tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1792004824896769845.post5175755572845063054..comments2023-10-26T10:14:30.017-04:00Comments on "Green is Good": Omelets without Eggs / Fuel without OilSchultzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15081403187993259643noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1792004824896769845.post-25323245959268713362008-07-26T08:05:00.000-04:002008-07-26T08:05:00.000-04:00Well put! Your comments remind me a few books on ...Well put! Your comments remind me a few books on the decline of societies; <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/Collapse-Societies-Choose-Fail-Succeed/dp/0670033375" REL="nofollow">Jared Diamond's book Collapse</A> comes to mind. Here is a snippet from Wikipedia, notice the last four that he mentions of present and future societies:<BR/><BR/><I>Diamond lists eight factors which have historically contributed to the collapse of past societies:<BR/><BR/> 1. Deforestation and habitat destruction<BR/> 2. Soil problems (erosion, salinization, and soil fertility losses)<BR/> 3. Water management problems<BR/> 4. Overhunting<BR/> 5. Overfishing<BR/> 6. Effects of introduced species on native species<BR/> 7. Population growth<BR/> 8. Increased per-capita impact of people<BR/><BR/>Further, he says four new factors may contribute to the weakening and collapse of present and future societies:<BR/><BR/> 1. Human-caused climate change<BR/> 2. Buildup of toxins in the environment<BR/> 3. Energy shortages<BR/> 4. Full human utilization of the Earth’s photosynthetic capacity<BR/></I>Schultzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15081403187993259643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1792004824896769845.post-44606342500125025542008-07-25T22:52:00.000-04:002008-07-25T22:52:00.000-04:00I never cease to be astounded by Marx' short-sight...I never cease to be astounded by Marx' short-sightedness. He failed to see that there would always be some form of class system; in his the party class system simply replaced the economic class system. <BR/><BR/>In any event, economics is dialectical in its operation, as the phrase "Creative destruction" implies. Take the Ipod example: The Walkman Hardware acts as the Thesis, The Apple Software acts as the Antithesis, and in this case Ipod acts as the Synthesis (Rather than sublation or "overcoming" as Hegel posited). In a capitalistic system, especially one as robust as ours, innovation is encouraged. Whatever fills the needs or wants of the consumer most fully and efficently will win the day. When a competing good or service rises to challenge the dominance of an existing good or service a kind of "natural selection" takes place in which the fittest good or service survives (or at least comes to rule that particular niche. Capitalism works because it is the economic system that most closely mimics the natural order and gives the most free reign for the process that operates according to, which is a dialectical evolutionary process.<BR/><BR/>On a side note, we ought to keep in mind that this "Creative destruction" applies not only to products but to markets, economies, cultures, governments, societies, and civilizations. We (humanity) will overcome our dependence upon oil, but we may look strikingly different on the otherside of the shift. There is rarely growth without pain and as the term "creative destruction" implies, some things are lost along the way. If we (Americans) are slow to rise to the demands of change then we may become casualties of the DEP (Dialectical Evolutionary Process) and go the way of the Romans, while the rest of the world goes on without us.<BR/><BR/>JVSAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com