

Small Is Beautiful: Economics As If People Mattered - csmeder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Is_Beautiful

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tjic
From the wikipedia page: "It is often used to champion small, appropriate
technologies"

I personally * LOATHE * the phrase "appropriate technology".

In practice, this term is usually used by elitist first worlders condescending
to second and third worlders. I scoff at the idea that some sociology grad
student in the US knows more about how "the street" should use technology than
actual people, living their real lives in Laos, or Kenya, or somewhere.

Further, the "appropriate" technology is usually "really clever" crap. "Oh,
wow, we can dig a 10 foot deep well using nothing more than a piece of PVC
pipe and five hours of labor!". ...and yet, you'd never catch these first
world people getting their water supply from a 10' deep hole in their backyard
- they're totally in favor of chlorine, municipal water, and more.

"Appropriate" is a word that parents use to correct five year old children.

First world adults using it to correct others, when they won't put any skin in
the game themselves, rubs me the wrong way.

~~~
bpyne
"you'd never catch these first world people getting their water supply from a
10' deep hole in their backyard - they're totally in favor of chlorine,
municipal water, and more."

Wells are actually pretty common in the US. It depends on the water table and
population density of an area.

~~~
netcan
Also in rural Australia & Ireland.

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sp332
Decentralization may be nice, but it's generally much _less_ efficient.
Consumption would rise dramatically. Per-capita consumption decreases as
centralization increases. Remember this from last year?
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=619099>

Also, the book says:

    
    
      [S]ince consumption is merely a means to human well-being,
      the aim should be to obtain the maximum of well-being with
      the minimum of consumption. The less toil there is, the
      more time and strength is left for artistic creativity.
      Modern economics, on the other hand, considers consumption
      to be the sole end and purpose of all economic activity.
    

Consumption is a word that covers all kinds of ends. Unless you can create _ex
nihilo_ , artistic creativity is a consumptive endeavor.

~~~
cabalamat
> _Decentralization may be nice, but it's generally much less efficient._

Depends entirely on the business in question and the technologies and human
factors involved. There's a reason most dentists work in small practices, but
electrical power and processors are made in large capital-intensive plants.

~~~
azzleandre
Actually I think a big dentist-center would be a cool thing. Less money wasted
on competition, easier ways for patients to get a specialists opinion if
needed, cheaper access to supply, more efficient use of dental technicians /
staff in general.

I guess the scale of centralization is the real question.

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philk
Seems like feel-good nonsense.

I hate this sort of thing. Capitalism has delivered huge benefits in terms of
prosperity, advancement and health. We've got to the point where someone
willing to accept a lowered standard of living can take lots of time off and
use it to focus on other things that are important to them. (The fact that
people continue to toil to get more possessions just shows where their
priorities lie).

Unfortunately there's always a small contingent who think that all this
advancement is terrible and we'd be better off living the kind of "simple but
happy" lives they condescendingly imagine people in the third world live.

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jonasvp
Definitely a great book. If you're interested in human-scale development, you
should definitely check out the writings of Leopold Kohr
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_Kohr>). E.F. Schumacher (of "Small is
Beautiful" fame) was one of his students and Kohr writes even closer to the
bone.

His books (my favorite: "The Overdeveloped Nations") are not only extremly
insightful but actually fun to read.

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rmk
I have been meaning to read this for a _long_ time...

Doesn't it say that there is something wrong with the scale of things in the
first world (and point that out using energy consumption stats?)

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eru
The book is a nice read and pretty inspiring. I even gave it as a gift to a
friend a few years ago.

Though e.g. in power plants big tends to be more efficient than small.

