Don't Worry, Cynthia; No One's in Charge

In this contribution to the Session The Roles and Responsibilities of Scientists and Engineers in Achieving a Just and Sustainable World at the SWIIS (Supplementary Ways of Improving International Stability) 2012 conference International Stability and Systems Engineering, I argue that the possessive market society (Macpherson's concept, here explained briefly) is unreformable and that radical changes in the future are inevitable, mainly for ecological reasons. I discuss some historical cases and current progress. I propose two principles (concerning basic human needs and the control/autonomy balance) as the foundation on which further research is built and make some broad-brush suggestions about the nature of such research.