[p2p-research] thinking about leapfrogging

[Samuel Rose]

Vinay, I liked your writing

One excerpt from it:

"There is one proviso: according to Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain
Institute <http://rmi.org/> individual developing-world consumers will only
leapfrog to technologies which are already deployed by the rich. Everybody
wants an "American Toilet" not a urine-separating or composting one.
Consumer preference is "do as the rich do" and there's not much we can do
about it, even if we know that "the rich" are doing it in a poor, expensive,
messy way. Other solutions may be ecologically better, but poor consumers
are usually no more ecologically motivated than rich ones are, and often
less. That's damned inconvenient, but may not constrain institutional
investment quite so much. Individuals may want the loud flush and the
gleaming porcelain for their own house, but most people do not care how
their school is lit or cooled"


Sam writes: The way that I read the above through my biases, that are based
on thinking about things through Bio-Psycho-Social theories, is that core
problem is how people define in their mind what "wealthy" actually is. And,
how that peception is re-inforced by whatever mass media trickles to these
people.

What if they had  rich and engaging mediums that showed them a different
kind of wealth? One that is based more on their core values, and less on
those of the industrial world. That shows what is possible and available for
them, and also shows them the darker sides of what we have in the industrial
world, where following that path would likely lead them. The point I make
here is that it is possible to reframe what "wealth" and "luxury" is for
people.

I see their (developing world)  perception is something like a toxic waste
byproduct of mass media and commercialization need to entice and entice
people here to spend more and more. This toxic waste posions the perceptions
in people's minds of what a "good" life is. Because, most of these ads, tv
shows, etc are designed to appeal to base emotions and influence people in
that way, a "commercial" psychology. You can either teach people to decipher
these messages and understand what they really mean, or you can create a
competing message (which is what David Korten proposes to do, BTW)




On Wed, Oct 1, 2008 at 7:54 AM, Vinay Gupta <hexayurt at gmail.com> wrote:

> http://www.appropedia.org/User:Vinay_Gupta#Envisioning_a_Leapfrogged_World
> Feel free to republish if you like, it's GFDL.
>
> Vinay
>
>
> --
> Vinay Gupta
> Free Science and Engineering in the Global Public Interest
>
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> "If it doesn't fit, force it."
>
> On Oct 1, 2008, at 11:46 AM, Michel Bauwens wrote:
>
> Dear friends,
>
> It appears that leapfrogging, a direct leap to a new technological level,
> hardly ever works, even the cell phone is not a good example, according the
> articles below. The bottom line is that new tech requires a lot of prior
> level infrastructure, as well as cultural underpinnings ...
>
> While this may be based on research, I also find it hard to accept as
> 'definitive truth', so I would reframe the question: under what conditions
> could leapfrogging work?
>
> I was wondering if I could motivate some of you here, and in particular the
> people in cc, to some commentary on that crucial topic, for publication in
> our blog,
>
> - http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10650775&fsrc=RSS
>
> - http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10650775&fsrc=RSS
>
> - http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2006/03/the_myth_of_lea.php
>
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