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The Big Picture

General discussions of the systemic, societal and civilisational effects of depletion.

Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby coyote » Sat 25 Mar 2006, 02:17:47

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NiKfUrY69', 'A')TTENTIONS MORONS! The two largest population bases are Hindu and what-ever-the-crap the Communist Chinese are now days!

Neither of which subscribe to the crappin' Bible. Geez.

You will never get a handle on over population until you can get the Chinese and Indian populations to come under some kind of guilt syndrome.

...Got RICE?!

How very polite and insightful. What crawled up yours?

If you don't understand the extreme level of resource consumption practiced by the Western Christian world (much much higher than the two nations you seem to have such a problem with, or anybody else for that matter), you will probably never understand what Peak Oil is all about.
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby coyote » Sat 25 Mar 2006, 14:35:21

Nik, good lord, man. Take a pill or something.
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby Rufoman » Sun 26 Mar 2006, 05:47:35

Just on a sidenote isn't the amount of resources consumed as important as the number of people who consume them? I mean if you have ten apples and ten men each have one that's fine, but if you have three men and each wants seven then it can't possibly work.

Without a doubt the West consumes vastly more energy than the East, the average American uses something like the same amount of resources as 6 Chinese, the EU is slightly lower but still of a similar vein.

So if say two-hundred million people use on average six times more resources than those 1 billion other people doesn't it still mean they consume more?

China and India together make a lot of humans, but they consume a lot less energy and other resources than us, I admit with thier economies growing like they are it might not be so long before they catch up but my point is that it's the amount consumed by each person, not the number of people who do the consuming, to a point at least.
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby Ludi » Sun 26 Mar 2006, 10:47:18

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Rufoman', 'C')hina and India together make a lot of humans, but they consume a lot less energy and other resources than us, I admit with thier economies growing like they are it might not be so long before they catch up but my point is that it's the amount consumed by each person, not the number of people who do the consuming, to a point at least.


They won't be able to "catch up." There aren't enough resources.
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby TheTurtle » Sun 26 Mar 2006, 10:57:42

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '
')They won't be able to "catch up." There aren't enough resources.


As evidenced by the latest catch phrase to come out of the recently held legislative session, Hu's "Socialist Concept of Honor and Disgrace".

This concept offers to teach Chinese the difference between right and wrong, to tell good from evil and to distinguish the beautiful from the ugly. It does so by enjoining good citizens of the People's republic to be patriotic, obey the law, work hard and lead simple lives.

This, of course, is addressed to the one billion Chinese who have missed the economic boom and who are starting to get more and more resentful of that fact.
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves.” (Ted Perry)
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby backstop » Sun 26 Mar 2006, 11:17:53

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheTurtle', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '
')They won't be able to "catch up." There aren't enough resources.


As evidenced by the latest catch phrase to come out of the recently held legislative session, Hu's "Socialist Concept of Honor and Disgrace".

This concept offers to teach Chinese the difference between right and wrong, to tell good from evil and to distinguish the beautiful from the ugly. It does so by enjoining good citizens of the People's republic to be patriotic, obey the law, work hard and lead simple lives.

This, of course, is addressed to the one billion Chinese who have missed the economic boom and who are starting to get more and more resentful of that fact.



Turtle -

It seems that we differ over just how to spell 'honour' ?

But it's amusing to see the Chinese regime having the freedom of manouvre to go at the problem of deficient-resources-for-eternal-economic-growth
from the highly potent level of moral principle,
while the best GWBush can manage is weasel words about oil addiction . . .

regards,

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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby Ludi » Sun 26 Mar 2006, 15:56:03

Off-topic mini-rant:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NiKfUrY69', 'Y')ell at them when they don't follow their own rules, when they fail to follow Christ's word, when they fail to do the works their supposed to do.


Ok. I'm "yelling" at you now. You've been breaking your rules in this thread, and elsewhere on the board.

I needn't tell you how, cuz you know Christ's word.

Uh huh.

