“Infinite growth in a finite world is an impossibility” goes a popular quote. It is usually rolled out to illustrate that sustainability requires humanity to impose limits. Sometimes people then point to a specific element that they argue we will run out of in relatively short order, for instance phosphorus. I believe that this view is fundamentally wrong and ultimately dangerous. Instead, I propose a different motto “A finite world requires infinite growth.” To explain my disagreement let me...

NOTE: I will resume posting excerpts from World After Capital next week. A couple of weeks ago I first tweeted about what gives people reasons for optimism and then wrote a post. Both of these were preparations for giving the opening keynote for the 2019 DLD conference. I will eventually put the slides online but in the meantime, here is the video from the talk

NOTE: The following section is the beginning of Part One of my book World After Capital. I have been posting revisions here most Mondays. Part One: Laying a Foundation In an earlier version of this book I attempted to skip any philosophical exposition and jump right into the impact of digital technology. While that may make for more gripping reading, it resulted in the verbal equivalent of building a skyscraper without a foundation: rapid initial progress followed by total collapse. With digi...