STAGES OF HUMAN SOCIETY (an attempt to one-up Marx) no knowledge of consumerism/rat-race (pre-historic, medieval agricultural stage) rise of commercialism in industry (industrial revolution, child labor) seduction of the common man -> consumerism (post-world war 2 in the US, spread through globalism and multi-nationals) (current stage in developing countries: China, India) consumer out-commercializes the producers, recaptures the choice to consume (occuring presently in developed countries, USA, Japan) consumers choose not to consume, ressurection of the individual (in a couple generations, facilitated by the Information Revolution) producers fall by the road-side, rejected and unneeded (a return to morality _by_choice_ rather than by default) (Utopia? probably the beginning of another cycle)