John Trimble joins me to talk about his latest book, APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY MANIFESTO: Shifting the Forces of Production to Empower People and Protect the Planet. With an intention to do a chapter per episode, in this episode we discuss chapter 1. In this episode John gives a critical analysis of the western paradigm of conquest, domination and exploitation which inspires the development of technology. Such technology turns out to be destructive to land, harmful to humanity, and disruptive to ecological systems. He argues that the technology of conquest, oppression and violence has further been developed to suppress all effort for justice and equality and is concealed in the advances of Industrial Revolutions. In opposition to the technology of conquest, John captures the new paradigm of the oppressed and indigenous people who are most aware of the polluted waters, toxic air, dirty food and decimated forests that are the result of the technology misadventures around the world. Such a paradigm calls for development of technology that focuses on human needs, not profit for the wealthy and corporate owners. A verbatim extract from Chapter 1 states: “We cannot continue to view the planet, its land, its waters, its plants, its animals, its people, and its natural resources as things to be conquered, dominated, and exploited.”

Find some of John's work at International Network on Appropriate Technology and his book at Africa World Press & The Red Sea Press / APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY MANIFESTO: Shifting the Force of Production to Empower People and Protect the Planet Edited by John Trimble & Mammo Muchie and on Amazon