(Sorry, but I just get cheezed off at Christians who prance around internet message boards talking about how they're so Christian while being so obviously bad at it.)
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby TWilliam » Sun 26 Mar 2006, 16:22:54

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Rufoman', 'J')ust on a sidenote isn't the amount of resources consumed as important as the number of people who consume them? I mean if you have ten apples and ten men each have one that's fine, but if you have three men and each wants seven then it can't possibly work.

Without a doubt the West consumes vastly more energy than the East, the average American uses something like the same amount of resources as 6 Chinese, the EU is slightly lower but still of a similar vein.

So if say two-hundred million people use on average six times more resources than those 1 billion other people doesn't it still mean they consume more?

China and India together make a lot of humans, but they consume a lot less energy and other resources than us, I admit with thier economies growing like they are it might not be so long before they catch up but my point is that it's the amount consumed by each person, not the number of people who do the consuming, to a point at least.

This is the point of the I = PAT equation I mentioned upthread. (I) represents a measure of human Impact upon the environment. It is the product of (T)echnology, which has to do with the ability to extract and process raw materials (including the manufacture of end products), multiplied by (A)ffluence, basically per capita consumption (including generated waste), multiplied by (P)opulation.

Obviously a single birth in a country with relatively high (A) and (T) has a greater impact than one in which these factors are low. Likewise elevating either or both of these factors increases the impact, even without an increase in population.

ADDENDUM: If you consider (I) to have a specific fixed value representing the maximum sustainable impact we can have on the environment without the system breaking down, then it becomes clear that the only way to maintain an expanding level of affluence and technology is to reduce population...
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby MyOtherID » Sun 26 Mar 2006, 16:55:04

The crunch will come from the change from this

Image

to this (actual photo of Chinese city)


Image

in the space of 30 years. Only about 3% of Chinese own cars right now.

ye gods.
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby Zardoz » Sun 26 Mar 2006, 19:46:29

Cheney did it:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('backstop', '.')..only a symptom of a malign, usurious materialistic ideology, which is effectively the antithesis of human nature. America is the present homeground of that ideology...

The Christians did it:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'I') wonder if "go forth and multiply" has anything to do with the problem?

The Catholics did it:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('killJOY', '.').."First, kill all the catholics."...

The major religions did it:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('lateStarter', '.')..The worlds major religions make it very difficult to advance birth control/contraceptice practices...

All believers did it:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Daculling', '.')..If you haven't noticed the religious types would rather die than compromise their beliefs. Try convincing these people not to have 10 children....
The Chinese and the Indians did it:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NiKfUrY69', '.')..ATTENTIONS MORONS! The two largest population bases are Hindu and what-ever-the-crap the Communist Chinese are now days!...
City-dwellers did it:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Holmes', 'c')itiots believe EVERYTHING is normal. LOL. the cities are just the next mayan empire...
Technology did it:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gego', '.')..The result of applying technology to economic activity (manufacturing, mining, agriculture) permitted the huge expansion of human population uncharacteristic of all prior history of mankind...
Bad management did it:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('NiKfUrY69', '.')..if we had to peg a single fault zone, I would say resource mismanagment...
Capitalism did it:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('grillzilla', 'S')eriously, what do you expect from a world wide economic/political system based on greed?
Westerners did it:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Rufoman', '.')..Without a doubt the West consumes vastly more energy than the East...
The Poles did it:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('marti252', '.')..Polish were the first who drilled first well in 1853...
Am I alone, or does anybody else think that maybe every human being on this planet is culpable? We're all to blame, folks, one way or another. We're guilty by existence. There's no weasel-room for any of us.
We all did it, and we're all going to pay for it, one way or another, sooner or later. Blame games like the above serve no purpose.
Oh, and by the way, Doc Lovelock is right: We're dead meat.
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby Ludi » Sun 26 Mar 2006, 21:46:39

Nah, folks managed to live on the Earth causing relatively little damage for some 100,000 - 1 million years (depending on when you start counting). Those folks aren't "to blame" for anything.
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby jimk » Mon 27 Mar 2006, 01:55:19

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', '
')This is the point of the I = PAT equation I mentioned upthread. (I) represents a measure of human Impact upon the environment. It is the product of (T)echnology, which has to do with the ability to extract and process raw materials (including the manufacture of end products), multiplied by (A)ffluence, basically per capita consumption (including generated waste), multiplied by (P)opulation.


