"We are on the cusp of further perfection of extreme evil." - Bill Joy, founder of Sun Micro Systems, on biotechnology
Over thirty years ago, a book appeared by the economist EF Schumacher called Small is Beautiful, which would become the key inspiration for many within what is now a global movement.
Schumacher founded the Intermediate Technology Development Group (ITDG), which helps communities integrate appropriate human-scale technologies across the developing world and is now called Practical Action, and the UK Soil Association, which runs one of the world’s premier organic certification schemes. His work was also the direct inspiration for Schumacher College, a leading ecological learning centre in the UK offering courses in ‘new paradigm’ thinking.
Schumacher believed there were two types of science – ‘the science of manipulation and the science of understanding’. At the moment, the science of manipulation – genetic modification (GM), nanotechnology, nuclear power - seems to attract all the large research budgets, creating centralised economic power over the food we eat, the products we buy and the energy we use. However, these technologies are also highly dangerous, needing strict regulations to try and contain them.
In contrast, the science of understanding, which observes and learns from natural processes, is producing many of the designs and technologies which could shift our current path – renewable energy like solar and wind, new design approaches like Biomimicry and Cradle to Cradle.
As Web of Hope founder Dr Colin Hudson used to say, ‘Genetically modified seeds, ‘stealth viruses’ and self-replicating ‘nanobots’ may be very clever, but are they really intelligent?’