3 ms·

It can, if one's definition of "infinity" is "during my lifetime". That's how we get Boomers going on rampant climate change denialism.

ChuckMcM 1y ago
I understand this set of comments is a digression but there is an interesting subtlety here. There is a structural connection between economic activity (in particular 'innovation') and wealth inequality. Economies that are 'stable' and 'unchanging' become stratified and people living in those economies find themselves getting slotted into 'classes' from which they cannot change. Since I tend to be interested in systems, especially emergent ones, this is something I find interesting but recognize that the world generally considers economists more boring than accountants :-). When one discusses the 'graph going up' or 'growth' is that prices? GDP? Employment? Opportunity? I've been in conversations where several different definitions of 'growth' were being used that got confusing because there wasn't an agreement on what the y axis was measuring.
supportengineer 1y ago
The can-kicking limit
simianparrot 1y ago
Most boomers I know don’t deny the climate is changing — they can (quite literally) feel it in their bones. What they’re less convinced about is what to do about it. I agree with those who say we need to do practical preparation for the inevitable consequences rather than try to turn back the clock in a fit of fear and futility. Norway can exit oil today and return its entire population to pre-WW2 poverty and last time I checked the effect on the world’s climate would be a .1% reduction in Co2 emissions, rounded up. Meanwhile nobody, and least not a western country, is going to tell India and China to reverse course back into the obscurity of underdevelopment. So any sane conclusion is that oil will eventually run out, so let’s use it as efficiently as possible to prepare for the inevitable change in climate we’re already seeing, regardless of its cause because it’s an unstoppable object.

ChuckMcM 1y ago

I understand this set of comments is a digression but there is an interesting subtlety here. There is a structural connection between economic activity (in particular 'innovation') and wealth inequality. Economies that are 'stable' and 'unchanging' become stratified and people living in those economies find themselves getting slotted into 'classes' from which they cannot change. Since I tend to be interested in systems, especially emergent ones, this is something I find interesting but recognize that the world generally considers economists more boring than accountants :-). When one discusses the 'graph going up' or 'growth' is that prices? GDP? Employment? Opportunity? I've been in conversations where several different definitions of 'growth' were being used that got confusing because there wasn't an agreement on what the y axis was measuring.

supportengineer 1y ago

The can-kicking limit

simianparrot 1y ago

Most boomers I know don’t deny the climate is changing — they can (quite literally) feel it in their bones. What they’re less convinced about is what to do about it. I agree with those who say we need to do practical preparation for the inevitable consequences rather than try to turn back the clock in a fit of fear and futility. Norway can exit oil today and return its entire population to pre-WW2 poverty and last time I checked the effect on the world’s climate would be a .1% reduction in Co2 emissions, rounded up. Meanwhile nobody, and least not a western country, is going to tell India and China to reverse course back into the obscurity of underdevelopment. So any sane conclusion is that oil will eventually run out, so let’s use it as efficiently as possible to prepare for the inevitable change in climate we’re already seeing, regardless of its cause because it’s an unstoppable object.