How is it possible to have infinite growth on a finite planet?

Our world is a diverse place, brimming with millions of ideas. But isn’t it strange: when it comes to economics, for some reason we’ve all ended up settling for the same system, a single story. Capitalism.

Capitalism is everywhere. It dominates nearly every country on the planet. We talk a lot about what capitalism is about – private enterprise, advertising, stocks and bonds, the market. But we rarely talk about the why – the deep logic that makes capitalism tick.

What does a post-growth world look like? Growth or Life here…

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  1. Willie says:

    Greed, that is what makes Capitalism tick.

    And its not a new thing. Maybe more sophisticated now in its complexity of execution, but underneath its the same old song. And its not an old song that the only the fabulously wealthy sing.

    You’d think we would have learned by now. But no, we haven’t, and one can only look forward to the glittering egalitarian future that lies before us out of Europe and in with Trump.

  2. Bill Ramsay says:

    Good stuff,
    Have a look at the latest piece in Common Space Opinion by Craig Berry. Shades of Kraft Ehrike’s Extra Terrestrial Imperative?

  3. Kenny Smith says:

    Yesterday on the radio promoting the UK,s space ports etc I heard a comment ” people have to wake up that space is a place to do business ” so there’s the answer to the finite bit. I worked on subsea structures for the oil industry and we were given an induction with a cg graphic video of it being installed. It was all done by remote then linking the pipes up to a ship that started the refining process. The whole time I watched all I could think of how space age it seemed. We will modify and perfect the technology at some stage so we can go to Mars or wherever and plunder anything that’s worth taking and we could do it without a foot being set on the soil. I guess it’s mankind’s destiny if we persist with this model of thinking. It’s a shame to think that after ruining this planet that we will move like a swarm of locusts destroying others. I know it sounds unbelievable but to me that’s where we are headed. I’m not anti capitalist but I am anti greed. I understand business wants to do well and people would like decent paying work but the way it’s set up now means we will eat ourselves. When Tesco reports a % drop in profits it’s not like they didn’t make money just less than they hoped, every year the figure gets higher, things get squeezed, at some point there has to a flatline and say enough but it won’t ever come, there’s always more to be scraped by any means. Like many distopian movies something really catastrophic is going to have to happen before the people of the world wake up

  4. SleepingDog says:

    We don’t see a lot of pure capitalism otherwise you’d also see a lot of riches-to-rags stories. But yes, the everlasting economic growth fable is on a par with believing in Santa Claus’ magical ability to produce presents.

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