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Is wealth truly proportional to matter? How many physical resources are used when making software, music, art, theater, writing? How much wealth did the interne
by throwawaymsft 8y ago
Is wealth truly proportional to matter? How many physical resources are used when making software, music, art, theater, writing? How much wealth did the internet create and how much matter did it use?
There may be a finite limit on potential wealth but it’s effectively limitless for human planning purposes.
(For the trees, we can certainly mismanage our resources; it doesn’t mean it’s a priori impossible to create a growing and sustainable form of wealth.)
- Tade0 8y agoHow many physical resources are used when making software, music, art, theater, writing? Actually a pretty decent amount over the life cycle of a person. After all those things require a functioning civilisation that educates properly to begin with. The internet is mostly a means of making communication more efficient - that was one stupidly inefficient process ripe for an upgrade. So yeah, no additional wealth really - just much less losses.
- throwawaymsft 8y agoWhat "pretty decent" physical resources does making software consume? (Beyond energy, which is renewable.) The internet and other tech doesn't create new wealth? Why has the size of the economy grown exponentially since the industrial revolution? If wealth were fixed, as population in increased we'd be getting vastly poorer worldwide (1.6 billion in 1900 -> 7 billion people today). Have we gotten 5x poorer on average? (These facts are easily googleable.)