Your equation looks wrong. If A is per capita consumption, then I=PA would be the correct equation. Technology just enables A. Perhaps we could say A=TG, Affluence = Technology * Greed. Just because somebody wants to consume a lot, doesn't mean they can. It's technology that gives them the ability.

Putting it all together, I = PTG.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', '
')the only way to maintain an expanding level of affluence and technology is to reduce population...


But I think the definitions we are using are flawed, and contribute to the problem rather than to the solution.

Affluence or wealth need not be tied directly to resource consumption. What we value is not some fixed thing, but a function of our culture. For example, a work of fine art... or how about some rare old postage stamp. Some very expensive things don't involve almost any raw material usage.

Similarly, advancing technology does not imply a greater propensity to consume raw materials. Just as one example, look at electronics. Today's semiconductor chips provide fantastic capability with quite small use of raw materials. It's true that some nasty chemicals get used in the process - I won't hold semiconductors up as any kind of perfection or ideal. But it does illustrate the idea that advancing technology can come with increased efficiency.

Must be the case that shifting the way our culture measures wealth, and the efficiencies involved in our various technologies - these things are not easy to steer - the forces that interact to channel the evolution of these things - extremely difficult affairs. But these things will evolve, and our shifting understanding of them is part of that evolution.
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby Doly » Mon 27 Mar 2006, 07:58:37

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', '
')Your equation looks wrong. If A is per capita consumption, then I=PA would be the correct equation. Technology just enables A.


I think the concept is that some technologies are more efficient than others. Think of Russia and Eastern European countries. To get the same final amount of steel (for example), they use more resources, because they use more inefficient technologies.
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby gego » Mon 27 Mar 2006, 12:39:26

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', 'N')ah, folks managed to live on the Earth causing relatively little damage for some 100,000 - 1 million years (depending on when you start counting). Those folks aren't "to blame" for anything.


I think that any creature damages its environment. That is more or less what life is, i.e., expropriating from the environment those "materials" to sustain fuel the particular form it (life) takes, and depositing waste right back into that environment. I doubt that there is any continuing species that did not have the built in drive to expand its population and consume to the greatest extent possible, else it would dieoff.

The problem with mankind is that we have been much too successful in expropriating from out environment and expanding our numbers, but are we really to blame for following what nature programmed into us.

Blame is not an issue to me, and actually I think it is sort of an envy thing on the part of those who were not the most successful consumers/poluters. On the average we all have taken fairly heavily from the environment during this great exploitation of the saved energy.

If we had not discovered how to exploit all the saved up energy (fossil fuels), then none of us would be having this discussion as there would not be electricity and computers. The world population would be no more than 1 billion at best; life would be much shorter and much more ugly. And eventually mankind would have discovered energy anyway, so some later generations would have gone through an energy bubble instead of the few generations that actually did.

I sort of think of this energy bubble like someone inheriting a large amount of wealth. The old rule of "shirt sleeve to shirt sleeve in three generations" comes to mind. That is about what it takes a family to go through wealth and then go back to the way they lived before the windfall. I think it is more or less human nature to spend windfalls and be left with nothing. This apparently applies as much on a societal level as well as an individual level.

I guess I am rambling. The future is the past before the great energy bubble began, so I fully expect that we will get back to 1 billion of us with a lifestyle no better than when we started on this strange, one in a planet's lifetime, journey.
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby TWilliam » Mon 27 Mar 2006, 12:54:19

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', '
')This is the point of the I = PAT equation I mentioned upthread. (I) represents a measure of human Impact upon the environment. It is the product of (T)echnology, which has to do with the ability to extract and process raw materials (including the manufacture of end products), multiplied by (A)ffluence, basically per capita consumption (including generated waste), multiplied by (P)opulation.


