I thoroughly enjoyed Plotkin, M. J. 1993. Tales of a Shaman's Apprentice (NY: Penguin). He is a scientist who accepts much of the mystical powers of the people of the Amazon, finds incredible scientific knowledge among them [He seems to be founding a bio-tech company as a result of his adventures], and he describes how easily the people succumbed to the lures of a few tawdry trinkets form "civilization." The destruction, even on economic terms, is enormous. For example, 9: "Dr. Joel Soejarto of the University of Illinois ... gathered a promising sample from a tree in Sarawak, in northern Borneo: it produced a nonalkaloid chemical compound effective in the laboratory against HIV-1. Scientists were unable to find more of the substance in other trees of the same species, so Soejarto went back to collect more specimens from the original site. Unfortunately, he found that the area -- including the tree -- had been cleared by local peasants to make a garden." We have to be careful not to romanticize these people, yet we should respect that they have knowledge that exceeds our own -- even if they do not know how to make computers or splice DNA. In later years, at least according to Shanin, Marx was beginning to point to a path something like Louis is trying to articulate. Both the "primitives" [I do not know a good word] and the Cubans have something to offer that markets and the direct application of force are working to destroy. Neither group has or had much room to maneuver. Both inevitably fall into errors. All we can do is to try to protest so that those who are acting in our name do as little damage as possible. -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 Tel. 916-898-5321 E-Mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
