20 years ago, I took a macroeconomics class with a professor who has become somewhat famous in recent years. [0] I was in a strong anti-establishment, anti-cap

20 years ago, I took a macroeconomics class with a professor who has become somewhat famous in recent years. [0] I was in a strong anti-establishment, anti-capitalist phase, but I really respected this professor and the material he taught, because I felt like I was empowered by the material. One day after class, I waited for 30 mins in a line to ask him how X% GDP growth etc. year-over-year was a sustainable goal. Being a young man with a lot of testosterone, I phrased it in a really edgy way, something like "Wouldn't you call something that grows forever a cancer?" His response was that he had a strong belief that economic growth could reflect the growth and implementation of ideas, of new technologies and efforts that globally improve life. I don't remember it super well, but I do recall that he was emphasizing that while the curve had a material impact on people's lives, it would not necessarily require consumption of scarce resources or other damaging, difficult-to-reverse decisions that caused harm. (We were mostly using oil extraction as an example of a finite resource that had a tight relationship with economic growth.) I liked his answer, but I didn't feel it was very likely. Decades later, I still think this mindset is damaging, but having volunteered a lot more in the public sphere, I can see how a lack of growth also causes huge problems. [0] https://uwaterloo.ca/economics/profiles/larry-smith https://uwaterloo.ca/economics/profiles/larry-smith