Technological advances can cripple a society

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Of what value is technological change if its price is the disintegration of the fabric of a society and of the human spirit, noted anthropologist Margaret Meade asked in 1954. Today, technology that gave rise to globalization may have improved our creature comforts but at what price?

In the book "Outliers, The Story of Success," author Malcolm Gladwell brings home the vital role of community in each of our lives and the importance of looking beyond the individual. In a story about the town of Roseto, Pa., which was settled by Italian immigrants, Gladwell explores how a community thrived when it did not cede to change that conflicted with its values. The study began in the '60s to find out why the people who lived there died mostly of old age. There was little to no alcoholism, suicide, ulcers, heart disease or any of the other common diseases of the time. After going through the records and finding nothing in the usual areas of diet, exercise or genetics to explain it, the researchers looked at the social structure of the community. They concluded, by just being with and observing the community, "that the values of the world we inhabit and the people we surround ourselves with have a profound effect on who we are."

read more here -
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,705286765,00.html

What kind of values infect Washington and Wall Street? When will the spending insanity stop?