1900 House

Jim heartfield jim at heartfield.demon.co.uk
Wed Jun 28 07:39:14 PDT 2000


In message <20000628095906.A20386 at panix.com>, Gordon Fitch <gcf at panix.com> writes
>Such things as the exhaustion of important resources and
>catastrophic breakdowns of the environment have been noticed
>on a small scale before now; I can supply examples if necessary.

Yes, please do. Gutta Percha, perhaps? My point is that some specifically named natural phenomena might reach exhaustion, but there is no record of any reversal of the increasing rate of interchange between man and nature, ever. There are no absolute boundaries to human development, only relative, and generally social ones.


>As human powers of production and transformation increase,
>then, it seems certain that misadventures of these kinds will
>become increasingly likely on a broader scale, especially if
>(as is now the case) those in authority and their flacks deny
>the possibility.

'Seems certain'? Isn't it precisely those things that seem certain that ought to be questioned. You seek to demonise counter-arguments ahead of time as the work of government spokesmen. But it is government spokesmen who have done most to insist upon the limits to development, and naturalise the engineered scarcity of capitalist societies.

-- James Heartfield

Great Expectations: the creative industries in the New Economy is available from Design Agenda, 4.27 The Beaux Arts Building, 10-18 Manor Gardens, London, N7 6JT Price 7.50 GBP + 1GBP p&p



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