Small may be inevitable*

Abstract

Today's global culture system is experiencing a phase of accelerating change. This change is powered by technological innovation which produces social and economic turbulences in the system as unforeseen side‐effects of the changes wrought by technology. This turbulence takes many forms: the economic system must grow to avoid collapse; institutions grow bigger and more unwieldy; individuals become increasingly alienated. Therein lie the seeds of the system's disintegration, leading to the likely emergence of a subsequent culture system (or systems) of smaller dimensions, signs of which are already manifest.

The Integrative Power of Interdisciplinary Geography

“…The solar input is not constant; climates are subjected to fluctuations; soil is forever being modified; the forests are being destroyed or sometimes planted; factories pour variable amounts of pollution into the air and water; urban areas both expand and decay; populations grow in some areas but decline in othersc apital is moved daily from one place to another, creating new investment opportunities in some regions but less in others. These are but a few general examples of the changes which transform the face of the Earth in an ongoing and even an accelerating manner (Woolmington, 1985). Specific examples of such phenomena are legion.…”