ON SOCIAL PLANNING, AGAIN (September 9, 2014)
As I was taking my morning shower, I realized out of the blue that everything I had written about social planning in my youth would ultimately come to pass. So much of my thought has not been in vain in spite of the fact that neither socialism nor communism stand a chance any longer. To begin with, primitive communism is awaiting us once again (“On Primitive Communism,” May 7, 2013). Social planning as I imagined it nearly forty years ago will be at its foundations. Perhaps it should be called tribal planning, but its essence remains the same. Also, disaster management is not far ahead, and it will be the backbone of communal survival in the context of dramatic climate change (“On Disaster Management,” May 20, 2014). Protection of small communities from the ravages of wild weather is unimaginable without communal planning. Although both communal and tribal planning will take shape spontaneously, without any need for philosophical underpinnings, their principles can be appreciated well in advance. And this is where my early writings on social planning offer much food for thought. The idealism of my youth has finally found its resting place.