Your equation looks wrong. If A is per capita consumption, then I=PA would be the correct equation. Technology just enables A. Perhaps we could say A=TG, Affluence = Technology * Greed. Just because somebody wants to consume a lot, doesn't mean they can. It's technology that gives them the ability.

Putting it all together, I = PTG.

It's not actually *my* equation, jimk. It was formulated by Paul Ehrlich, author of the landmark works "The Population Bomb" and it's followup "The Population Explosion". Together they represent probably the most thorough examination of the population issue ever published.

Keep in mind that this equation is an extremely simplified illustration of a multitude of complex factors. It is, however, apparently seen as useful by a number of researchers, as illustrated by this brief bibliography of papers that employ it. You can also google "ipat ehrlich" (without quotes) if you're interested in learning more.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', '
')the only way to maintain an expanding level of affluence and technology is to reduce population...


But I think the definitions we are using are flawed, and contribute to the problem rather than to the solution.

See above...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', 'A')ffluence or wealth need not be tied directly to resource consumption. What we value is not some fixed thing, but a function of our culture. For example, a work of fine art... or how about some rare old postage stamp. Some very expensive things don't involve almost any raw material usage.
Beside the point. In the equation, consumption is what Affluence represents. And besides, if you have an income that supports buying rare and/or expensive items, then you are likely more consumptive overall than someone who doesn't.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', 'S')imilarly, advancing technology does not imply a greater propensity to consume raw materials. Just as one example, look at electronics. Today's semiconductor chips provide fantastic capability with quite small use of raw materials. It's true that some nasty chemicals get used in the process - I won't hold semiconductors up as any kind of perfection or ideal. But it does illustrate the idea that advancing technology can come with increased efficiency.
It may not imply it, but it is usually the end result. Try this thread for an extensive discussion of Jevons Paradox regarding increased efficiency and it's net effect of increasing consumption.
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby jimk » Mon 27 Mar 2006, 22:33:12

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', '
')if you have an income that supports buying rare and/or expensive items, then you are likely more consumptive overall than someone who doesn't.

...

Try this thread for an extensive discussion of Jevons Paradox regarding increased efficiency and its net effect of increasing consumption.


Neither of these links - wealth & efficiency leading to increased consumption - is necessary. I would agree that there are deeply entrenched patterns that enforce these links, so the links are real enough. I just want to point out that the patterns and links are not immovably solid, but can and will evolve. If we can somehow steer our cultural patterns to break these links, that might be the road to the most positive possible futures. It might be the most difficult road, too.
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby TWilliam » Tue 28 Mar 2006, 01:41:21

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', '
')if you have an income that supports buying rare and/or expensive items, then you are likely more consumptive overall than someone who doesn't.

...

Try this thread for an extensive discussion of Jevons Paradox regarding increased efficiency and its net effect of increasing consumption.


Neither of these links - wealth & efficiency leading to increased consumption - is necessary. I would agree that there are deeply entrenched patterns that enforce these links, so the links are real enough. I just want to point out that the patterns and links are not immovably solid, but can and will evolve. If we can somehow steer our cultural patterns to break these links, that might be the road to the most positive possible futures. It might be the most difficult road, too.

They may not be "necessary", and yes it would be nice to think that we could somehow break the linkages, but given human culture's record up to the present, I for one am highly skeptical of any such attempts succeeding, at least on any kind of culturewide scale.

Anyway again I think this is beside the point. The formula is an attempt to illustrate the degree of environmental Impact generated by the interaction of these three factors. It says nothing about if we can or cannot alter the various factors themselves. All it shows is how any such alterations affect the overall impact, and it aids in developing a better understanding of how they interact, for example the clear demonstration that the only way that a fixed degree of Impact can be maintained in the context of increasing Population is by reducing either one or both of the remaining two factors. Conversely, the only way that continuing growth in Technology and individual Consumption is possible, while again maintaining a fixed level of Impact, is to reduce Population.

