Fossil Fuel based growth has ended: This is the best place to learn about the future. In which localism prevails and power moves from the top-down to the grass-roots. Prosperity will decline and life will again be worth living.
Barry Cooper and ChatGPT In this conversation with ChatGPT, I am struggling to determine whether ChatGPT has a view of the future, which is fundamentally different from the past. The conversation starts with something Tim Watkins wrote in a recent post on his blog.“Green growth was always a myth which – either through delusion or design – the …
Barry Cooper guides ChatGPT to write about “spontaneous order”. Disorganisation is how we see things at present from our top-down mindsets. Maybe we are in a transition from the organised conditions of the industrial era to a fundamentally different era. According to Niall Ferguson … the iconoclastic British political operative Dominic Cummings hypothesises that the …
On Monday 15 May, as EU policymakers gather for the first day of the landmark 2023 Beyond Growth conference at the European Parliament, over 400 experts call for political leaders to seize this opportunity to tackle interconnected social, environmental and political crises and embrace a wellbeing economy that allows humanity and the planet to thrive, …
It is interesting how individuals in different fields view the future differently. Classical economists see a future of endless economic growth, as does everyone employed in the public sector. Understandably so because without growth, their future is dire. Down here at the grass-roots, the first glimmerings of localism can be seen imaginatively. I hear a …
Gail Tverberg has permitted me to copy the headings from her post in Our Finite World.. Her post tells us how much the current system depends upon fossil fuels. To whet your appetite, here are the headings of her piece. What will happen in an economy without fossil fuels: [1] Banks, as we know them, …
New subscribers joining this blog who need convincing that the world economy is shrinking could not do better than read this post by Dr Tim Morgan in his Surplus Energy Economics blog. Tim sets out his interpretation of the interconnectedness of the economy, finance and the environment. To visit Tim’s post.
The title and quotations are copied from a recent essay by Karl North. It is good. It was an eye-opener because it introduced me to systems thinking about agriculture. It’s a super holistic way by a farmer who practices what he writes. I am grateful to Karl North for providing an introduction to his essay: …
Quote from a discussion in Dr Tim Morgan’s blog on Surplus Energy Economicshttps://surplusenergyeconomics.wordpress.com/2023/11/10/265-explore-and-explain/ I have in front of me a wooden table dating from the 1980s. It’s solid, heavy, and if it ever gets to look too tatty I can just sand it down and paint it again. What good is that to the world’s …
How financialization heralds the end of the industrial age A piece published by The Honest Sorcerer: A critic of Modern Times – offering ideas for honest contemplation. Well worth reading at https://thehonestsorcerer.substack.com/p/financing-the-end-of-modernity Western neoliberal economies are on the brink of a steep economic decline. Barring an energy / productivity miracle a prolonged and deep recession …
This 90 minute Roundtable podcast in Nate Hagens series the Great Simplification is fascinating. There are so many lessons which are relevant to the UK. To see the original go to https://youtu.be/lb2tJXopTJA__________________________________________________________________________________________________- The four speakers are as small-scale farmer Jason Bradford, permaculturist and documentarian Andrew Millison, regenerative agriculture activist Vandana Shiva, and regenerative farmer and …
How an elite clique of math-addled economists hijacked climate policy. Christopher Ketcham October 29 2023, 8:00 a.m. William Nordhaus, who turned 82 this year, was the first economist in our time to attempt to quantify the cost of climate change. His climate-modeling wizardry, which won him the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2018, …
Copied from The Automatic Earth. August 2012 Alexander Aston: I think about history … a lot. It has always been my deepest fascination. When I was little I would construct whole civilizations with my Legos and play out their existence. Monuments would be constructed, kings would die, wars would start, cities would be rebuilt, lineages …
First published in the RADIX thinktank Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not all it seems. When I was employed by Liverpool City Council in the 1970s, amongst other things, I was responsible for traffic signals in the city. At that time, there was widespread trade union activity. It was important to who did what. I …
If you are “retired” or tired and wondering what to do, you could consider listening to Nate Hagens’ conversations in his Great Simplification project. The Great Simplification with Nate Hagens is a podcast that explores the systems science underpinning the human predicament. Conversation topics will span human behavior, monetary/economic systems, energy, ecology, geopolitics and the …
First published in the RADIX THINK TANK For some time, I thought our shrinking economy would eventually save the world. But I have been reluctant to say so for fear of being seen as more eccentric than usual. A recent comment by Tim Morgan in his Surplus Energy blog has encouraged me to have my …
