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Growth can't continue forever: http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2012/04/economist-meets-physicist/ http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2012/04/economist-meet

Growth can't continue forever: http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2012/04/economist-meets-physicist/ http://physics.ucsd.edu/do-the-math/2012/04/economist-meets-... >Before we tackle that, we’re too close to an astounding point for me to leave it unspoken. At that 2.3% growth rate, we would be using energy at a rate corresponding to the total solar input striking Earth in a little over 400 years. We would consume something comparable to the entire sun in 1400 years from now.

jessaustin 13y ago
400 years ago humans didn't have usable heat engines, mobile chronometers, thermometers, and numerous other technologies essential to living a life differentiated from that of the Neanderthals. It isn't for certain that we'll make similar progress in the coming 400 years, but it's plausible. I don't think it will take that long to construct a Dyson swarm, for instance. The physicist you link really begs the question when he forbids "space cadets". It's also questionable to equate growth in economic well-being with growth in energy use. They have certainly been related for a long time, but advances in materials, miniaturization, automation, and other engineering will make the environmentalists' goal of stabilizing per-capita energy use feasible.