Recently, Lloyd Geering, Professor of Religious Studies at Victoria University spoke on his vision of the future as part of a series of forums organised by the Student Christian movement.

According to Geering the problem lies with the attitude: "The sky's the limit." Since the Industrial Revolution the emphasis has been on expansion - bigger, better, more sophisticated, but the crunch has come. With all the expertise and expansion we've suddenly come upon limits (to ......). The first blow was Hiroshima - the limits of human life. Man landing on the moon and heart transplants raised questions of monetary limits. Ever present are population limits - starvation. We cannot ignore the present energy limits which we are now having to come to terms with.

Where to now? What of the future? We can't turn back. Communes and the "simple life" aren't viable alternatives for the masses. Geering then outlined his solution.

A Planned Society

A planned society which involves the majority of people at all levels in informed decision making and taking upon itself, self-imposed limits. As Geering stated, this would effectively spell the end of the outmoded capitalist society and system of free enterprise.

Freedom must be practised within limits. But this doesn't make mankind a slave - the limits aren't imposed from some mysterious power (e.g. totalitarianism) but are accepted because they come from within self imposed limits. The example was cited of driving on the left side of the road. Why? Because people accept this as beneficial to all.

Geering stated that his plan was idealist, difficult if not impossible to achieve and requires motivation by the majority (which has proved a stumbling block to many plans.) But in the face of the alternatives - division, conflict, hostility, competition and confrontation, a planned society begins to make good sense.

Geering ended on a note of hope-that Man can still choose. If he succeeds it will only be pulled off by the skin of our teeth. 3ut someone's got to set an example. The sign of rebellion against imposed limits from Government.

This stood in contrast to the previous week's speaker (on July 17th). Don Brash — a member of the Government Economic Council, and supporter of the Government's present trend in NZ offers some hope e.g... Regional development is being planned at a more local level. People are generally showing more interest in elections. The South Island independence movement is a healthy sign of rebellion against imposed limits from economic policies. Brash sees the [unclear: soluti] in terms of a renewed drive for [unclear: economic] growth, and a rise in the standard of [unclear: liv] primarily so we can catch up with other countries. In his words we need a "[unclear: bloc] sweat and tears course for recovery. [unclear: T] future lies not just in policies but in attitudes, visions and leadership.

During discussion Geering was asked: If we have to accept limits then do we have to accept the education cuts as [unclear: exaples] of monetary limits? His answer: [unclear: A] planned society needs informed people making informed decisions. Education, therefore becomes a necessary requirement giving everybody an opportunity [unclear: t] have their say? Geering stated that the cuts would be justified if the universities were extravagent and wasteful but [unclear: th] this was not the case and the cuts were leading towards an inevitable downgrading of educational standards.

The fourth of these forums is on Tuesday, 30th July at 12.00 in the Union [unclear: Ha] when the speaker will be Professor [unclear: Sydn] Mead.

Elizabeth Gabriel.