Decoupling the economy from energy

May 20, 2021 — October 3, 2023

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A placeholder about the notion of decoupling the economy from energy and physical constraints more generally. Can we have prosperity without an ever-increasing energy footprint?

1 Virtual worlds

Is the ideal plan to make sure that most people live in virtuality rather than reality?

Do normal people need to know or care about “the metaverse”?

2 Enclosing the intellectual commons

What are the incentives of a non-energy-coupled economy? In a world that is just eternal reselling of intellectual property, a kind of rentier system, facing the same problem the Georgists raise about landlords, but even more intimate, if our very thoughts and experiences are licensed?

3 Can information technology be low-carbon actually?

4 Physical infrastructure

See physical infrastructure.

5 References

Caldarelli, Cristelli, Gabrielli, et al. 2012. “A Network Analysis of Countries’ Export Flows: Firm Grounds for the Building Blocks of the Economy.” PLOS ONE.

Cleveland, Kaufmann, and Stern. 2000. “Aggregation and the Role of Energy in the Economy.” Ecological Economics.

Dematerializing Economies and Local Growth: A Case for Ad Hoc Governance. 2017.

Galaz, Gars, Moberg, et al. 2015. “Why Ecologists Should Care about Financial Markets.” Trends in Ecology & Evolution.

Hammond, Adriaanse, Bringzeu, et al. 1997. Resource Flows: The Material Basis of Industrial Economies.

Hidalgo, and Hausmann. 2009. “The Building Blocks of Economic Complexity.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Hirsch. 2013. “Social Limits to Growth.” In Social Limits to Growth.

Jones. 2022. “The Past and Future of Economic Growth: A Semi-Endogenous Perspective.” Annual Review of Economics.

Judson. 2017. “The Energy Expansions of Evolution.” Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Pratt. 2000. “New Media, the New Economy and New Spaces.” Geoforum, Culture Industries and Cultural Policy; Globalizing Cities;,.

Quah. 2019. “The Invisible Hand and the Weightless Economy.” Handbook on Green Growth.

Smil. 2000. “Energy in the Twentieth Century: Resources, Conversions, Costs, Uses, and Consequences.” Annual Review of Energy and the Environment.

———. 2008. Energy in Nature and Society: General Energetics of Complex Systems.

———. 2019. Energy in World History.