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Why is it a limited resource world? Why do you conceive of growth as requiring coal or land? Why can’t growth be growth in wellbeing or health or satisfaction?

Why is it a limited resource world? Why do you conceive of growth as requiring coal or land? Why can’t growth be growth in wellbeing or health or satisfaction? Thus, why can’t we continue to grow indefinitely? Isn’t time and attention the only limit? Here’s a brief history of capitalism: Running out of whales? Develop ground oil. Running out of elephant tusks? Develop plastics. Running out of intact forests? Develop carbon markets. Earth running hot? Cool it down. Too much carbon? Develop renewables. It’s all happening. Not at the pace you want — but do you really want to trust that a revolutionary new economic governance would deliver these outcomes as quickly or efficiently? I agree that “the point of no return” is a real risk — thawing permafrost and all that. But this is why we need to figure out geoengineering rather than banning the science of it. We can’t be so romantic as to think that we should leave nature untouched. We are nature and it is our existential need to figure out how to sustain ourselves. I think progress has been fantastic. It’s all happening— we just need a bit more time for the energy and AI transitions to happen. I believe that this optimism is both rationally founded — and probably critical for creating a shared social vision for positive outcomes. We need to know where we are going — and man, it looks good! There will be so many resources to support all human needs — and even most human desires. Let’s not break things.

vouaobrasil 2y ago
It's not happening at any pace. CO2 is going up like it always was. No dent. We need to destroy society, not develop more technology.
atoav 2y ago
> Why is it a limited resource world? That is probably a more profound question than you might think. But one answer is, because we are in the saturation area of the logistical curve. Just like the feedback of a guitar amp infinitly amplifying itself, there is a point where it won't get any louder as you run into the physical limits of its electrical components, changing the sound of everything fundamentally. We are limited because our earth is a globe with a atmosphere so thin, if you scaled the earth down to the size of an apple its peel would be way thicker than the Earth's. It is limited for the same reason my living room is limited: It has a certain geometric extent and that's it. Let's say I put stuff into this room. If my goal was to put 5% more stuff into that room each week you probably would angle your head and ask me if I was crazy. Rightfully so. Now my point was precisely this: growth sucks as an organizing principle in a world of limited resources. It would be better to figure out how to make use of the resources in a better way. Ans we even know how to do this on a smaller level. But somehow we ended up with a ruling class that well.. doesn't profit from extracting value from putting more stuff into the room, so we do just that.

vouaobrasil 2y ago

It's not happening at any pace. CO2 is going up like it always was. No dent. We need to destroy society, not develop more technology.

atoav 2y ago

> Why is it a limited resource world? That is probably a more profound question than you might think. But one answer is, because we are in the saturation area of the logistical curve. Just like the feedback of a guitar amp infinitly amplifying itself, there is a point where it won't get any louder as you run into the physical limits of its electrical components, changing the sound of everything fundamentally. We are limited because our earth is a globe with a atmosphere so thin, if you scaled the earth down to the size of an apple its peel would be way thicker than the Earth's. It is limited for the same reason my living room is limited: It has a certain geometric extent and that's it. Let's say I put stuff into this room. If my goal was to put 5% more stuff into that room each week you probably would angle your head and ask me if I was crazy. Rightfully so. Now my point was precisely this: growth sucks as an organizing principle in a world of limited resources. It would be better to figure out how to make use of the resources in a better way. Ans we even know how to do this on a smaller level. But somehow we ended up with a ruling class that well.. doesn't profit from extracting value from putting more stuff into the room, so we do just that.