tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2216751897705338056.post8435287176299682908..comments2023-10-17T03:41:01.759-04:00Comments on reflexiones finales: The growth fetishrussell1200http://www.blogger.com/profile/16258915475311426433noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2216751897705338056.post-31406431700995444942012-11-30T21:28:41.556-05:002012-11-30T21:28:41.556-05:00John: Not a bad point, but on a scary note, Berry...John: Not a bad point, but on a scary note, Berry was very very wrong. The big agricultural revolution that helped ignite the industrial revolution came from the use of coal for heating purposes. It freed up marginal land to be used for the stronger horses (versus oxen) and created the market for coal that eventually lead to the steam engine.<br /><br />Natural gas used to make fertilizer was only a few years behind the tractor (1915?).<br /><br />Crop rotation, steel plows, and better harness go back to the Middle Ages. I guess the improved use of wind power for sailing, and the eventual expansion of the canal systems to allow the long distance movement of food crops would have to count.<br /><br />But in any case, increased energy inputs were a lot more important going way back than Mr. Berry would have us believe.russell1200https://www.blogger.com/profile/16258915475311426433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2216751897705338056.post-24201477896812773862012-11-29T15:29:23.834-05:002012-11-29T15:29:23.834-05:00Part of the conundrum is that "growth and dev...Part of the conundrum is that "growth and development" have been lumped together. As Wendell Berry noted, in The Gift of Good Land I believe, before tractors, every improvement in farm machinery was an increase in efficiency. After tractors were introduced machines just produced more by using more power.<br /><br />We can go back to a kind of economy where development occurs which doesn't require an increase in resources consumed. And development can be linked to whatever values we choose. But it does take an active choice to persue a different future, not to futuilely clutch to a hopeless past.John D. Wheelerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16203607452410210779noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2216751897705338056.post-47950103388474866282012-11-29T12:30:23.403-05:002012-11-29T12:30:23.403-05:00In a zero growth society I could se a type of free...In a zero growth society I could se a type of free market society, but "capitalism" is a sociatal investment strategy. Its heyday started pretty much at the start of the commercial-agricultural-early industrial revolution. Without that periods growth it is hard to see how you make it work as a universal system.<br /><br />The process will likely not be fair. The typical problem (based on Cliodynamics) is competition for dwindling resources by the elite. In modern times it is often the university students that spark the first conflageration. But it is the elites in general that create the big battles. The poor, outside of a few bread riotes, seem to mostly just starve.russell1200https://www.blogger.com/profile/16258915475311426433noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2216751897705338056.post-59404819633075665082012-11-29T07:47:00.330-05:002012-11-29T07:47:00.330-05:00I have been trying hard to envision a static socie...I have been trying hard to envision a static society.<br /><br />If capitalism stays at the core, it will be one ruthless, Darwinian MFer.<br /><br />Hard to say, if we do switch away from the growth paradigm, there will have to be a lot of changes at a very fundamental level to make the process somewhat fair.<br /><br />Ponzi was rich rich up to the endDegringoladehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11893964959960977677noreply@blogger.com