“But we must not jeopardize the medical advances”
What Edward Goldsmith described as “The Great U-Turn” involves:
. reconception of the idea of “progress”
. acceptance of limits
. economic “de-growth”
. ecological rebalancing
. simplification of life
. regeneration of sense of place
. renewal of a healthy relationship to nature
. decentralization
. re-localization
. rejuvenation of community
. devolution of power
. deconcentration of wealth
. deconstruction of the institutional/technological Leviathan
Modern “advances” like industrialism and globalization are anathema to this worldview. Goldsmith and many Greens advocate for lifeways that are simpler, more basic, more natural. We think people would be happier liberated from the burdens of current-day expense, complexity, and stress.
Let’s envision the bioregional world of the future: It would be characterized by commitment to a place and a stable group of familiar others. People wouldn’t work for institutions, they’d work for their community. They’d create local culture together. They’d have more free time than we do. The landscape would not be marred by ubiquitous networks of highways or dominated by automobiles. The skies would be free of airplanes.
No electricity grids, but perhaps local generation of some electric energy from local renewable sources. Economics would be community-based. There would be no corporate empires. No Big-Pharma. Medical technologies, along with all other technologies, would be simpler, less high-tech.
“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!”
“If the U-Turn involves any lowering of medical standards, then it’s anathema . . . to me! I want the availability of MRI machines and chemotherapy and proton radiation and more! Cures and life extensions. And more!”
* * * *
Those of us who argue for simplification, etc. can get lots of resonance as we make our case . . . until the moment the discussion turns to the medical arena. Then we always hear: “Not less, more! Advance the frontier!”
There’s a response to this that applies to the whole gestalt of questioning progress:
“Hey, humanity: Where, exactly, do you think you’re going?”
In regard to health, well-being, and longevity: We live with full vitality for about three score and ten. With much expense and technology we’ve extended the quality-of-life span a decade or two.
There’s no doubt that we’ve extended longevity somewhat, yet it should be kept in mind that most of our comparisons are to earlier periods of history. It turns out that lifespans were shortened during the early millennia of complex civilization. There had been a transition from sustainable levels of population density to problematic levels of density characterized by urbanization, congestion, and toxic agricultural practices. People started to die young from what are called the “diseases of civilization,” such as measles, rubella, typhus, malaria, smallpox, chickenpox, influenza, polio, cholera, asthma, plague, tuberculosis.
Humanity had to struggle to live under the unnatural conditions of complex civilization. Within the context of that struggle, yes, we’ve made progress. We now enjoy a medical marvel. We’re dependent upon such. Do we ever stop to think: How could humans have lived and thrived for millions of years without high-tech hospitals and MRI machines?
High-tech hospitals and MRI machines are products of the modern institutional/technological Leviathan, the totality of which is an affliction. We have to wean ourselves off of our dependence upon it. Chastened about progress, accepting of limits, we need to let go of our fantasies of techno-fixes, delusions about conquering nature, living in a human cocoon, secure and surfeited. Our inherent vitality sustains us pretty well. It’s part of the bounty of nature. We could cultivate it without trying so hard to get somewhere else.
