3 ms·
The only non-finite resource is knowledge, and even that runs into asymptotes of diminishing marginal utility.
by eli_gottlieb 9y ago
The only non-finite resource is knowledge, and even that runs into asymptotes of diminishing marginal utility.
- aoeuasdf1 9y agoEverything is finite when you have a fixed amount of information and mass in the universe. That doesn't mean the common economic definitions of wealth are useless. The act of creating capital such as a piece of art, a new algorithm, or a manufacturing tool all change the total amount of wealth in the world.
- dredmorbius 9y agoInformation is also amost certainly bounded. In humans it's limited by the rate of transmissibility -- if what the next generation has to learn is greater than what the present generation can pass on, knowledge will be lost. Given various inefficiencies of educational institutions, this is all but certain to be occurring as we speak. There is a notion of a "forgetting curve". And, as you note, information can at best asymptotically achieve some maximum theoretical efficiency. It's not a limitless fount of potential.