Science and technology have failed to produce practical results, particularly as regards their ability to focus on and resolve the increasing number of social problems. New developments have not resulted in significantly lower costs of energy, health care, travel or communications, for example. Governments have discovered that high expenditure on research and development does not necessarily or quickly lead to an increase in the gross national product. Many new developments have proved unreliable when implemented. In part this is due to a lack of realization of the complexity of the systems affected, and in part to uni-disciplinary approaches to problems.
Our dependence on sophisticated technological systems has eroded basic human skills of survival, self-reliance and social skills. With this dependence has come a deep sense of powerlessness and incompetence.