The bottom line is that there is only one pie, that it is only so big, and you can either continue increasing population with the result that everyone gets a progressively smaller piece, or you can reduce the number of people wanting pie, thereby allowing each of those remaining to have a larger portion (or at least the option to do so).
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby jimk » Tue 28 Mar 2006, 03:12:04

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', '
')They may not be "necessary", and yes it would be nice to think that we could somehow break the linkages, but given human culture's record up to the present, I for one am highly skeptical of any such attempts succeeding, at least on any kind of culturewide scale.


I have to agree that the task looks very daunting. What I think increases the odds a little is that big changes are a-foot no matter what. It's a lot easier to change the heading of a ship that's moving!

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', '
')The bottom line is that there is only one pie


There is a very concrete level at which some formula, like the one you quote, has to be correct. It's just elementary accounting. But, like any accountant knows, accounting is really magic, the creation of a convincing illusion.

Really there are countless pies. Each individual pie will obey an equation like the one you quote. But there are just endless pies to be divided up. I mentioned postage stamps. How about baseball cards. There are just so many Babe Ruth baseball cards to go around.

Energy is like money. When they are not moving, maybe one can work out a way to see them as well defined pies. But when they are moving, the accounting is a lot more fluid. There are accounting rules, e.g. about wash sales, to bound the degree of fluidity. Thermodynamics gets pretty fishy too. It gets hooked into information theory via Maxwell's demon, and information theory is relativized by encodings and expectations.

It's the idea that there is just one pie that really suffocates us. Petroleum reserves are just one pie, yeah, that must be an accurate enough perspective. Or copper or iron or gold. Of course some cakes one actually can both have and eat, while others disappear as they are eaten.

So my point is really about language. We can give words like "affluence" and "technology" very narrow meanings, and derive some theorems, and devise strategies etc. that all conform to our definitions. But these are not neologisms, these are common words whose common meanings are not at all confined to the narrow meanings we chose. The obvious danger is that folks outside our little clique will misinterpret our theorems, thinking that our formulas apply to other, broader meanings of the terms. The subtler danger is that we ourselves within the clique will fool ourselves with our theorems, forgetting the narrow definitions that allow us to squeeze out such concrete results.

Unbounded progress and economic growth are entirely possible in a world with finite fossil fuel resources. I am quite confident that humanity will figure this out one way or another, whether it takes fifty years or five hundred years. I don't see any way to steer the ship in a sustainable direction on a five year time scale, unfortunately. But I think we today have a responsibility to our grandchildren and their grandchildren. If we start pulling on the rudder today, we can accelerate the move to a new way of understanding affluence and economic growth and progress, a way that is decoupled from fossil fuel consumption.

Just to be clear, I don't mean to imply any kind of nuclear power program as an escape. I would include those as fossil fuel resource, though they're fossils left from astrophysical processes instead of biological processes.

What we seem to need more than anything is a bit of imagination. Just to see the amazing pies that are possible.

For another example: I am no fan of computer games, but obviously lots of people get totally wrapped up in these things. There are whole worlds there, every sort of pie to be won and lost, and it is all fundamentally decoupled from fossil fuel consumption. The whole world of art is this way. Really computer games are probably just today's version of Wagner's operas.

Neither am I arguing for any kind of Kurzweilian escape into the virtual world. No question that people need some basic minimum of food and water and air etc. to thrive. If we had a sustainable and efficient agricultural system, very hard to know what the real carrying capacity of earth would be. And really it is rather useless to speculate. We are incalculably far from any kind of sustainable efficiency. It will take generations to find our way, and major population changes can work themselves out in several generations' time.

The fantasy world that I propose we live in, winning and losing countless imaginary pies, may seem to folks like utter delusion. The thing is, we already live in a world of utter delusion. We don't kill each other over food, we kill each other over ideas. We have been in the imaginary pie business since prehistoric times.

