In my post "The Economics of Emergence Theory" I say, quote: "My regular readers may be wondering precisely what it is I'm talking about when I refer to "Emergence Theory" and it's applications (esp. to economics). Do I mean what have become known as "Emerging Economies" for instance? The answer is no at least not in the conventional sense whereby "emerging economy" is simply another term for the "apparent" economic growth of a formerly less/un-developed nation or region." I have been forced to revise this having seen Hans Rosling's excellent lecture (some of which is reproduced above). I realised that the social, political and economic profile of the "emerging economies" is infact consistent with "emergence theory" and that I had become a victim of my own imperialist prejudices (see; "Imperialism, Eugenics and "Social-Engineering""-or “The Overpopulation Myth; Last Refuge of The Social Darwinist”-, go to: http://gkhales.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/imperialism-eugenics-and-social.html), in that I had assumed (making the proverbial "beast of burden" out of both of us), that the developing economies were also more socially backward than our own. This ofcourse has been the mistake made by the European Imperial powers during their colonial adventures for centuries. The fact that a culture appears socially less developed than our own is merely a cultural prejudice the burden of over-population having been created by the activities of the militarily more dominant culture. There is no real excuse for this attitude and I apologise if my former assertions have caused any offence. It was infact the statistics concerning obesity rates in the emerging economies when examined in the light of Hans Rosling's observations which triggered this realisation. This subject clearly deserves a much more detailed analysis than the one I am presenting here, in my defence I can only state that it is preferable that one should appear "a witty fool than a foolish wit". I do however stand very much by my comments on sustainability with regard to Foster's "Emergence Theory" recognising the irony that my comment on "Imperialism, Eugenics and Social Darwinism" quote; "Even the cry,“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime!” (Chinese proverb), when used by "The Developed World" to describe it's problems with those less-equal simply rings with the condescending imperialist (and mostly paternalistic), tones of the past. In cases other than genuine national emergency wouldn’t it be better simply to “get our crap out of their river” completely?", should have had its genesis in the (for want of better words), "transitional" economy of China.
It
is the myopic conceit of the “civilised” imperialist (and his
patriarchy), that the “benighted savages” are not deemed capable of
self-determination or self-sufficiency (witness the “groundnut debacle"
in Kenya in the 50’s and 60’s).
It
is the myopic conceit of the “civilised” imperialist (and his
patriarchy), that the “benighted savages” are not deemed capable of
self-determination or self-sufficiency (witness the “groundnut debacle"
in Kenya in the 50’s and 60’s).
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