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58 | Tue Purtosopny or Eco-Porrriıcs
our values, but because of the logic of events. The global expansion of
the patterns of aggressive modernisation have destroyed or rendered
obsolete the local knowledge with which various cultures were able, in
their own way, to maintain some kind of dynamic balance between
population reproduction, the qualities of nature, the technologies that
ensure a living and the institutions maintaining the order of society,
which they are no longer capable of doing. The final collapse of the
delicate balance among the four listed factors has precipitated the
explosion of the population. Its consequences led to the exhaustion of
the irreplaceable natural resources, which causes a constant state of war
and finally forces a part of the population to emigrate. That these
processes strengthen each other needs no explanation. It is also evident
that the continents able to adapt, relatively speaking, most successfully
— Europe and North America — to the new patterns (industrial mass
society, mass culture, mass democracy), are those which had the most
time to do so. Here, in one way or another, the drastic changes realised
the possibilities contained within their own cultural heritage and, what
is even more important, took place gradually. (The joint characteristic
of biological and social systems is that they can adapt with incredible
flexibility to slow, gradual changes, but sudden, aggressive intervention
can easily lead to chaos and the collapse of the system. All this bears
no relation to so-called sustainability and even less to the political
statements on the needs of future generations.) The deluge of
information on the internet does not necessarily make up for the loss
of knowledge. Neither do the international educational assistance
programs, which provide the recipients with tools for adaptation rather
than the restoration of local cultural identities. The parrot who has
forgotten how to fly in his cage is not compensated by learning to say
a word or two in the meantime.
If one then approaches the issue of impoverishment from the
perspective of institutional and technological changes, one notices that
the scientific-technological revolution made possible the unparalleled
speeding up the circulation of goods and energy in societies. ‘This
promised to solve all the troubles of society purely through the increase
of economic performance. It provides everyone with a living and satiates
and reconciles the nations and social groups previously hostile towards
one other. Henceforward they will no longer war against each other,
but instead set to the exploitation of nature together and in competition
with one another. This latter is well underway but it has brought no
social peace, but has instead become a source of new animosity,