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The crux of the problem to which Chigier refers seems to be much more related to Lewis Dexter's thesis that much of society's problems in the area known as deviance (handicap, disability) are of its own making. It is by no means necessary that technical advances complicate life -- the opposite can be achieved: The orthopedically handicapped provide a good example. A thoughtless society erected buildings, built sidewalks, busses and other conveyances, which quite unnecessarily complicated movement and, indeed, made some of these facilities inaccessible. The worldwide campaign of recent origin to remove architectural and other technical barriers will have far-reaching effects in decreasing the degree of handicap for large numbers of physically handicapped people. By the same token, technology can be used to widen opportunities for the intellectually handicapped rather than to narrow them. Teaching machines are one example, special safety and control features on machines are another. Mass production permits use of persons with a minimum range of aptitude to earn a living by performing just one simple routine task on a complicated machine. And mass transportation can facilitate his commuting to work. The newly developing skills in urban planning can come into play here -- there is no reason why housing for handicapped persons cannot be planned, keeping in mind commuting needs and transport facilities. And automated employment agencies could locate job opportunities fitting for different types of handicaps. Indeed the U.S. Government has demonstrated in recent years how many jobs, which formerly seemed quite out of reach, can well be filled by employees who are mentally retarded.

Actually there is at least as much reason to worry about the effect of increasing automation on gifted and creative minds. Some of them, of course, find increased challenges in the many uses of automation in general and the computer specifically. But others do not find satisfaction in that and, indeed, resent being automated. How will the social anthropologists of the future look on our "flower children" and their search for a more simplistic and responsive society?

On the basis of a study of 1,000 cases of mental retardation in Karachi, Dr. K. Zaki Hasan (24) concludes that the nature of the problem in the developing countries is much the same as it is in other parts of the world where it has been studied in greater detail.

"The physical and psychological characteristics of mental retardation are similar except that there may be perhaps a higher proportion of cases of mental retardation whose etiology may have an infective basis. The problem is further complicated by the lack of awareness in the population about the problems of the mentally retarded and the unavailability of facilities for the diagnosis and guidance about management of such cases."

"The main problem arises from the lack of attention to the problems coupled with lack of facilities and trained personnel, thus creating a vicious circle. This again is rooted in the economic situation in which the government and the social welfare agencies in the developing countries find themselves. Most of the developing countries of the world are able to allocate only a small proportion of funds at their disposal to public, health. This also explains the meagreness of epidemiological data and reliable statistics from the developing countries. It is essential that the importance of the problem should be emphasized to the governments and to point out that from three to five percent of their population may be affected by mental retardation. On the face of it, this alone is a sufficient reason for any government to take more interest and to allocate larger sums towards developing programmes concerned with mental retardation in their respective countries."

The significant point about this statement by Dr. Hasan is, of course, that what he describes as the particular problems of developing countries could well be a description of the situation in any number of states in the U.S.A. or in various European countries which merely underlines the first point.

Edgerton believes, and I think correctly so, that any social system can make behavior into a social problem. And I also agree with him that in determining societal differences we have been too concerned with environmental factors and the degree of technological achievement and, due to this preoccupation, have paid insufficient attention to more subtle qualities in the life of a nation or a tribe which would help us to understand why the citizens on developing Truk Islands and those in highly developed Denmark both have a far more positive and generous attitude toward the mentally retarded than countries in a similar developmental stage.