Can industrialized countries choose to avoid job displacement by avoiding computers? Norman says that every expert who has studied the potential impact of computers has come to the same conclusion: "more jobs will be lost in those countries that do not pursue the technology vigorously than in those that do. The reason is that microelectronics will enhance productivity to such an extent that the industries that move swiftly to adopt the technology will have a competitive advantage in world markets." The result could be a period of "jobless growth" with higher earnings for a few and displacement for many unless ways are found to distribute the benefits of the new technology more equitably. What is essential, concludes Norman, is "a combination of revitalized employment policies, greater industrial democracy and new ways of distributing both the hours of work and the fruits of technological change . . ." -JF FOREIGN Ecology versus Politics in Canada, edited by William Leiss, 1979, 282 pp., $7.50 from: University of Toronto Press 33 East Tupper St. Buffalo, NY 1~203 William Leiss is the author of two of the most intellectually exciting books I have ever read. The Domination of Nature (1974) explores the relationship between domination of the natural world and domination in the social world; it is essential reading for social ecologists. The Limits to Satisfaction (1976) takes a critical look at the forces in industrial societies that create endless "needs" that can only be "satisfied" through the marketplace, and then only at the expense of ecological, social, personal, and psychological wellbeing. More recently, Leiss and his colleagues at York University and elsewhere, under the sponsorship of the University League for •Social .Reform, have organized this anthology on Canadian ecology and politics. Twelve original essays focus on how ecology blends with politics, government activity, and economic theory; on government inaction with regard to industrial and occupational diseases; on the social and environmental issues raised by our search for energy, particularly nuclear electricity; and on administrative aspects of environmental policy-planning and environmental assessment. While these essays are, in the main, case studies, most deal with broad conceptual themes or with everyday situations in which citizens now confront pollution or occupational health hazards. In particular, the essays by Grahame Beakhust, Robert Sass, and Leiss himself will be of interest to non-Canadians as well as Canadians. -MR Soviet Housing and Urban Design, 1980 from: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 451 Seventh St. N.W. Washington, DC 20410 Soviet Housing and Urban Design is a set of dry papers on the centralization and standardization of Soviet urban planning and construction; the current situation and future prospects of Soviet cities, especially new towns; socio·-economic aspects of city life, particularly housing; and technical and practical achievements of Soviet construction. While it ~ontains·virtually nothing about Soviet architecture, the sociology of urban life, or construction financing, there is some interesting information on cogeneration (a single combined heat-electric power station directly supplies one half of Kiev's population-approximately one million people), building materials and components ("the oftnoted shoddy exteriors of Soviet buildings generally conceal sound interior structures"), and novye goroda, or new towns (the "more than one thousand new urban settlements, which among them contain [depending on the definition] from one-tenth to better than one-quarter of the entire urban population" ) . .Hopefully reports like this can help us replace some of the myths and propaganda surrounding Soviet.life with understanding based on open and hone~t contact. -MR December 1980 RAIN Page21 ODDITIES Vicious Circles and Infinity: An Anthology of Paradoxes, by Patrick Hughes & George Brecht, 1975/79, 84 pp., $2.95 from: • Penguin Books 625 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10022 _"This sentence is false. " "That don't bother me none." "In principle I am against principles." "Me too. Huh?" "Never say never." "I never do." "All generalizations are dangerous, even this one." "Especially that one!" "Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth." (Alan Watts) "Speak for yourself." "The more you know, the less you think you know." "I know." "If I don't know I don't know, I think I know. If I don't know I know, I think I don't know." (R.D. Laing) • "Oh, no!" Is there a mathematical genius, a philosopher king/ queen, or an uhcorkable punster in your life? If so, buy this book, stare at the pictures-especially the snake eating itself, the hammer nailing itself, and the hand drawing itself (I wonder if this book wrote itself)-then give the book to your friend before it gives you what it gave me-a royal headache! -MR CORRECTION Oops! Exa·mple D in last month's article on ' fireplace retrofits should have shown this diagram rather than the one we printed. The series of diagrams appears corrected in Bill Day's revised Woodstove Guide (see order form). 2" air clearance required (Metalbestos) Metalbestos insulated chimney. fl section extending minimum ·3 into room.
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