Why “we” are all wrong
There is a simple concept that so much of our social, political and economic systems sit focussed around - growth. We require constant growth in the economy, to drive constant growth in employment, constant growth in profits, constant increases in wages. Constant growth, is logarithmic. This is the problem, this is why we are all wrong.
Constant growth is unsustainable. Sure, it can be argued it is sustainable in terms of corporate profits, because the perceived base from which we are marking our growth changes and moves over time, but realistically, for the social system to function - that is - for a social underclass to continue to exist and increasingly be distanced from an elite upper class, profits must actually grow in respect to a decline in comparative growth for the majority of society.
I presented a chart somewhat similar to this in an assignment a while back, where as a case in point example, I discussed expected population growth in Western Australia as a result of the mining boom. Constant growth, is logarithmic. In just 100 years, assuming a growth rate of 5%, a base population of 1000 will have exploded to an epidemic level of over 200,000. Just imagine, how our services function, how our roads work, how our schools and hospitals function - imagine this, when the population has exploded in such a way - is this truly sustainable, unless we are actively willing to accept that we must grow exponentially as well, a social and financial underclass? As an aside, my lecturer suggested my discussion of growth as a hazard, was “not entirely relevant”, which is a bit of a worry, given I am studying at Masters level.
I guess I was reminded of this because I was asked to donate money to the help with the famine in Africa. I didn’t donate - not because i’m a bigger prick than you already thought, but because growth is unsustainable. Growth in Africa, in fact in most less developed regions of the world, is running wild. Famine, is the result of that. When growth runs wild in a developed country, we don’t necessarily feel the effects as famine, because we rape the earth and destroy our surroundings and import things to fix our problems. Our famine is one of social and environmental conscience.
I’ve been accused of being misanthropic because I want things to come crashing down, or depressive or whatever other words people have chosen to use. I’m none of those things, I’m just realistic and I want to see our eyes open to the difficult and harsh reality, that our place as the top of the food chain, has become a cancer on the natural world, and left us living in unnatural, cold and inhuman ways.
We are bred to expect growth. I hear of share prices diving regularly in a company, because they have “only” grown by 9% in a year, not in double digits. Until this sort of malicious growth seeking, which flows through into our population and social systems, changes, then we are all wrong, and eventually, we are all fucked. We are making our own bed, I can only hope I am alive to see us lay in it.
Constant growth is unsustainable. Sure, it can be argued it is sustainable in terms of corporate profits, because the perceived base from which we are marking our growth changes and moves over time, but realistically, for the social system to function - that is - for a social underclass to continue to exist and increasingly be distanced from an elite upper class, profits must actually grow in respect to a decline in comparative growth for the majority of society.
I presented a chart somewhat similar to this in an assignment a while back, where as a case in point example, I discussed expected population growth in Western Australia as a result of the mining boom. Constant growth, is logarithmic. In just 100 years, assuming a growth rate of 5%, a base population of 1000 will have exploded to an epidemic level of over 200,000. Just imagine, how our services function, how our roads work, how our schools and hospitals function - imagine this, when the population has exploded in such a way - is this truly sustainable, unless we are actively willing to accept that we must grow exponentially as well, a social and financial underclass? As an aside, my lecturer suggested my discussion of growth as a hazard, was “not entirely relevant”, which is a bit of a worry, given I am studying at Masters level.
I guess I was reminded of this because I was asked to donate money to the help with the famine in Africa. I didn’t donate - not because i’m a bigger prick than you already thought, but because growth is unsustainable. Growth in Africa, in fact in most less developed regions of the world, is running wild. Famine, is the result of that. When growth runs wild in a developed country, we don’t necessarily feel the effects as famine, because we rape the earth and destroy our surroundings and import things to fix our problems. Our famine is one of social and environmental conscience.
I’ve been accused of being misanthropic because I want things to come crashing down, or depressive or whatever other words people have chosen to use. I’m none of those things, I’m just realistic and I want to see our eyes open to the difficult and harsh reality, that our place as the top of the food chain, has become a cancer on the natural world, and left us living in unnatural, cold and inhuman ways.
We are bred to expect growth. I hear of share prices diving regularly in a company, because they have “only” grown by 9% in a year, not in double digits. Until this sort of malicious growth seeking, which flows through into our population and social systems, changes, then we are all wrong, and eventually, we are all fucked. We are making our own bed, I can only hope I am alive to see us lay in it.