As we reach the end of the 20th century and contemplate the 21st, viable futures for humankind
cannot be created from pre-industrial, industrial, or post-industrial models (though elements from
each will be retained). We should not therefore uncritically carry over existing cultural
commitments from this era to the next. Rather, we need to let go of some earlier commitments and
consciously take up others. We need grounded visions, designs if you will, of a world that has
experienced a recovery of vision, meaning and purpose; one that has moved beyond the disastrous
conceits of industrialism - particularly the obsession with material growth, the subjugation of nature
and the marginalisation of non-Western cultures. Such a world is likely to be fundamentally a postmaterialist
one which embraces stewardship and the needs of future generations. Intrinsic value
would become more dominant than use-, or exchange value. Science and technology would be
reigned in and subjected to higher-order imperatives. This would be a materially stable but
infinitely more subtle, interconnected and many-layered world.