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The English economist William Stanley Jevons made the same observation in 1865. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons
by VintageCool 12y ago
The 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.