Thought this might be a brief outline of how I see Schumacher's theories

Thought this might be a brief outline of how I see Schumacher's theories:

Generally smaller scale operations are less destructive than larger ones.

"The Buddhist point of view takes the function of work to be at least threefold: to give a man a chance to utilize and develop his faculties; to enable him to overcome his ego-centeredness by joining with other people in a common task; and to bring forth the goods and services needed for a becoming existence. "
Technology is highly dependent upon the societal context in which it is used. Improving the productivity of a rural African farmers is not simply a matter of sending him the latest mechanical tractor - the farmer won't have the necessary fuel to run the vehicle, the knowledge to operate it and access to the parts required to maintain the machine. Furthermore, the introduction of the machine might disturb a culture woven around manual agricultural labour. Appropriate technology (also known as intermediate technology) addresses the need for context-dependent technologies in developing areas of the world.
Most of the world's population is not in need of the advanced technology that seems to be the focus of engineering research and design. While there is some trickle-down effect from the western world's technology, this trickle-down effect often serves to disrupt traditional cultures and create and unequal distribution of power and wealth. In contrast to the high-tech focus of North American engineering, there is a real need in many areas of the world to design technologies that provide people with safe shelter, clean water and sufficient food within their own cultural context. This is the basic idea behind appropriate technology.

I am guessing that about 75% of the world's population is not in need of a new pager or Lotus notes, but there is a need for clean drinking water, more efficient education systems and improved shelter. Our current economic system does not recognize these needs because the poor do not have the basic infrastructure required to participate and exchange with the western markets. If we measure developing countries needs from a capitalist perspective (how much money can we earn by developing technologies for developing countries) there doesn't appear to be much of a need.