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Why can’t we have economic growth forever? Economic growth is fueled largely by innovation. What it is the barrier to perpetual innovation? Will Apple say “Sor
by pyuser583 4y ago
Why can’t we have economic growth forever? Economic growth is fueled largely by innovation. What it is the barrier to perpetual innovation?
Will Apple say “Sorry, no more new iPhone versions. All out of ideas?” And all their competitors agree?
- mc32 4y agoI think we can separate innovation from growth. I think we can agree that we have resource limitations (whether it be livable space or ploughable land). Modern economies work on the premise of growing markets. Whether creating new markets or taking over old markets. With a steady state or shrinking population, you can value add and you can innovate, but there are no new "China market(s)" to expand into. If growth were not fundamental, then companies would not look to expand beyond their borders (whether local, regional, national or international). How would companies in modern economies survive if they should predict shrinking markets? Consumerism buys you some time (you need the iPhone umpteenth), at some point a hammer is good enough --with corner-case exceptions.
- pyuser583 4y agoI don’t agree that there are absolute resource restrictions. Matter doesn’t become a resource unless it’s economically useful. 5 kilotons of cadmium may or not be a resource depending on your business. The world is full of ex resources we haven’t exhausted. There’s no shortage of bat guano or saltpeter. Mercury used to be vital, now it’s value is usually negative. There’s plenty of raw matter that’s useless now that will he extremely valuable in the future. And will eventually have awkward afterlife as an ex-resource. Like bat guano.
- Aperocky 4y ago> What it is the barrier to perpetual innovation? Physics and humans shortsightedness. There are limited resources on Earth and by the looks of it we're stuck here for the long haul.
- pyuser583 4y agoWhat about physics prevents perpetual economic growth? Economic growth isn’t dependent on a certain amount of mass, energy, or entropy.
- Aperocky 4y ago> Economic growth isn’t dependent on a certain amount of mass, energy, or entropy. It is though, you might be making the same mass and energy more efficient on a dollar terms, but there is an upper limit and that upper limit is dictated by entropy. There are only so many things that matters on Earth can do under the current physics. We're not that close but not too far away either.
- hotpotamus 4y agoI feel like that happened a few years ago but they just kept adding numbers and people kept buying them.
- dredmorbius 4y agoEconomic growth is fueled largely by innovation. That's a curiously unsupported hypothesis.