No Room At The Inn By David Chapman Analysis

Within the articles written by Ivan Illich “Energy and Equity”, Robert Chapman’s “No Room at the Inn”, and Alf Hornborg “Fossil Fuel Interlude”, each take on the topic of how society’s utilization of energy and/or technology could shape a society’s equity and environment. Illich claimed the more energy a society used, the more it would infringe on their own rights and freedoms, ultimately their equity. Chapman goes into depth on human population and the consequences it’s growth can have on society itself and the environment. With Hornborg lastly affirming how the problems mostly seen today—degradation, starvation, injustice, financial ruin—all can be sourced from a single problem, the disparity between social systems and thermodynamics. The …show more content…
Illich makes it a point that high-energy consumption could influence equity, and negatively at that. By degrading an individual’s freedoms, giving those of a higher class more power, and those who aren’t of that caliber not the same privileges. What this would entail would be a greater instance of inequality, thus creating a unevenly distributed equity. He states this specifically as, “A low-energy policy allows for a wide choice of life-styles and cultures. If, on the other hand, a society opts for high energy consumption, its social relations must be dictated by technocracy and will be equally degrading whether labeled capitalist or socialist.” Even though those of a higher status may be better off, it just goes to show that all of the individual’s living in that particular society would still be governed under the same technocracy at the end of the day. Chapman emphasizes this as well in his work, specifically through human population. He stresses what Illich said in his article about high-energy consumption. Chapman explains this in his article how society’s thinking on how continual growth can be fixed by the creation of technological advancements which would, in turn, be able to take care of and satisfy society’s growing needs. The idea of humanity’s frequent use and depletion of resources will simply be replenished by new technologies developed would have its drawbacks, negatively impacting equity. In Chapman’s own words he affirms this with, “Part of the problem is we have been bewitched by an economic system whose mandate is to satisfy unlimited growth through the creation of preferences for every individual possessing the necessary entitlements; and whose promise is a limitless substitution of resources through technological