small not beautiful

Jim heartfield jim at heartfield.demon.co.uk
Thu Sep 28 07:16:03 PDT 2000


In message <20000928092352.A12873 at panix.com>, Gordon Fitch <gcf at panix.com> writes
>
>Well, a lot of it seems like simple-minded utopianism, for
>one thing. The results of technological innovation are
>complex and often paradoxical. Consider the results of
>learning how to derive a lot of energy very quickly from
>nuclear fission.
>

Its not the results of technological innovation that are paradoxical (though of course they might be) in the example you cite. It is the perverse use to which they are put. There is nothing about nuclear fission that demands it become a weapon of war.

There is indeed a simple-minded utopianism about new technologies, which is the mirror image of the simple-minded dystopianism about new technologies. Technique in itself has no necessary social consequences, bad or good.

The absence of technique, by contrast, represents a barrier to human emancipation. Big is not necessarily better, but small is necessarily worse.

-- James Heartfield

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