ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book shows that Appropriate Technology was not just an intellectual fad of the 1960s and 1970s. It argues that the general applicability of Appropriate Technology will depend upon it being construed, not as a particular collection of technologies, but as a mode of technology-practice which emphasizes the concept of technology choice and which is characterized by the harmonious integration of technical-empirical, socio-political and ethical-personal factors. Appropriate Technology represented new hope that the poor of the world could take control of their economic fortunes and gradually work towards an abundant future which was both environmentally and socially sustainable. For many people Appropriate Technology meant facing the future with hope. Appropriate Technology, rightly understood, is compatible with recognizing that the conditions of countries of the North are different to those which prevail in the South.
