[lbo-talk] Output Falling in Oil-Rich Mexico, and Politics get the Blame

James Heartfield Heartfield at blueyonder.co.uk
Sun Mar 11 15:20:26 PDT 2007


Wojtek writes

"To me, the Panglossian notion of infinite progress is as idiotic and annoying, as doomsaying. These two sides of the simpleton's mind unable to see the world in more than one dimension."

But you should read more closely. I quoted William Cole as saying that the limits to growth confronted in the 1970s were not resource limits, but social restraints. He quite specifically does not say that resources are infinite, only that the shortages of the 1970s were not a manifestation of natural limits.

I would have to agree with Cole. Human existence, and human progress is most definitely not infinite. The decay of the earth's orbit will put an end to human existence, most likely. As Cole points out, real natural limits might appear before then. He said in tens of thousands of years. Hubbert says somewhat sooner.

The important thing is not to confuse the two. The natural limit to resources is one thing. The social another.

As the late Jane Jacobs said: 'all my life I have been hearing that the oil was going to run out. It never happens. They keep discovering new oil fields.'

Or as Sheikh Yamani said "The Stone Age came to an end, not because we had a lack of stones, and the oil age will come to an end not because we have a lack of oil"



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list