One Hundred Years Of Solitude: 1917 — 2017
Below, find a brand new commentary from Notes From Disgraceland’s Bjarne Knausgaard who regular readers will recall pens some of the best political/economic color around.
The first link there is to his blog and the second is his Twitter, which you should follow.
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In Andersen’s fairy-tale “The Red Shoes”, an orphan girl is given a pair of magical shoes by her rich adoptive mother. She wears them to church where she pays no attention to the servi
Capitalism as we know is tied to perpetual growth. Growth that has already peaked in a world of finite critical resources and their obvious limits to the human population. Every species’ population that has ever lived on earth, either lived within sustainable limits of its finite critical resources – or collapsed.
While energy technology/economics has provided capitalism with the ability to grow well beyond human species natural (compared non-technological animals) critical resource sustainability limits by dominating and encroaching on and or eliminating other species resource demands – including habitats, their competitive needs for similar finite critical resources to humans (food, water, shelter, related space, and even air) – this past and current human capitalistic growth, too – is a finite resource limited process.
Our current capitalistic growth strategy is only successful and last only as long as current energy economic paradigms are economically viable, and or the human population’s intrusion on the planets environment and ecosystems – does not produce a catastrophic collapse of planetary balances. Essentially, human Intrusions that destroy the life support system of the planet necessary for higher life forms existence on the planet – including humans. Neither capitalism nor democracy can survive – unless human population and resource pressures are reduced to within planetary life support sustainable finite critical resource limits and of what many resource scientist agree is under two billion humans. Current accelerating planetary species extinction rates due to human impacts – called the Sixth Great Extinction – say we are entering a very dangerous period where humans can effectively crash planetary life support systems.
There are two related and very real questions regarding capitalism:
1. Is whether capitalism can survive population/market reductions (extended negative growth) to a sustainable point of less than 2 billion humans on the planet?
2. Is whether the planet life support ecosystems can survive humans developing a necessarily near free energy production technology (not solar or wind limited to about 22% of global energy demand) to replace current fossil fuel finite resource limits (and the 95% of human food production dependent on the current economy-of-scales of the petroleum industry economy). That is without the human population continuing to expand even more than it is projected when and if humans develop a
near free energy technology and the increased critical resources that it might economically produce above current limits.
Democracy by it’s real definition (A form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them and or by their elected agents under a free electoral system. You might also note that many of the components of this definition – now arguably still exists in the US.) is such a current farcical illusion already, that the time to question democracy’s survival as an effective governing system in the US – apparently passed from reality without much notice – quite some time ago. This was when corporations were declared to be citizens and have citizens rights and the US democratic election process became completely monetized as a 365/24/7 for profit industry in the US. Since 2016, apparently to be participated in and profited on by foreigners as well.
My point here is the well written article above may be academically correct within geopolitical theoretics, but is severely absent of economic impacts and especially economic limitations on capitalism’s growth (and survival) imposed by critical finite resource economics – both of which – will shape all politics – more and more – even more so from here on out.
Although there are obviously limits to finite resources, history has long shown that through human ingenuity we can continue to grow by doing more with less, adapting and making substitutions as necessary. For example, experts forecasted that the entire global supply of oil would soon be exhausted and prices would skyrocket; instead technological advances created an oil glut and prices tanked. Cars today are far more fuel efficient than ever and someday will all run on energy derived from renewable sources thanks to technological advance. Etc.
Capitalism has proven most effective at providing those productivity and life-enhancing technologies; otherwise we’d all be Soviets now. The problem is that there is no major genuinely capitalist society on earth anymore. Great Britain long ago declined into socialism and more recently Amerika has gradually evolved into a crony-capitalist society where most of those doing very well (though not all) are closest to the Fed money spigot or feasting at the public pig trough. Those no longer being genuine capitalist societies, don’t use them to underestimate human ingenuity transmittable under the incentives of real capitalism to deliver the technological marvels by which humanity can progress in ways we’ve only dreamed of, whatever finite resource economics exist.
The example of advanced petroleum production and sourcing technology is a good example of changes in context, but you also need to understand that extension to the of peak oil is less than 30 years. It’s a second chance – a window-of-opportunity to resolve the lack of sustainability of the human population and or to develop a near free energy source, or not.
You might want to read a book titled Techno-Fix regarding the net result of our ingenuity and its genuine lack of consistency in problem resolution and without those solutions actually creating bigger problems. It isn’t that capitalism is a problem, and I have no argument of it’s service to mankind as the most productive economic institution. It’s that capitalism (even the hybridized socialized capitalism that is the dominant form as you rightfully point out) is still growth dependent and again – we live on a finite planet.
Frankly, there is no way that the human population isn’t going to be reduced drastically, regardless of ingenuity, but because “finite” – means just that. If we are able to benevolently reduce our population to sustainable levels of under 2 billion – that will be a ultimate test of our ingenuity. In this regard you might also want to read the “The Story of Phosphorus.” by Dr. Dana Cordell and try to understand 95% of global food production’s dependencies on current petroleum economics, and those economics impact and limitations on any potential future alternative energy cost economics. You could also take a look at human population growth increases in recent years as here. You probably thought the human population was leveling off. (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/09/140918-population-global-united-nations-2100-boom-africa/).
Hmm. Definitely things to think about, as it’s clear from the sum of your posts that you know what you’re talking about. Full respect.
Only 2-billion ppl huh. I wonder how we get there from here. No, actually I don’t wonder at all. Depressing.
The peak oil concept (of which I’ve been skeptical) and other economic resource constraints are also discussed by Chris Martenson of Peak Prosperity, to whom I linked in a previous reply to a post of yours. Also the fall in biomass (insects and sea animals) and excessive human population/consumption. So I can hear the drumbeat getting louder from you both. Regarding resource constraints, I’ve amateurishly thought that tech could eventually bring us to the nearly limitless resources beyond earth or deliver something else incredible like tech has increasingly. But maybe not huh. Oh-oh.
Tell ya what I do know that’s not sustainable as-is…. global finances. And without capital (which is being destroyed by policymaker’s policies but that’s another story), neither tech nor government will be able to deliver a damn thing.
Thank you for your enlightened posts.
Excellent article and commentary. Throw into the mix democracy’s downhill spiral of the majority voting itself unsustainable benefits and you have a clash of powers, the age old “haves vs. the have-nots”.
Yes. And that GAP will widen as AI and Robotics render much of what ppl today do obsolete. Remember recently, just OWN THE DAMN ROBOTS… So thank God I’m a math-computer whiz, altho eventually they’ll overtake too that, but then Plan ‘B’ as I can sell my body LOL cuz the Sex Robot company here failed after just six months (maybe not if they’d made a boy toy version?)