Growth cannot continue forever on a finite planet.
And there is no state of equilibrium in an economy – because market theory – which is the only thing that suggests that possible – is based on a series of premises we know so implausible it could never deliver this outcome.
OK,so growth will at some point cease. The economy will be stable. Which is an equilibrium. But equilibrium cannot happen but must….
Ahem – equilibrium in an economy was described by Tbomas More in “Utopia” before market theory was invented.
Murphy’s education was lacking in literature as well as economics.
Malthusian claptrap.
Growth will continue as long as there are things to invent or improve.
Ottokring is correct, with the proviso that no-one fucks it up.
People will fuck it up.. Greed and Stupidity ( Socialism counts as both) are guaranteed to mess things up, at least locally, possibly globally.
And if it isn’t people, then Mother Nature has a thing or two to say in the matter. Say… The San Andreas doing a major wobble, the east-african rift breaking through to the sea or throwing a tantrum, the Tibetan platform is a bit like a sultry teenager as well…
And there’s always the plethora of volcanoes big and small. A decent bang can influence climate for decades, if not centuries..
Also note that “equilibrium” at the level of abstraction of economy ( which is averages of averages of..) tend to have upper and lower bounds. Within those bounds things can still move, sometimes quite a lot, and still not be of significant influence on the total average.
Totally off topic but the juxtaposition of these two articles on the landing page of the Torygraph amused me.
First https://www.telegraph.co.uk/recommended/home/best-heated-clothes-airer/
Directly below https://www.telegraph.co.uk/recommended/home/best-dehumidifiers/
If you have one, you’re definitely going to need the other. Wonder they don’t make it a package deal.
The Lefties seem to have an ardent wish for people to stop creating useful stuff. They dream of an era when new stuff is not available and we can all live in communes, soak beans and dye our hair purple. The trouble is that they then start inventing mechanisms for stopping new stuff being done, such as fracking or creating new machines
One definition of growth can be stated as doing more with less. This can easily be achieved on a planet with finite resources.
By the way, BiS, both my Mum and I each own a Lakeland dryer. We agree that they are excellent bits of kit. Hers is in the kitchen and mine is in the airy spare bedroom, so we don’t really need dehumids.
Voluntary exchange is always growth (in utility/ happiness).
BiND,
“One definition of growth can be stated as doing more with less. This can easily be achieved on a planet with finite resources.”
We constantly do this. Watch a movie on streaming instead of driving to Blockbuster, LED TVs instead of CRTs which use more energy, Spotify instead of buying and spinning records. eBay. I mean, how much stuff isn’t thrown out now because someone out there will buy your own wine rack or chainsaw on eBay.
And let’s not forget we hopefully aren’t bound to this one planet for ever, even asteroid mining in our own solar system would be a large increase in available resources
Grikath said:
“A decent bang can influence climate for decades”
Are you talking about Carrie’s influence on eco policy?
It would be fun if we crippled the economy in the name of stopping global warming, then some volcano somewhere went bang and did the job for us. For a certain value of “fun”. Does nobody remember Krakatoa? (Or even Pinatuba, which had a greater cooling effect)
jgh
November 13, 2021 at 12:14 am
+100%
JGH @12.14 “Does nobody remember Krakatoa?”
I remember that one, a dodgy 1960’s disaster flick, widely mocked for its’ title: “Krakatoa, East of Java”. In reality it is West of Java.
The eco nutters aren’t interested that mother nature has and does far more damage and killed off 99%+ of everything that has ever lived on Earth ‘cos that’s natural.
“Growth cannot continue forever on a finite planet”
Not technically true, but if you believe it is true or true-ish, the solution is embrace the Space Age, not to return to the Middle Ages. Let’s spread to more planets!
The sun puts out lots of protons and electrons, which space stations should be able to collect, and join together as hydrogen atoms. If we could find some way to make neutrons, then we should be able to build any atoms we wanted, especially atoms beyond current models.
@Ottokring
Airy rooms are an offense against the Insulate Britain act 2022, go directly to jail
I live in a Victorian house. It is an absolute bastard for its “airiness”.
There are no limits to human ingenuity.
There are no limits to human stupidity.
It is the same old race and we need to stop helping stupid scum spread their lies.
Murphy is a waste of space and 02 and needs to be perm out-of-circ asap.
He invents no new evil as he isn’t smart enough but he gives exposure to all the garbage he can scrape up.