Discussions on sustainability are increasingly turning to notions of limits, restrictions, downsizing, decentralization, ‘degrowth,’ and so on—in short, toward sufficiency. There are strong arguments that a sufficiency-based strategy may be needed to achieve long-term environmental goals and to keep human consumption and production within established planetary boundaries. For many, this objective relies upon an essentially techno-optimist stance: that improving technology (newer, more efficient, ‘cleaner’) will allow us to move toward a sufficiency economy with minimal pain or disruption. However, others argue that this is misguided—that technology, in fact, inevitably moves us away from a sufficiency economy by inducing further production, further consumption, and further energy use. Advanced technology seems intrinsically growth-oriented.

Of special interest is the question of food production and of the skills required to do so, in line with a sufficiency perspective. Even simple food technologies, like the plow and shovel, require considerable technical skill (metal-working, tool construction, usage technics). Contemporary famers routinely use computers and GPS. In the near future, AI tools will certainly be deployed in agriculture. What skill sets will be needed, and appropriate, in the coming future?  Which are key to sustainable change?  Will these help, or hinder, a sufficiency society?

This workshop will examine the role of technology, positive and negative, in the quest for a sufficiency society. We will consider the full range of human technologies, from simple food-producing tools like the plow, to the most advanced AI systems of today. By inaugurating agriculture, the simple plow was arguably “the worst mistake in the history of the human race” (Jared Diamond). Today, we are faced with potent new AI systems, which threaten to rewrite established norms in computer technology, and potentially, in the worst case, begin to exceed our ability to comprehend and control complex systems. AI could potentially become the new “worst mistake” of humanity.

The proposed workshop will examine the pros and cons of technology in light of the contemporary need for a sufficiency economy and a sufficiency society. The lead organizers will present short papers, and all participants will engage in interactive dialogue.

Lead participants:

·         Tom Princen, assoc prof, UMich, SEAS

·         David Skrbina, PhD, visiting researcher, Univ of Helsinki

·         Pasi Heikkurinen, prof, LUT University, Finland

·         Toni Ruuska, PhD, lecturer, Univ of Helsinki

Daily Agenda

DAY ONE:

• Welcome and Introductions

• Working definitions of "technology" and "sufficiency"

• Four Guiding Questions

• Discussion of "Challenges"

DAY TWO:

• Resolution to "Challenges"

• Skills needed for implementing change

• Consensus on Guiding Questions

• Outline of possible action plans

DAY THREE:

• Action plans, research programs, follow-up actions

• Social, political, and media outreach

• Social Program: local skill-based activities toward sufficiency

• Tour of larger Ann Arbor region, sufficient communities of interest

Organizers:

 Tom Princen:  Associate Professor, Environmental Policy, SEAS. He is the author of The Logic of Sufficiency (MIT Press, 2005) and Treading Softly (MIT Press, 2010).

 David Skrbina:  Visiting Researcher and lecturer, University of Helsinki, Finland. Formerly senior lecturer in philosophy at UM-Dearborn (2003-2018). He is a co-director of the Nordic group “Sustainable Change Research Network” (SUCH). He has authored or edited 10 books, including Earth Alive: Readings in Environmental Ethics (2014), The Metaphysics of Technology (Routledge, 2015), and Panpsychism in the West (MIT Press, 2nd ed. 2017).

 Pasi Heikkurinen: Professor of Sustainable Business at LUT University, Finland; Research Director and Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Economy at University of Helsinki; and Adjunct Professor of Sustainability and Organizations at Aalto University (Finland). He also acts as Chair of The Finnish Society for Environmental Social Science (YHYS) and Co-Director of “Sustainable Change Research Network” (SUCH). His research project could be described as a phenomenology of sustainability. The focus of his work concerns questions of economy, technology, and culture in relation to sustainable change, particularly in the context of food and agriculture.

 Toni Ruuska: Lecturer in Food Economy and Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Economy at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He is the co-editor of Sustainability beyond Technology (Oxford University Press, 2021) and the author of Reproduction Revisited: Capitalism, Higher Education and Ecological Crisis (Mayfly Books, 2019). In his research, he seeks to find avenues for alternative agrarian political economy. From a theoretical standpoint, he is involved in critical theory, ecological Marxism, and (eco)phenomenology.

 Outcome:  A joint paper will be published by the leading participants, based on a summary and analysis of the ideas presented at the workshop.