I’m not sure that it’s just that. In some ways, you have force multipliers that have multiple order effects. I’ll give two examples. One, food preservation. Fo

I’m not sure that it’s just that. In some ways, you have force multipliers that have multiple order effects. I’ll give two examples. One, food preservation. Food preservation has made it so we need to go to the grocery store far less. It’s also made food borne illness much less of a thing. This in turn leads to a more efficient economy, and removes overheads like food waste. Although freezers take a ridiculous amount of power, a similar standard of living would be much more expensive. I realize that the hole in this argument is “don’t eat that kind of food”. On the other hand, telecommuting. The infrastructure to run gmail and hangouts is minuscule in terms of its carbon emissions to buildings and cars. I believe in economics, these are called externalities.