Re:MIT Predicted Society Will Collapse in 2040. Research Sho...
by inkblotuniverse on Wednesday July 14, 2021 @02:09PM
(#27836262)
Technological improvement is growth. That isn't intrinsically tied to increasing resource utilisation.
Re:MIT Predicted Society Will Collapse in 2040. Research Sho...
by aaron-santos on Wednesday July 14, 2021 @02:28PM
(#27836547)
It isn't entirely separate either. Often increases in efficiency direct increases in consumption. This observation was made by the English economist William Stanley Jevons and is known as Jevons paradox[1]. More recently, the economists Daniel Khazzoom, Leonard Brookes, and others have analyzed this relationship[2].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox
[2] http://www.iaee.org/en/publications/ejarticle.aspx?id=1091
Re:MIT Predicted Society Will Collapse in 2040. Research Sho...
by s1artibartfast on Wednesday July 14, 2021 @06:34PM
(#27839304)
It is a political non starter. US population growth is driven by immigration, not birth rates.
Focusing on population reduction in other countries is politically toxic. It is too conceptually close to eugenics, genocide, and racial conflict. That said, the idea of reducing population growth still underpins efforts to improve the standard of living the third world, it just isn't branded as such.
This seems like the elephant in the room to me. It's almost never discussed, at least in the US, but as you say, it's the driver for global warming, ecological devastation, and resource constraints of all kinds. Us humans love to talk about our ability to adapt to new environments, but our lack of willingness to plan long-term is highlighting that our adaptability is not universal.
Edit: in before 'but what about the economic growth?': that's the point. Growth is not sustainable, at least when growth is related to resource utilization.