Species frequently become extinct due to human, not
animal, intervention. Despite all this, Henri George's
characterization captured an important aspect of the human
species, as it defined itself in the human scale that made
literacy possible and necessary.
George's time corresponded to some interesting though misleading
messages that followed the pattern of Malthus' law. People were
running out of timber, coal, and oil for lamps, just as we
expect to run out of many other resources (minerals, energy and
food sources, water, etc.). Originators of messages regarding the
exhaustion of such resources, regardless of the time they utter
them, ignore the fact that during previous shortages, humans
focused on alternatives, and made them part of new practical
experiences. This was the case leading to the use of coal, when
the timber supply decreased in Britain in the 16th century, and
this will be the case with the shortages mentioned above: for
lighting, kerosene was extracted from the first oil wells
(1859); more coal reserves were discovered; better machines were
built that used less energy and made coal extraction more
efficient; industry adapted other minerals; and the strict
dependence on natural cycles and farming was progressively
modified through food processing and storage techniques.
The pragmatic framework of current human praxis is based on the
structural characteristics of this higher scale of humankind.
Pages:
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398