The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 56, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 27, 1969 Page: 8 of 8
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From occupation to personality
Status transition vital to preservation of urban socities
By LEE HORSTMAN
In our second installment, we
focused upon central city prob-
1 e m s—environmental brutish-
ness and worsening slums—as
signals of our society's growth
pains in the course of replacing
social innovation.
Ultimately, a transition of
such profound dimensions would
require a world consensus in
favor of arms control, popula-
tion control, and universal wel-
fare (basic sustenance plus edu-
of age and intelligence distri-
butions.
It is the abuse of any one of
these technologies, then, that
becomes so lethal as to force us
towards a new world view and
a new morality.
industrial settlements with "in-
tegral" ones (these being the
last two of four historic urban
levels described in the first
installment). In this third and
concluding segment we shall re-
view some basic concepts re-
garding America's evolution to-
wards the "integral"settlement.
Basically, urbanization is not
the clumping of people; it has
been a process whereby increas-
ingly, human societies abstract,
accelerate and diversify their
ways of exchanging goods and
services, friendships and ideas,
fn view of this, America seems
to have the option—and per-
haps the duty—of leading the
world toward the institutions
and ethics (and the integral
settlements) of a postindustrial
"iearning society."
Social transition
The production and exchange
of knowledge becomes the pri-
mary activity; the production
and exchange of goods and
services becomes automated and
secondary (there is already a
small "lead'' trend towards ren-
tal of cars and homes, and less
"emotional" attachment to ma-
terial goods). As a consequence,
the determinants of status may
shift from occupations to per-
sonality traits. Changes such as
these would represent a major
ENTERED AS
FIRST CLASS POSTAGE
GO
l—
fe.
i—i
a
rational opportunity) as soon
as possible. These three great
issues are, in fact critical to
the quality and the very future
existence of America's highly
urbanized society.
However costly this transi-
tion may be in terms of money
and social discord, it seems
vital. If our mushrooming pop-
ulation begins to exhaust our
natural resources, or if our
slums continue to worsen, or if
we insist upon a weapons econ-
omy instead of a welfare and
learning economy, then we may
be without any urban society
at all by A.D. 2000.
New prosperity problems
It is difficult for us to im-
agine a -world free from basic
physical deprivation, yet our
emerging media-knit society,
using its technical skills, could
make this situation real in Am-
erica on fairly short notice.
Within thirty years, our major
problem could be not one of
physical want, but one of aim-
less leisure.
In rapid summary, we might
view the pattern as follows. In-
novative education and a pros-
perous. nation have widened the
number of persons participating
in the production of knowledge
through scientific inquiry. More
knowledge, combined with an
industrious national character,
have yielded still better tech-
nologies.
One new technology is that
of high-energy devices like las-
ers and nuclear reactors. In
malign hands, they could de-
stroy our physical world of be-
nign nature.
Another, newer technology is
that of automative devices like
computers and sensing systems,
yet their assistance might upset
our emotional world of virtuous
labor. A third technology—the
newest—is that of biological
birth, life and genetic control
innovations, and their misuse
might destroy our social world
of stable population in terms
WANT TO RENT
or LEASE
For 1 Year
3 Bedroom House
Furnished or Unfurnished
June 1—MO 8-8526
• Paul Hester
What shall we do about world
holocaust, aimless leisure, and
overpopulation ? Stalemating
total war by a "power balance"
is a basically unstable solution,
as is stalemating the potential
for goal-less leisure by creating
more automated industries and
consuming more of their prod-
ucts; also, stalemating over-
population by "genes control" is
a hazardous solution.
Creating the future
In essence, we cannot vitiate
the side effects of any one tech-
nology by further recourse to
that same technology within
our traditional value system.
There must be a total approach,
using new values and attitudes.
Without fresh viewpoints,
America's urban social future
must remain grim, for the fu-
ture is only as much as all our
dreams.
Many people suspect an in-
tellectual elite of articulating
the "common good" selfishly.
John Gardner seeks to correct
such views when he argues that
a worship of philosophers and
a disdain of plumbers can mean
neither our theories nor our
pipes will hold water. If a
"pluralist meritocracy" were
our goal, every individual could
he socially appreciated on his
own merits.
We referred last week to the
need for a community involve-
ment in such a transition to a
learning society, and to the need
for federal support in coordinat-
ing and financing urban im-
provement programs. These
steps are part of a basic trend
in which our public sector is
both growing and consolidating
as a response to the technolog-
ical systems which vastly im-
prove our individual lives, but
which are as complex and in-
terwoven as they are costly.
They cannot be managed piece-
meal.
Growing public sector
Every colonial village could
vote a charter for its own
stagecoach express and candle-
stick shop to any common-sense
local businessman. But jetports
and hydroelectric station s—
and, one might add, university
centers—demand long-range na-
tional planning, as well as more
scientific management and cash
than even a national financier
might hope to possess.
Not all administrative func-
tions should shift to national
institutions of government, of
course. We must encourage the
more individual-responsive local
communities to develop wide
differences in social and phys-
ical character if they wish,
while ensuring every citizen a
free choice amongst them.
Nation of communities
In immediate terms, nearly
everyone who has examined the
situation has concluded that in
America, local city governments
cannot handle their financial
problems, and other local gov-
ernments cannot or will not
help them.
Thus, there must be a nation-
alization specifically in terms
of financial assistance to the
poor, and to our cities for the
founding of "knowledge indus-
tries" as the focus of the new
integral settlements.
Insofar as there will remain
a need for face-to-face con-
frontation between people, high-
density urban centers are likely
to persist, although probably
not on their impersonal, indus-
trial city scale. If we succeed in
moving towards a learning soc-
iety, their role might shrink to
that of cultural exchange points
—learning centers which be-
come focused on various inter-
ests—centers for music, phys-
ical training, recreational activ-
ity, etc). There would probably
be a great deal of personal
mobility and communication
links between such centers, as
well as the suburb-density "urb-
an corridors."
What's so special about
Beechwood Ageing?
We must be bragging too much about
Beechwood Ageing.
Because we're starting to get some
flak about it. Like, "Beechwood,
Beechwood . . . big deal." And "If
Beechwood Ageing is so hot,
why don't you tell every-
body what it is?"
So we will.
First, it isn't big wooden
casks that we age Budweiser
in.
But it is a layer of thin
wood strips from the beech
tree (what else?) laid down
in a dense lattice on the
bottom of our glass-lined
and stainless steel lagering
tanks. This is where we
^Udweise*
laoer del*
r, T* Jfj
_BrEWEO AND CANNED B*
TIP •
let Budweis&r ferment a second time.
(Most brewers quit after one fermen-
tation. We don't.)
These beechwood strips offer extra
surface area for tiny yeast particles
to cling to, helping clarify
the beer. And since these
strips are also porous, they
help absorb beer's natural
"edge," giving Budweiser
its finished taste. Or in other
words, "a taste, a smooth-
ness and a drinkability you
will find in no other beer at
any price."
Ah yes, drinkability. That's
what's so special about
Beechwood Ageing.
But you know that.
Budweisen is the King of Beers,
(Bui you know that.)
ANHEUSER-BUSCH, INC. • ST. LOUIS • NEWARK • LOS ANGELES • TAMPA • HOUSTON • COLUMBUS
the rice thresher, march 27, 1969—page 8
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Bahler, Dennis. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 56, No. 25, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 27, 1969, newspaper, March 27, 1969; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245054/m1/8/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.