ABSTRACT
Twenty years ago, E. F. Schumacher defined an important new issue arising from the relationship between a technology and the context — social, cultural, political, and ecological — in which it is used. For example, a nuclear power plant can certainly generate a lot of electricity, but it may not be an “appropriate” technology for an underdeveloped nation with an unstable government, a shortage of trained engineers, an absence of any power grid to distribute the electricity generated, and a megalomaniacal ruler anxious to acquire fissionable material with which to construct nuclear weapons. The appropriateness of a technology becomes increasingly important as its power grows and its potential for destroying the environment expands.
