It’s Tuesday

02022-05-10 | Musings, Photos, Reading | 1 comment

I finished reading “Americanah” by the Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Since I liked the book very much, I continued by reading her collection of short stories “The Thing Around Your Neck”, also very good.
Next was “Stolen Focus”, by Johann Hari, which I listened to before but couldn’t finish before the book became due. I highlighted so many passages! I think it is an important book for our time.
I was reading “Stolen Focus” when I came across the name Jason Hickel, who is an economic anthropologist. Hickel wrote a book called “Less Is More”, which I want to read next.
During my walk this morning, I listened to a couple of different versions of the “Concierto de Aranjuez” for an upcoming DMT post. Next came a podcast interview with Jason Hickel that I found. The podcast is by a German but is in English. Hickel also has a blog.
I have written before (for example in 2021 and in 2008) that I don’t believe in permanent economic growth. The idea is impossible in the first place, because a planet has finite resources, and now is the best time to slow that rat wheel and make the craziness stop.
Look at this loveliness! A recently aquired air plant decided to bloom today. I took this photo and then left for the airport to fly to Phoenix.
IMG 6133

1 Comment

  1. Steve

    >I have written before (for example in 2021 and in 2008) that I don’t believe in permanent economic growth. The idea is impossible in the first place, because a planet has finite resources, and now is the best time to slow that rat wheel and make the craziness stop.

    I think of this quote of yours quite often … and actually I have to say that over the past 14 years I have developed quite an attitude regarding “infinity” itself.

    Infinity is a useful concept in mathematics (viz., calculus, et. al.) but … there are no actual infinities in nature … Even if one assumes that “the universe is infinite” one has no way to measure that hypothesis directly because of the time scales involved in taking the measurement. Best you can do it construct a maths based proof … Which doesn’t prove the universe is infinite, but it does prove that the proof is logically and mathematically consistent. No actual data has been collected though. Closer to home, Zeno’s paradox (and similarly related problems) is easily resolved using Newton’s first law of motion. Then there is the “Infinite Economic Growth” problem … which is bounded by finite resources and is only possible in an environment where infinite time and infinite energy is present … both of which are bounded by the second law of Thermodynamics.

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