Comment by smaudet
11 hours ago
> It's not a zero sum game.
Resources are, though. The planet cannot support a race of digital super-people, and us, and an continually growing economy.
It's the height of folly to think that, as things are going, we are going anywhere "good".
I was arguing with a friend about this point today. I'd posit that our economy has been growing in a way where goods that require more human time and natural resources to produce are giving way to goods that are intangible.
Once we've met our basic material needs, we're tending to consume things that are replicable with low marginal costs, and which do not interfere with the production of other goods. So maybe we can actually support a continually growing digital and entertainment economy, at least for a few more generations.
Maybe these mathematical contributions will also impact the efficiency and capabilities of our material production systems as well, which is another way to keep the economy growing.
I'm optimistic that we'll do more with our resources rather than trying to optimize for doing the same more efficiently with less resources.
Economic growth doesn't mean using up resources faster, it means trading things faster.