The Virtue of Success: Finding Values in an Age of Techno-Affluence [Hardcover]

The best parts of the book are his interviews
with prominent figures and thinkers in both camps. Their candid
comments and actions will often leave you laughing. If the subject
wasn't so important, this book could have easily been turned into a
satire along the lines of Candide about the optimism of
the"techno-capitalist" (today's equivalent of Dr. Pangloss
as seen in the form of people such as Ted Turner, Bill Gates, and
MichaelDell).

Mr. D'Souza clearly tilts more toward the
techno-capitalists than toward their critics, except when it comes to
applying bio technology to pick the traits of one's children. So
don't look for a "down the middle" splitting of
differences.D'Souza takes a typical economic approach in most cases of
"the most good for the most people, net of the
harm."

Techno-capitalists have their good sides as
characterized by D'Souza. They often contribute money to worthy
causes, they can improve the rate of economic development, they
sometimes create new resources for society, and they often solve
problems. In fact, being successful means that techno-capitalists
have to behave in ways that help someone else. Capitalism thus has a
self-reinforcing positive aspect to it.

D'Souza points out that
environmental damage is done by poor people, as well as by rich ones.
In fact, rich people like a nice environment and often pay to improve
it. This argument seemed a little over the top for me. The real
challenge is that the environment is a very complex systems
problem.People of all incomes and net worths are not yet very good
thinkers and decision-makers about complex systems like the
environment. Few people go around despoiling nature just to create
ugliness, filth, and bad smells! Putting a rich-poor slant on this
problem is pretty arbitrary.

The book is very effective in
describing the divisions among the cultures of the poorer people in
the U.S. and in the third world, the techno-rich, and those who are
in-between but do not live the techno-rich lifestyle. These
perceptual gaps are quite wide and do need to be closed. Otherwise,
the ability to communicate and share ideas will be lost. The
challenge here is much more difficult than simply providing
Internet-connected computers for everyone.

Clearly, the solutions
will mostly have to come from those who are creating and deploying the
new technology. At most, the other groups can help formulate the
questions. In that sense, the book's concept is flawed. It should
have focused less on the debate,and more on what the
techno-capitalists should be doing differently. . . and how they will
benefit if they do. That book remains to be written.

I think the
author also underestimates the socio-political problems that
biotechnology will bring. U.S. society is strongly and evenly divided
on the question of abortion now. The issues raised by biotechnology
will be even more fundamental, challenging, and disturbing to most
than abortion is now. Advances in and applications of this technology
could cause rending of the social fabric in a way that nothing has
done since slavery. In that part of the analogy to slavery, D'Souza
is right. Take a simple example to see my point. Assume that in the
early days of cloning, that only a few people can afford to have body
parts cloned for them. Let's assume that these people can live for,
say, three times the length of time of everyone else with good health
and normal appearance. Won't many other people want access to this
technology, even if they can not afford it? Won't they try to use the
political process to either deny it to the super rich or to require
its use for everyone? (I can certainly see this as a new health
benefit for elected officials early in the process.)What do you think?

After you finish the book, consider where else perspectives differ
and are widening. Tolerance for the religious beliefs of others is a
good example. How can we each "do good while doing well" in
these areas as well?

Embrace the differences to make a better world
for each and every one!

D'Souza points out early in his book that techno-capitalism in the present age has created enormous inequalities, has undermined families and communities, and has all but destroyed many of our (previously) most cherished values. He asks the question "how can we learn to be happy with out 'success'?"

Well, being sponsored by the unabashedly right-wing, pro-capitalism American Enterprise Institute (a Washington, D.C. "think tank" dedicated to telling it the way right-wingers think it is), Mr. D'Souza doesn't really join the attack on what's happened to equality, families, communities, and values. He is rather an unabashed apologist for "aren't these great times" crowd. After all, he's been on their payroll since finishing Dartmouth in the early 80's (and prepared for it by working as a student staffer on the infamous DARTMOUTH REVIEW, then America's most famous conservative student publication).

Even so, agree with Mr. D'Souza or not, he does raise many very intelligent and interesting questions, and provides a generous amount of space in his 284 page book for the opposing side to tell its story. His book is worth buying and reading, and offers several valuable features, most especially his well organized and extensive chapter end notes (he was highly praised for similar notes provided in his book ILLIBERAL EDUCATION).

The first part of THE VIRTUE OF PROSPERITY is the best part. Dinesh D'Souza provides a well written and intelligent backgrounder to the various issues and situations surrounding the current "good times." He asks the question "What's new about the new economy?" and comes up with interesting points and answers. He points out, for instance, that the world's richest man, Bill Gates of Microsoft, was worth in 2000 a cool (or hot) $100 billion (net worth). In contrast, John D. Rockefeller at his peak was worth a paltry $17 billion in today's money. D'Souza observes that Bill Gates and his descendants could spend $10 million A DAY IN PERPETUITY and NEVER run out of money. Now that's wealth! If Bill were a country, he would be number thirty five in the world rankings, surpassing the gross domestic products of Hungary, Ireland, Israel, and New Zealand! He ranks just ahead of Finland, and just behind Greece.

An unlike John D., it didn't take him long to get where he is. The author wows us with other (many other) statistics of this sort, and in so doing, allows his book to take on the personality of sort of research scholars versions of WHO WANTS TO BE A MILLIONAIRE?

The best part of the book follows. D'Souza gets down to a serious discussion of mass affluence and its discontents in a chapter titled The Gathering Storm. He then moves on to discuss the subject of "merit," and the many people it leaves behind. He states that success must at times be regarded as a lottery, and explains who wins, and who loses.

By far, the best chapter in the book is titled Eye Of The Needle: The Moral Critique Of Prosperity. This is followed by a poignant chapter titled The World We Have Lost: Goodbye Nature, Family, and Community.

Get this book and read it. The cult of prosperity and affluence has been touted by a very self-interested lot of politicians, businessmen, and others the late H.L. Mencken would have called "wowzers." Their hidden agenda is almost unexamined in current literature or mass media, and Dinesh D'Souza's book, THE VIRTUE OF PROSPERITY comes as close as any I have read to getting down to the nitty gritty about what really has happened, and what it all means.