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> The infinite growth delusion seems like it will break in my lifetime, retirement is scary I don't think the illusion of growth is a problem per se. Growth, o

> The infinite growth delusion seems like it will break in my lifetime, retirement is scary I don't think the illusion of growth is a problem per se. Growth, or at least stability, could be achieved relatively straightforwardly, if only the underlying social dependency ratio weren't growing. It grows though, at least in developed countries, and to any moderately longtermist person this feels like an obvious bomb slowly ticking away, until no time is left anymore. If no systemic fix is going to be implemented, some generations will end up holding the proverbial bag, and for now it seems that this burden will fall upon the millenials and zoomers when they hit retirement age. Especially the childless.

wizofaus 4y ago
Perhaps but I'm willing to bet for the majority of those living in rich/developed countries it'll initially just be a slight (but noticeable) drop in living standards - we'll find ways of pushing the costs of our current lifestyles on to future generations (and to those in less-developed parts of the world) for a while yet. And it's not actually impossible that the right sort of technological innovations will end up cancelling out most of those costs - but at some point even the cost of those innovations may well be more than we're able/willing to pay.