. Michael 15:51, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
Thinking more about your point (if I've got it right), Sahlins uses the term "industrial" soley in the negative sense. I was using it both in a positive way (industrious) and a negative one (industrial). Also, (assuming you accept my addition of the term "market") we need to be clear that we are talking about local markets which bring producers and buyers together, rather than the markets (such as the stock market) which are features of the market economy. Michael 21:58, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
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