Science and Technology in a New Development Strategy

Abstract

This paper examines the conventional top-down framework of development, with its dependence on transfer of external capital and technology, and then attempts to formulate an alternative perspective primarily in terms of human development, participation and self-reliance. It identifies some issues relevant to technology development and choices within the new development perspective both in ‘developed’ and in ‘developing’ countries. It argues that techno-economic notions of development and marginal reforms contribute neither to a meaningful social change nor to development in wider human terms; a new man-nature-technology mix is required. Development in human terms requires new processes and a non-alienating technology, based primarily on the existence of more than one stock of knowledge and technology yet to be created. It raises several fundamental questions to which developmentalists and technologists alike must address themselves, and identifies some possible interventions based on actual experience for utilizing the full potential for scientific enquiry, and the systematic application of the results of such enquiry, to the task of transforming society in economic as well as human terms and enhancing the dignity and creativity of people everywhere. The paper thus attempts to respond to the basic question, with the new understanding of reality: Cannot ‘another development’ in technology help to reverse the zero-sum game, which the development process has become, and transform it into a positive-sum game?