3 ms·
We know that infinite growth is not possible on a finite planet. I also don't think we will be doing asteroid mining etc. on any scale or timeframe relevant to
by alexgmcm 5y ago
We know that infinite growth is not possible on a finite planet. I also don't think we will be doing asteroid mining etc. on any scale or timeframe relevant to the current climate crisis.
Therefore we know there is some limit - and we are just arguing about where that limit is.
The Global Footprint Network with their "Overshoot Day" believe we are already beyond that sustainable limit and, to be honest, with increasing populations that (quite rightly) demand Western living standards, I doubt we will ever be sustainable.
- samhw 5y agoI'm not sure why infinite growth wouldn't be possible on a finite planet (even if we assume that "on a finite planet" is indeed a real constraint). Growth doesn't imply greater resource use.
- SuoDuanDao 5y agoEven if the economy were dominated by the creation and consumption of .mp3 files, an exponentially growing economy would eventually run out of server space and electricity on a finite planet.
- klyrs 5y agoAssuming we need nothing but space to exist in, the surface area of the earth is finite. Expand that by a few km up and down, and humans still have a finite amount of space to live within. If we're allowed colonization of space, we can only travel at a finite speed. Humans can overtake a finite radius in a year, resulting in a cubic rate of growth in volume. Exponential growth is ultimately limited by the finite speed of light and dimensionality of our universe.