106 Stephen Hymer mean more resources devoted to research and innovation.This positive feedback can lead to furious competition,especially if the government accentuates it by subsidizing research,forcing growth,and centralizing international communications,making it possible to reach the whole world with one blow. International competition is thus likely to at least continue to foster, and probably raise,the animal spirits of multinational corporations,and bring about a revolutionary reconstruction of world society by contin- uously destroying old needs and wants and creating new ones.The life styles of the present advanced centers will be transferred to the hinter- land,and new needs and wants will be created for the affluent.In turn, these will spread to the rest in a continuous cycle of innovation and trickling down,appropriately called"creative destruction"by Schumpe- ter. “Hunger is hunger,”wrote Marx,“but the hunger that is satisfied with cooked meat eaten with fork and knife is a different kind of hunger from the one that devours raw meat with the aid of hands and teeth" (Marx,Grundrisse,Harper and Row,1971,p.27).The incredible tech- nological progress of capitalism reduces the realm of natural necessity and replaces it with needs that are historically produced.There can be no doubt that the multinational corporation is a forward-moving organ- ization,producing needs,destroying them,and producing new needs within a generation.The question that concerns us is the direction of change.Paradoxically,the new manifestation of human powers and the new enrichment of the human being created by technological change often have the opposite meaning within the corporate system.Wants are pushed forward in a one-sided direction,and the growth of needs and the means to satisfy them result in a lack of needs and of means.No matter how wealthy we grow,we continue to live from hand to mouth. In the great cities of the United States,where the highest per capita income obtains,the need for decent housing and for fresh air ceases to be a need,while the automobile becomes a necessity."Man returns to the cave dwelling again but it is now poisoned by the pestilential breath of civilization...Light,air,and the simplest animal cleanliness cease to be human needs.Filth,this corruption and putrification which runs in the sewers of civilization (this is to be taken literally)becomes the element in which man lives"(Marx,Economics and Philosophical Man- uscripts,p.142).In New York,the home of the multinational corpo- ration,this is almost literally true.Symbolically the Bowery abuts Wall Street and Fifth Avenue runs into Harlem.The same contradiction between poverty and wealth can be seen in the underdeveloped capital- ist world where small islands of modern consumption are ringed by This content downloaded from 202.120.14.154 on Mon,04 Jan 2016 03:31:29 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions106 Stephen Hymer mean more resources devoted to research and innovation. This positive feedback can lead to furious competition, especially if the government accentuates it by subsidizing research, forcing growth, and centralizing international communications, making it possible to reach the whole world with one blow. International competition is thus likely to at least continue to foster, and probably raise, the animal spirits of multinational corporations, and bring about a revolutionary reconstruction of world society by contin￾uously destroying old needs and wants and creating new ones. The life styles of the present advanced centers will be transferred to the hinter￾land, and new needs and wants will be created for the affluent. In turn, these will spread to the rest in a continuous cycle of innovation and trickling down, appropriately called "creative destruction" by Schumpe￾ter. "Hunger is hunger," wrote Marx, "but the hunger that is satisfied with cooked meat eaten with fork and knife is a different kind of hunger from the one that devours raw meat with the aid of hands and teeth" (Marx, Grundrisse, Harper and Row, 1971, p. 27). The incredible tech￾nological progress of capitalism reduces the realm of natural necessity and replaces it with needs that are historically produced. There can be no doubt that the multinational corporation is a forward-moving organ￾ization, producing needs, destroying them, and producing new needs within a generation. The question that concerns us is the direction of change. Paradoxically, the new manifestation of human powers and the new enrichment of the human being created by technological change often have the opposite meaning within the corporate system. Wants are pushed forward in a one-sided direction, and the growth of needs and the means to satisfy them result in a lack of needs and of means. No matter how wealthy we grow, we continue to live from hand to mouth. In the great cities of the United States, where the highest per capita income obtains, the need for decent housing and for fresh air ceases to be a need, while the automobile becomes a necessity. "Man returns to the cave dwelling again but it is now poisoned by the pestilential breath of civilization. . . . Light, air, and the simplest animal cleanliness cease to be human needs. Filth, this corruption and putrification which runs in the sewers of civilization (this is to be taken literally) becomes the element in which man lives" (Marx, Economics and Philosophical Man￾uscripts, p. 142). In New York, the home of the multinational corpo￾ration, this is almost literally true. Symbolically the Bowery abuts Wall Street and Fifth Avenue runs into Harlem. The same contradiction between poverty and wealth can be seen in the underdeveloped capital￾ist world where small islands of modern consumption are ringed by This content downloaded from 202.120.14.154 on Mon, 04 Jan 2016 03:31:29 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions