Capitalism, Sustainability and the Big Society
Meeting the global challenge of ensuring a sustainable future.
by
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“Capitalism, Sustainability and the Big Society” provides a refreshingly novel contribution to meeting the socio-economic, sustainability and climate-change challenges facing us all. Based on the insights of people such as Ashby, Darwin, Kant, Koestler, Lovelock, Malthus, Simon and Smith, it ventures to suggest that a systemic change to capitalism is essential if the human race is to evolve rather than advance into chaos and early extinction. It is written by David Rhodes, an entrepreneur, engineer and one-time academic. It examines evolution from the perspective of organisational and social change and draws attention to the paradox that while society is greatly influenced by technology it mostly fails to understand or control it. Technology per se could undoubtedly mitigate the problems of climate change and help civilisation adapt to its effects. Technology could ensure we operate sustainably, provide clean water to the millions who currently lack it and reduce global poverty. But technology is constrained. The near universal adoption of capitalism permits only those things to prosper which comply with its rules. Capitalism dominates us all, including governments. One may learn from an observation of Darwin about creatures adapting to survive in a particular niche, to note that we have all adapted with varying degrees of comfort and skill, to survive in an artificial niche called capitalism. We have been lulled into thinking and behaving as if survival in this niche is sufficient. We mostly accept that unless monetary value can be placed on a thing it is worthless and to survive one must have money or credit. The book thus contrasts the true nature of our niche with this artificial one. Ross Ashby pointed out some 50 years ago that any system (organisation or civilisation) must have sufficient degrees of freedom to cope with the environment in which it operates if it is to retain control (survive). But this niche we call capitalism ignores the Planet as a stakeholder and has insufficient degrees of freedom to cope with the complexity that characterises the human condition. And as Nobel prizewinner Herbert Simon has pointed out, human rationality is bounded, so top-down, politically-engineered solutions to global problems are virtually certain to fail. Capitalism is demonstrably unable to cope with climate change, finite planetary resources and overpopulation. Capitalism may be a widely accepted part of the human condition but it is unfit for purpose and requires systemic modification if our civilisation is to survive. Including the Planet as a stakeholder presents a rational and feasible first step towards such a change. The structure of the book is innovative, one might say half in the style of science and half in that of the humanities. Evolution is determined by both, yet in the UK so many high-level decisions are made by people familiar with only the latter. We may therefore be governed in semi-ignorance, a matter worth addressing however modest the attempt. A second innovation has been to present the line of argument chapter by chapter with references and illustrative examples posted separately as footnotes. In this way the relative purity of argument is not disrupted by the examples and the fact that examples are not always perfect illustrations of a point does not therefore confuse the text nor disqualify them (reality is simply not that tidy-minded). The references are largely to classic works and few enough in number to encourage readers to turn to them for greater depth and breadth. The book is highly relevant to our time. The Big Society in the title is intended to draw attention to the tangible devolution of decision-making which a systemic change to capitalism would bring about. It contrasts with the eponymous, comparatively more woolly, socio-political agenda of the 2010 UK Government and its broad-based desire to devolve more responsibility to communities, away from central control.
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About the Book
This book is timely in regard to the UK Government’s commitment to the Big Society, the financial crisis of 2008 and the global imperative to address climate change. All are inextricably linked. It observes that human evolution is largely and dangerously determined by an artificial niche we call capitalism rather than the realities of the Planet. Based on fundamental concepts and insights from Ashby, Darwin, Kant, Koestler, Lovelock, Malthus, Simon and Smith, it argues for a systemic change to capitalism. The book is relevant to those concerned with a sustainable future, such as the scientists, engineers and technologists who possess the means to achieve it, the economists and politicians who have the task of commissioning it, and our Society which needs it. The content crosses disciplines and provides a useful and thought- provoking text for students and those who wish to be well-informed.
About the Author
David Rhodes obtained his doctorate from the University of Nottingham where he spent his early career as a lecturer in electrical power engineering. He has worked in the UK, Switzerland, Australia, South Africa, Sweden and Ireland as an engineer and manager and latterly in the UK as an energy consultant. Author of two previous books on pioneering the organisational exploitation of information technology, he enjoys writing and lives with his wife in Nottingham. Grandchildren, physical exercise, painting and neighbourhood watch occupy his spare time.