In German: Human Scale against Greed and Hate

How Human Scale can overcome the idea of Algorithmic Man and ease the way to Good Life

by Michael Breisky

Abstract of the original German version (“Menschliches Maß gegen Gier und Hass – Small is beautiful im 21. Jahrhundert)

The book hinges on a quote by Leopold Kohr, re-discoverer of the Human Scale: “like medicine, all great ideas are poison – it all depends on the dose”. And so Enlightenment forgot to set limits to linear reason by the Human Scale. Consequently, many “great ideas” have been pushed beyond human scale into severe excess. The greed-driven bundling of these abuses, symbolized by “Mammon”, is now ruling over much of politics and finance in a system of Neo-feudalism.

„Mammon“ hides behind complexity, but this armor must and can be broken by a new worldview based on comprehensibility, resilience and the co-operation of the civil society. Taking into account the views in particular of Leopold Kohr, Ernst Friedrich Schumacher, Martin A. Nowak and Charles Eisenstein, Human Scale is analyzed in a wide range of political topics  – be it the crisis of democracy and the sense of community, cultural identity and the many challenges to the nation state and European integration.

A simple three-step method developed by the author shows the practical limits to every great idea, i.e the dividing line between Human Scale and excess. With the help of strict regionalism and a new understanding of money and interest it should be possible to pave the way from today’s frustrating „there is no alternative“ to the „good life“. This is a quiet revolution taking place „down below“ at the grassroots, still unnoticed by the mainstream-media, but well advanced and expecting soon the breakthrough, thanks to many successful pilot projects (mostly in depressed areas) and the rising discontent with Mammon’s reign.

Now, it just takes some courage to succeed – yours, mine and our neighbour’s.

by Michael Breisky

The book was published 2018 by Frank & Frei, Vienna, ISBN 978-3-903236-18-9