Yeah, the problem isn't so much a lack of imagination as an over rigidity of imagination.

So I am suggesting that "affluence" and "technology" are words that we could fruitfully re-imagine.
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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby backstop » Tue 28 Mar 2006, 09:59:36

Jimk -

I observe that you are proposing that we should transcend the prevailing ideology.

Good for you !


regards,

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Re: The Big Picture

Unread postby TWilliam » Tue 28 Mar 2006, 10:19:37

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', '
')They may not be "necessary", and yes it would be nice to think that we could somehow break the linkages, but given human culture's record up to the present, I for one am highly skeptical of any such attempts succeeding, at least on any kind of culturewide scale.


I have to agree that the task looks very daunting. What I think increases the odds a little is that big changes are a-foot no matter what. It's a lot easier to change the heading of a ship that's moving!

Actually it takes more time and energy to turn a ship in motion than one that is stationary. It's called inertia, and it is one of the main reasons for the intractability of many of our modern problems...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TWilliam', '
')The bottom line is that there is only one pie


There is a very concrete level at which some formula, like the one you quote, has to be correct. It's just elementary accounting. But, like any accountant knows, accounting is really magic, the creation of a convincing illusion.

Ummm... no, I don't think so. Elementary (ie. basic) accounting is quite concrete. The illusion arises when the various factors involved are represented to be something they are not.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', 'R')eally there are countless pies. Each individual pie will obey an equation like the one you quote. But there are just endless pies to be divided up. I mentioned postage stamps. How about baseball cards. There are just so many Babe Ruth baseball cards to go around.

Energy is like money. When they are not moving, maybe one can work out a way to see them as well defined pies. But when they are moving, the accounting is a lot more fluid. There are accounting rules, e.g. about wash sales, to bound the degree of fluidity. Thermodynamics gets pretty fishy too. It gets hooked into information theory via Maxwell's demon, and information theory is relativized by encodings and expectations.

It's the idea that there is just one pie that really suffocates us. Petroleum reserves are just one pie, yeah, that must be an accurate enough perspective. Or copper or iron or gold. Of course some cakes one actually can both have and eat, while others disappear as they are eaten.

Attempting to understand and track the "moving" quality of the factors involved and how they interact with each other is just what such differential equations are for. And the "one pie" to which I was referring is this finite globe on which we reside. Those "countless pies" of which you speak are only ingredients in that one.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', 'S')o my point is really about language. We can give words like "affluence" and "technology" very narrow meanings, and derive some theorems, and devise strategies etc. that all conform to our definitions. But these are not neologisms, these are common words whose common meanings are not at all confined to the narrow meanings we chose. The obvious danger is that folks outside our little clique will misinterpret our theorems, thinking that our formulas apply to other, broader meanings of the terms. The subtler danger is that we ourselves within the clique will fool ourselves with our theorems, forgetting the narrow definitions that allow us to squeeze out such concrete results.
It's (hopefully) generally understood that such equations involve factors that are only a simplified shorthand for groupings of related factors.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', 'U')nbounded progress and economic growth are entirely possible in a world with finite fossil fuel resources.

You're kidding, right? Barring colonization of space, no it is not. Even with an infinite supply of energy, there will still be other limits to expansion.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', 'W')e don't kill each other over food, we kill each other over ideas. We have been in the imaginary pie business since prehistoric times.
Disagree. We *do* kill each other over food (or more specifically, over resources). The "ideas" are rhetorical subterfuge that we use to justify this fact to ourselves.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('jimk', 'S')o I am suggesting that "affluence" and "technology" are words that we could fruitfully re-imagine.
You're free to "re-imagine" them any way you like, but it will not change the facts that humans consume resources, and that they use various tools (technology) to increase their ability to do so. "A rose, by any other name... "
"It means buckle your seatbelt, Dorothy, because Kansas? Is goin' bye-bye... "
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