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I read it. If you disagree with the assertion that "finite resources do not support infinite future growth" then the entire argument falls apart. Finite resour
by bshipp 4y ago
I read it. If you disagree with the assertion that "finite resources do not support infinite future growth" then the entire argument falls apart.
Finite resources do not support infinite resource exploitation, that much is obvious. humans, however, have access to vast sums of energy via the sun and internal earth processes, as well as the capacity to reach out to the solar system if the shortage of any other resources were depleted on earth. We could already do this but for the niggling fact that the cost to exploit extra-terrestrial resources is higher than the current value of those resources.
Regardless, raw material extraction and manufacturing is only a portion of overall economic activity, and a fairly small portion at that. The majority of growth over the past 50 years is in non-resource-dependent industries, which theoretically is not tightly bound by finite resource constraints.
In fact, what we are finding now is numerous Western industries determining that their primary operational constraint is not natural resource availability but the lack of accessible human capital. There are too few humans for the available jobs.
- 11thEarlOfMar 4y agoIn essence, all nodes are borrowers against the value of one room night in the hotel. The chain of repayment was destined to happen at the point that the innkeeper sold his next room. This is an illustration of how debt can drive economic activity, since all nodes consumed something of value in return for a promise to pay later.