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[–] 0x5f3759df 1 point 5 points (+6|-1) ago 

Continuing economic growth does not require infinite resources, this is a common but basic fallacy. Economic growth, as measured by the total value of produced products and services, does not necessarily imply more products being produced. One basic reason is that a large, and growing, part of the economy is in services rather than production of material goods. However, even in a purely manufacturing based economy, an increase in the total value of goods produced does not need to imply an increase in resource used. The increase in value can, and in modern economy usually does, originate from the increased in quality of the goods produced from the same resources. In fact, in some cases the increase in value comes precisely from a decrease in the needed resources, or at least goes together with such a decrease.

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[–] bigslob 0 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago 

But it all comes to a point does it not? You can only "trim off so much fat" before the product cannot be fine tuned any more?

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[–] 0x5f3759df ago 

Not necessarily. There are always things that can still be improved in quality.

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[–] DrShitlord 1 point 3 points (+4|-1) ago  (edited ago)

About 15 years ago, I explained to a physicist that infinite economic growth in a finite world is mathematically impossible. He didn't understand. I hope he has grown since then, exponentially.

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[–] 6364157? 0 points 4 points (+4|-0) ago 

Because economics is more of a soft science that relies on a lot of assumptions about human behaviour that don't reflect reality.

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[–] blastar 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

Economic growth doesn't necessarily mean using more resources. It could also mean using less because of increased efficiency or because the resource has been replaced entirely by something better.

People used whale oil for lighting and motors, but because that is very limited, we found a better solution. Now we use electric lighting and kerosene. Whale oil has become irrelevant, because it is too scarce.

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[–] MrPim 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago 

But whale oil investors expected that market to continue indefinitely. Just as today's petrodollar investors expect oil to continue indefinitely. There are few that see the future and grasp the need to move to solar and nuclear.

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[–] daskapitalist ago 

Because you better either get busy livin', or get busy dyin'. Applies to organizationa too.

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[–] tchouk 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago 

Really, economics or whatever aside, "organizations" are still run by "people". These people want simple things like "bonuses" and "promotions". Which means that these same people need to have growth for their organization, which is why they strive for it.

Nobody wants to think about the details of how this will all end. The end is sometime in the future and what's important for the future is to get yours today so you'll be ready. Which brings you back to bonuses and promotions with a closed loop.

So there you go: strive today as hard as possible and don't waste time on stupid explanations.

[–] [deleted] ago 

[Deleted]

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[–] profanion [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago  (edited ago)

I found an article explaining why economic growth should be separated from physical growth.

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[–] RedditCEOEllenPao ago 

I don't know, but I fear the "need" for growth is going to 86 the company I work at now.

We were chugging right along installing, maintaining, and administering VOIP systems, turning a tidy profit, one of only 2 Platinum status partners with the manufacturer, and now we're hopping on the Managed Services hype train. My experience as a sysadmin leads me to believe that the Managed Services bubble is going to burst, as companies realize that the aggravation of not having a fully fleshed out IT team isn't worth the financial benefit of managed services.

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