The Virtue of Prosperity: Finding Values in an Age of Techno-Affluence

by Dinesh D'Souza

Book Overview

In The Virtue of Prosperity, Dinesh D'Souza examines the spiritual and social crisis spawned by the new economy and new technologies of the last ten years. D'Souza questions the basic premise of the American dream that prosperity and "progress" will better the human condition. Anchored in history, rich in anecdote, and supported by state-of-the-art data, The Virtue of Prosperity is a tough-minded critique of our high-tech culture, with...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684868156
• ISBN13: 9780684868158
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Second Thoughts About the New Economy

Dinesh D'Souza has written a very significant book in which he endeavors to find the deep, true meaning behind the euphoria, the hype, the madness that is the new economy. After a sober and methodical reassesment of the profound changes left behind in the wake of our recent prosperity, D'Souza ultimately comes down on the side of the optimists, the Party of Yeah he calls them, who embrace transformational technologies even as critics (whom he dubs the Party of Nah) charge that they threaten to uproot the old bonds of community, replacing spiritual values with purely materialist passions. D'Souza is scrupulously balanced in forthrightly presenting both sides of the argument. The arguments themselves aren't new; the rigor with which D'Souza analyzes them quite possibly is. Does technological capitalism ultimately degrade the soul? We have all heard the liberal economic critique of the gap between the rich and poor. How does the emerging conservative critique of the social consequences of inequality stack up in comparison? D'Souza discusses these questions briskly and adroitly. Often while reading the book, I would find myself thinking of possible counter-arguments to the views presented on any given page and invariably found them echoed a turn or two of the page later. More than most defenders of the marketplace, D'Souza does take very seriously the notion that the new prosperity may hinder our search for spiritual meaning. The case for either sides of this often demagogued controversy is clouded by the fact that one's economic good fortunes don't seem to guarantee either frustration or inner fulfillment. For every white collar criminal, there is a young man who is moved to depravity by hunger or poverty. For every example of a person with modest means contented with the simple life, there seems to be an equal abundance of millionaires who find fulfillment and happiness in their enterprise and in the educational advancement that prosperity makes possible. Perhaps this means that techno-capitalism really has less spiritual consequence (for good or ill) than we think and at best it offers unique people an outlet for their interests, much like art, science and politics. These are the kinds of questions you will find explored in this refreshing work. D'Souza concludes his work with a life-affirming statement of the dignity of human nature as a rebuttal and a caution against those who would take technology too far in the quest for pursuits such as cloning, genetic engineering or even merging the human race with computers. Part of the beauty of techno-capitalism is that it allows for the satisfaction of human wants and desires in a decentralized environment that replicates natural processes. Naturally self-regulating, self-perpetuating price mechanisms that nobody fully understands (much less controls) have much less to do with the marketplace than command-and-control decisionmaking. Effectively, capitalism is the triumph of human natur

THE PRESENT "ERA OF UNPRECEDENTED PROSPERITY": GOOD OR BAD?

The American Enterprise Institute's enfant terrible Dartmouth College grad author (his 1991 book, ILLIBERAL EDUCATION: The Politics Of Race And Sex caused quite a stir), Dinesh D'Souza (born in India, became a USA citizen in 1991) has written a very interesting book titled THE VIRTUE OF PROSPERITY (2000). It's about the moral and ethical aspects of the present highly touted USA wealth "boom," and it asks the intelligent question, is all this so-called "wealth" really success? 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

D'Souza gets it right!

I loved this book! For the past five years I have worked in Silicon Valley. It's an amazing place. I'm proud to be a part of what is happening here, and I'm tired of the people who say the wealth and the advancements are wrong, or evil.One of my friends works for a medical robotics firm that has created a way to do bypass surgery without opening your chest cavity. The company I work for creates intelligent content delivery devices for the Internet. We are helping change the quality of people's lives.D'Souza is right. This is the America our forefathers invisioned. The people who get to be a part of it should celebrate it, not feel guilty.

Great book!

Dinesh D'Souza has traveled through a vast territory of ideas, arguments, worries, concerns and fears - articulating a vision for how Captalism has provided the engine for the dramatic change around us. Rather than feel guilty, or fault the weaknesses (which he illuminates in detail) of the West, Dinesh offers a promotion for the advancement of what works, why it works and how to harness the energy of the human spirit - the VIRTUES of Greed - to for the first time in human history dramatically raise the quality of life for all. Excellent book, great romp through history and wonderful calrity of vision. He's on my permanent must read list.

Finding Common Ground for Doing Good and Doing Well

Mr. D'Souza does an excellent job of describing the principalarguments in favor of and against rapid growth in technology andcapitalism. He then takes on the difficult task of creating commonground among the diverse positions, and has some success in puttingthe first rope ladders across this abyss of discord. Even though thepermanent bridge remains to be built, getting those rope ladder acrossis worth five stars.The best parts of the book are his interviewswith prominent figures and thinkers in both camps. Their candidcomments and actions will often leave you laughing. If the subjectwasn't so important, this book could have easily been turned into asatire along the lines of Candide about the optimism ofthe"techno-capitalist" (today's equivalent of Dr. Panglossas seen in the form of people such as Ted Turner, Bill Gates, andMichaelDell). Mr. D'Souza clearly tilts more toward thetechno-capitalists than toward their critics, except when it comes toapplying bio technology to pick the traits of one's children. Sodon't look for a "down the middle" splitting ofdifferences.D'Souza takes a typical economic approach in most cases of"the most good for the most people, net of theharm."Techno-capitalists have their good sides ascharacterized by D'Souza. They often contribute money to worthycauses, they can improve the rate of economic development, theysometimes create new resources for society, and they often solveproblems. In fact, being successful means that techno-capitalistshave to behave in ways that help someone else. Capitalism thus has aself-reinforcing positive aspect to it.D'Souza points out thatenvironmental damage is done by poor people, as well as by rich ones.In fact, rich people like a nice environment and often pay to improveit. This argument seemed a little over the top for me. The realchallenge is that the environment is a very complex systemsproblem.People of all incomes and net worths are not yet very goodthinkers and decision-makers about complex systems like theenvironment. Few people go around despoiling nature just to createugliness, filth, and bad smells! Putting a rich-poor slant on thisproblem is pretty arbitrary.The book is very effective indescribing the divisions among the cultures of the poorer people inthe U.S. and in the third world, the techno-rich, and those who arein-between but do not live the techno-rich lifestyle. Theseperceptual gaps are quite wide and do need to be closed. Otherwise,the ability to communicate and share ideas will be lost. Thechallenge here is much more difficult than simply providingInternet-connected computers for everyone. Clearly, the solutionswill mostly have to come from those who are creating and deploying thenew technology. At most, the other groups can help formulate thequestions. In that sense, the book's concept is flawed. It shouldhave focused less on the debate,and more on what thetechno-capitalists should be doing differently. . . and how they willbenefit if they do. Th