That is the Tim Jackson view of whether technological innovation can help 9 billion people live sustainably, and well, on the planet: "There is as yet no credible, socially just, environmentally sustainable scenario for continually growing incomes for a world of nine billion people." [Prosperity without Growth (p. 86)].
It's a view which Eric Knight refutes in his new book, Reframe, which he discusses in the latest RSA journal (pp. 36-39). Jackson's error, according to Knight, is to see the problem in terms of the "global citizen" where, according to Knight, no such person exists, because he has asked the wrong question (hence the title). Knight goes on,
"The question is not about whether we can progress technologically; it is about whether we can deploy the technological innovations of the developed world in the developing one. ... The answers that will define our prosperity are not necessarily global or average; they are local and specific. They are solutions that work with a particular set of individuals given their histories and contexts."
Knight concludes his RSA piece:
"... We need leaders who can help us apply the right perspective to the world around us and focus our minds on answers that are just out of view."
... something that I guess Tim J would agree with. We need such leaders at every level and in every sector, it seems to me; happily they can emerge in the most unlikely places.
Respond