UNIT - III
TECHNOLOGY WITH A
HUMAN FACE
About
the Author:
Ernst Friedrich Schumacher was an
internationally influential economic thinker, statistician and economist in
Britain, serving as Chief Economic Advisor for many years for Britain’s
National Coal Board. He was an economist of international repute and the author
of the books titled “Small is Beautiful: A study of economics as if people
mattered” and “A Guide for the Perplexed”. The phrase “Small is Beautiful” is used
to champion the small, appropriate technologies that are believed to empower
people more, in contrast with phrases such as "bigger is better".
Q1. What prompts the writer to
advocate for technology with a human face?
Ans. The essay “Technology with a Human
Face” is taken from E.F. Schumacher’s book “Small is Beautiful”.
In this essay Schumacher expresses
his fear and concern about the inhuman nature of modern technology which is
taking the world from crisis to crisis showing visible signs of disaster and
breakdown of mankind in the coming future.
Everything shaped by technology, both
in the past as well as in the present, looks sick and inhuman. Hence it is high
time we considered if we could have – ‘a technology with a human face’.
Q2.
How, according to the writer, is technology anti-nature?
Ans. Schumacher differentiates between the
principles of Nature and Technology.
Nature always follows a self-limit
principle i.e. it knows where and when to stop. There is a measure in all
natural things in their size, speed or violence. Hence it tends to be
self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Technology or super-technology,
on the other hand, has no self-limit principle. Hence it acts like a foreign
body in Nature and is thus subjected to rejection.
Q3.
What are the three crises technology has given rise to simultaneously?
Ans. The modern technology, which has shaped the
modern world, has involved itself in three crises simultaneously. Firstly, humans finds the inhuman
technological, organizational and political patterns to be very suffocating and
debilitating and revolt against them. Secondly,
due to technology, the living environment is giving signs of partial breakdown
and lastly the world’s non-renewable
resources especially the fossil fuels are on the verge of virtual exhaustion.
Schumacher says that any one of these three crises can turn out to be deadly
and eventually cause a total collapse. It is a result of materialism and
limitless expansionism of technology in a finite environment.
Q4.
How does the writer substantiate his view that technology causes more problems
than it offers solutions?
Q5.
Why does the writer say that doing work with brains and hands has become
exceedingly rare, especially in rich countries?
Q6.
Does the writer argue convincingly that modern technology has evolved to be
more and more inhuman and has led to more problems in both rich and poor
nations?
Q7.
Why does the writer state that modern technology does not enrich man but empties
him?
Schumacher says that growth of industrialisation
during the last twenty five years has developed more problems than solutions
even in the rich countries. Industrialisation has brought about only an
illusionary success. Technology appears to have helped us in many ways but the
two big problems of unemployment and poverty could not be solved in both
developed as well as developing countries.
The primary task of technology such as various
machinery and computers is to reduce the burden of man’s work so that he can
enjoy life and relax. But modern technology is eliminating skilful, productive
and creative work of human hands and brains and therefore destroys work enjoyment. Modern technology is
gigantic, highly complicated and needed huge capital investment. Only the rich
can afford to run modern factories. These labour saving machines makes the rich
richer and poor poorer and unemployment and poverty increases all over the
world.
He says that a new type of technology called self-help
technology is needed so that everyone including old men and children can
work with their clever brain and two skilful hands with great satisfaction.
Schumacher never says that technology in itself is
bad. However, he urges us to utilize the scientific techniques that help us get
to the truth of the matter and increase our knowledge, to focus on technology
that does not lead to giantism, speed, or violence and destruction of
human-work enjoyment. What he instead asks us is to recapture simplicity in all
that we do to produce a self-balancing system of nature.
Q8. How does the people’s technology that the writer proposes differ
from primitive or super-technology?
Q9.
How does the writer establish the claim that technology only lightens the
burden of work and does not really carry any weight or prestige?
Q10.
What are the strategies the writer employs in this argumentative essay to
convince the readers that technology is more a bane rather than a boon,
although there are certain explicit advantages of it?
Q11.
Explain his concept of ‘technology with a human face’ and find out how it would
tide over the crises of the super-technology of the rich.
