95: Technology – Fast and Furious Into Overshoot
The academy awarding the Nobel Prize in Economics is still drinking pro-growth Kool-Aid, while spiritual leader Acharya Prashant is serving up a healthier recipe – insightful truth about ecological overshoot. We examine both in this episode.
Technology headlines much of the conversation. “Technology is not a way out of overshoot; it is a slower way in,” according to Prashant.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
About The Sorcerer’s Apprentice
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Part 1
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Part 2
The Sorcerer’s Apprentice – Part 3
One Greed Six Earths: The Inner Emptiness Behind Global Consumption – by Acharya Prashant in the Sunday Guardian
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On the GrowthBusters podcast, we come to terms with the limits to growth, explore the joy of sustainable living, and provide a recovery program from our society’s growth addiction (economic/consumption and population). This podcast is part of the GrowthBusters project to raise awareness of overshoot and end our culture’s obsession with, and pursuit of, growth.
Dave Gardner directed the documentary GrowthBusters: Hooked on Growth, which Stanford Biologist Paul Ehrlich declared “could be the most important film ever made.” Co-host, and self-described “energy nerd,” Stephanie Gardner has degrees in Environmental Studies and Environmental Law & Policy.
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Tags: overpopulation, overshoot, technology
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Chris Bystroff
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Yes. Technology has unintended consequences (i.e. using stuff up). One would think that means we should back off on technology. But what gets you the Nobel Prize is doubling down on technology. What we need is the Earth Prize, awarded to innovations that decrease human impact on the planet.
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Wills Flowers
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Very much appreciate your podcast puncturing this latest pile of nonsense from the Economics Establishment. But you talked about the Nobel Prize for Economics as if there really is such a thing. Actually there isn’t. Like much of their academic product, this “Nobel” prize is fake, created by a group of Swedish banksters to put a gloss of legitimacy over the frauds and flim-flams of Neoliberal rent-seeking dogmatists. The actual Nobel Foundation was not very happy about having their name “borrowed” but they haven’t seemed to have done anything about it.
An extended discussion of the issue (and the side issue of whether economics is a science at all) can be found here:
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/07/there-is-no-nobel-prize-in-economics.html
Best wishes,
Wills Flowers
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Dave Gardner
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Thanks for sharing this information, Wills. Very true! I just didn’t mention this because I didn’t want to distract from the points I wanted to make. Listeners may well find this interesting; I hope they’ll follow the link you shared.
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Eco_h2o
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Thanks for confirming that such a prize is merely an economist’s fabrication. This only reinforces why Elinor Ostrom was awarded the (arguably) “Nobel Prize in Economics” in 2009 for her analysis of the management of common resources, often referred to as “the commons”.
She was recognized for “discovering” what Garrett Hardin proposed years earlier in his often misinterpreted 1968 essay, “The Tragedy of the Commons.
There are commons that require strong external regulation and rules to benefit from them. These include shared spaces like city streets, parking areas, and clean water, which often function well when people show courtesy and respect for others. However, some commons necessitate stronger rules based on reciprocal coercion and external oversight. While many commons operate through soft agreements among users, privatization can also occur, limiting benefits to a few individuals.
Certain global issues —such as nuclear war, climate change, artificial intelligence and overpopulation— demand stronger government regulation and intervention. For instance, educating people about reproductive issues (sexual education) is essential. This straightforward strategy has been opposed by religious and pronatalist agendas for many years. While advancements in contraceptives and women’s rights have improved responsibility, much more work is needed to counteract pronatalist agendas.
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Garry
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Dave!
Overload! I’ll have to listen again to absorb everything you offered today.
Thanks and never stop..!!
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Brian McNeil
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Thanks for another great show. I read the article by Acharya Prashant on your Facebook page the other day.
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John McVicker
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Very few doing anything to warn the population about this. Politicians – no way, they want growth at all costs. (oh look, an oil crisis based on a need for growth! – who’d of thunk it).
Hat tip to Dave Gardner and guys like Brian Czech who are attempting to reach dozens of people (we need millions) about these issues. The megaphone needs to get bigger. Much bigger.
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