3 ms·
> After reviewing the trends, Smil introduces a surprising and counterintuitive idea he calls relative dematerialization. As innovation lets us make a given pro
by oska 12y ago
> After reviewing the trends, Smil introduces a surprising and counterintuitive idea he calls relative dematerialization. As innovation lets us make a given product more efficiently, with fewer materials or energy, prices go down and consumption goes up.
Looks like Gates isn't very familiar with the ideas of Buckminster Fuller then. Bucky identified ephemeralization as a key technological trend over 70 years ago. [1]
[1] R. Buckminster Fuller, Nine Chains to the Moon, Anchor Books [1938] 1971 pp. 252–59.
- portlander12345 12y agoThe thing that Gates finds surprising is that ephemeralization results in more resource consumption, not less.
- VintageCool 12y agoThe English economist William Stanley Jevons made the same observation in 1865. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
- oska 12y agoThank you for the link. However, at least in the wikipedia article, it seems to be more a discussion of fuel use (the original observation was about coal) rather than material use. Fuels are used up; materials used to build things can be recycled. From my recollection of Buckminster's discussion of ephemeralization, he restricted it to only material use. And Gates' discussion in the article is again only about material use. I think it's quite conceivable that a world with a stable population could rely almost entirely on recycling of at least some materials. In Brazil, they already recycle 98% of aluminium can production.