According to Schumacher, the modern
world, shaped by technology, continues to look sick. We wonder that technology
has helped us in many ways, yet the underlying factors of alleviation of
poverty and unemployment have not been solved by technology at all. In that
case, we have to consider whether it is possible better – a technology with
human face. It very strange to say the laws and principles of technology, the
product of man, are generally very different from those of human nature of
living nature. There is measure in all natural things in their size, speed of
violence. The system of nature, which man is a part of it, tends to be
self-balancing, self-adjusting, self-clearing. However, it is not so with
technology. It recognizes no self-limit principle in terms of its size, speed,
or violence. It does not possess the virtues of being self-balanced,
self-adjusting, self-cleansing. Somehow, man is dominated by technology and
specialization. The modern technology acts like a foreign body and it has
become inhuman in the subtle system of nature.
In his opinion, the modern technology was involved
in three crises simultaneously. First, human nature revolts against suffocating
and debilitating inhuman technological patterns. Second, the living environment
is partially breakdown. In addition, the
third, it is clear that the inroads of the world’s non-renewable resources have
become serious bottlenecks and virtual exhaustion loom ahead in the future. It
is the result of materialism and limitless expansionism in a finite
environment. It is a big question whether we could develop technology, which
can solve all our problems, a technology with a human face.
Schumacher says, “The primary task of technology, it would seem, is to
lighten the burden of work man has to carry in order to stay alive and develop
his potential”. Technology that lightens our burden would help give us had
better time to relax and do what we would like, increase our creativity, work
things with our hands that give us joy as defined by Thomas Aquinas. Schumacher
explains it is not the actual production of ‘total social time’ spent roughly
one-fifth of one-third of one half, that is 3.5 percent and the rest 96.5
percent of ‘total social time’ is directly product less. It pales into insignificance, that it carries
no real weight, but alone prestige. Hence, virtually all-real production has
been turned into an inhuman chore which does not enrich a man but empties him.
Taking stock of our goals, everybody would take it a privilege to work
usefully, creatively with his own hands and brains can actually produce things
and would benefit the society.
The modern industrial society is not romantic and certainly not utopian.
It is in deep trouble and holds no promise of survival. We must have the
courage to dream if we want to survive and give our children a chance to
survive. We must develop a new lifestyle, which is compatible with the real
needs of human nature and living nature around us. In order to avoid the dire
consequences, both by rich and poor countries, we need a different kind of
technology, a technology more productive with a human face.
Q12.
What compels the writer to formulate his first law of economics: ‘The amount of
real leisure a society enjoys tends to be in inverse proportion to the amount
of labour saving machinery it employs’?
We have so far, possessed a vast
accumulation of new knowledge which include splendid scientific techniques to
increase this knowledge further and immense practical experience in its
application. This is called truthful knowledge. But so far, we have made an
unwise and destructive use of our technology because we never get enjoyment in
our work. Therefore Schumacher suggests an idea that the productive time of
3.5% of total social time to be increased to 20% of total social time. If this
wonderful idea is put into practice, even children and old people would be able
to do creative, productive and useful work and they can enjoy doing it with
their clever brain and two skilful hands. The therapeutic and educational value
of such enjoyable and useful work will be blessing for all people in the world.
Then no one wants to raise the school leaving age or to lower the retirement
age. Everybody would welcome the opportunity of working usefully, creatively
with his own hands and brains in his own time at his own pace and with
excellent tools. People who work in this way do not know the difference between
work and leisure because the work itself is full of pleasure and enjoyment!
Schumacher is a great admirer of
Mahatma Gandhi and tries to follow his teaching in the scientific ideas about
the new life-style he has visualised in this essay.
Gandhiji said that the poor of the
world cannot be helped by mass production, only by production by the mass. According
to Schumacher, a new technology with a human face should be introduced. The
present inhuman technology is based on mass production with highly capital
investment and high energy input where workers are mere slaves of work and the
rich owner makes huge profit. This system should be changed and a new
technology with a human face should be introduced. Instead of mass production,
the new system is based on production by the masses. All people, young and old
can work with their skilful hands and clever brains with first class tools in
their own time and speed and then work would be great pleasure for them.
Concluding his essay, Schumacher says
that the technology of production by the masses is called “the intermediate
technology” because this technology is far superior to the primitive technology
of old days, but at the same time much simpler, cheaper and freer than the
super technology of the rich. The intermediate technology can also be called
‘self- help technology or democratic or people’s technology. This technology is
making use of the best of modern knowledge and experience, suitable for the
laws of ecology, gentle in its use of natural resources and designed to serve
human being instead of making him the servant of machine.
