---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Great Transition Network <[email protected]> Date: Sat, Jan 2, 2016 at 11:06 PM Subject: Why We Consume: Neural Design and Sustainability (GTN Discussion) To: [email protected]

From Paul Raskin <[email protected]>

------------------------------------------------------- GTN Colleagues: The point of departure for our JANUARY DISCUSSION is the new GTI Viewpoint “Why We Consume: Neural Design and Sustainability” by Peter Sterling. Please find it and read it at www.greattransition.org/publication/why-we-consume. A recurrent theme of recent discussions has been the growth imperative of the capitalist system and ways to transcend it. But growth in output would have been a recipe for overproduction and stagnation (“realization crises”) had the demand side of the economic equation not expanded apace. Indeed, Keynes, Schumpeter, and Marx—for different reasons—all believed productivity increases would outpace demand growth, thereby subverting the long-term viability of capitalism. Keynes welcomed that destiny as an opportunity for fashioning a post-scarcity society, Schumpeter rued it as an inevitable segue to some kind of state socialism, and Marx saw deep structural crises as fuel for proletarian revolution. Of course, history has not been kind to these prognoses. Despite episodic stagnation crises, consumer demand kept ballooning, postponing the day of reckoning. What drives this seeming insatiability of wants beyond basic material needs? As a neuroscientist, Peter Sterling draws on contemporary research to diagnose the roots of consumerism in the way the brain works, and to limn lessons for the project of transcending it. Now, a number of you have been looking at the problem of consumerism—and prospects for “sustainable consumption”—through complementary windows of perception, stressing, inter alia, sociological pressures, psychological needs, cultural influences, and economic manipulations. What resonances or dissonances do you see between your own perspective and Sterling’s emphasis on neural design? IN PRAISE OF BREVITY: GTI exchanges benefit enormously from expansive comments, but concise, pointed comments or questions are equally appreciated! Please do not hesitate to weigh in. Comments are welcome through FEBRUARY 2. Friends, 2015 witnessed some hopeful developments for a GT, but also all too many reminders that “we have no time for the tranquilizing drug of gradualism” (Martin Luther King, Jr.). Perhaps our dialogue will ripple out further and faster in the coming year, and enrich the multifarious efforts of this remarkable assemblage. All of us here wish all of you a healthy and meaningful New Year. Looking forward, Paul Raskin GTI Director NOTE ON GTI’S PUBLICATION CYCLE: GTN discussions occur in ODD-NUMBERED months, and GTI publishes in EVEN-NUMBERED months. Each discussion takes up a new essay or viewpoint prior to its publication. After the discussion closes, GTI publishes and distributes the piece, along with comments drawn from the discussion and a response from the author. You can review all GTN discussions at www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-forum. ------------------------------------------------------- Hit reply to post a message Or see thread and reply online at http://www.greattransition.org/forum/gti-discussions/172-why-we-consume-neur... Need help? Email [email protected] -- Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: http://commonstransition.org P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net - http://blog.p2pfoundation.net <http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation>Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/