A recent article in the London Evening standard reports on French President Sarkozy's new initiative.
You can always rely on the French to ask difficult questions such as: what is progress? And set up an international commission to find out.
It's not what people say. It's what's *behind* what people say.
France is the first country to at least indirectly open the debate on the case for 'steady state economics'. That is, an economy with no growth. Because what politicians aren't really telling us is that the future is about less. Less of everything. Except for (and with apology) the most uneducated amongst us, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that stuff is going to run out eventually, actually quite soon.
You can always rely on the French to ask difficult questions such as: what is progress? And set up an international commission to find out.
It's not what people say. It's what's *behind* what people say.
France is the first country to at least indirectly open the debate on the case for 'steady state economics'. That is, an economy with no growth. Because what politicians aren't really telling us is that the future is about less. Less of everything. Except for (and with apology) the most uneducated amongst us, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that stuff is going to run out eventually, actually quite soon.
The relentless pursuit of profit, systemic corruption, and rapacious greed is ruining us. Humanity has to evolve very quickly to a state of cooperation between individuals, companies and nation states where there is a continuous, fair exchange of value, rather than the notion of "I win. You lose", as the default position of business and government.
A steady state economy can only be built and sustained by peer-to-peer, open source styles of organisation and production.
Sorry to burst your bubble but humanity's survival is going to have to be based on 'being' rather than 'having'.
I like your quote, "Sorry to burst your bubble but humanity's survival is going to have to be based on 'being' rather than 'having'.
Right on!
Posted by: daniela | December 09, 2009 at 23:51