Appropriate Technologies: A Paradigm Shift or a Utopia?

Las Tecnologías Apropiadas ¿Un Cambio de Paradigma o una Utopía?

Abstract

The increase in economic benefit and continuous growth that characterize the current capitalist model have required the incorporation of science and technology in the productive sphere. This type of knowledge is assimilated within guidelines imposed by the system itself and usually contributes to its stability. The logic of profit conditions contemporary technology, whose essential feature is to achieve permanent innovation in scientific development with the purpose of achieving continuous growth that is reflected in the GDP of nations. This technological paradigm persists despite its high economic, social, political and environmental costs that are evident in developing countries and also extends to developed countries where there is a very close relationship between economic growth and the level of of inequality in society. Since the beginning of the 70s, a new model of scientific practice has been proposed that persists to the present, based on a determined rationality and that offers an attractive perspective to enhance the autonomous and appropriate development of third world societies. The proposal of Appropriate Technology appears as a response to the crisis of current societies by proposing a profound change at the level of technologies, their creation process and their social use and is focused on providing a response to the problems of current industrial societies through the creation of freer societies in harmony with their environment. This work shows various examples of the application of this type of technology and proposes a methodology that includes design criteria and procedures for possible products and services that serve as a seedbed for projects to stimulate the development of small businesses in low-income communities. resources in harmony with their environment.