> >I'll try it in a short, nonrambling sentence or two. Is it possible
>>for a simple society to produce complicated technology? Can you make
>>a computer chip without large universities, large states, and large
>>enterprises?
>
>I'm curious - let's suppose the answer to your question is no. Suppose
>that along with high tech comes statist and hierarchical societies. And
>suppose egalitarianism requires a much simpler society, one which cannot
>produce these types of widgets. Which would you choose to live in?
>
>This might be a false choice, but the historical evidence suggests that it
>isn't. Anyway, I'm interested in how you'd answer your own question.
I'm hoping that complexity could come without authoritarianism and hierarchy. I would not like to live in a "simpler" society, if that meant no antibiotics or fiber optics. So, I guess I'm trying to evade the forced binary, though I really wonder if I can.
Doug