Re: Does capitalism really need growth to survive?

["James R. Olson, jr." <jhavok@xxxxxxxx>]

At 01:32 PM 4/30/02 -0500, Forstater, Mathew wrote:

>growth theory means by a steady-state.).  Georgescu-Roegen argued, I
>believe that a no growth system is impossible, not because the economy
>must grow, but because he believed the 2nd (entropy) law means that the
>only possible system is a shrinking one!

The problem with this idea is that an economy is a local system, not a
universal one.  The source of energy inputs (the sun) is indeed shrinking,
but that doesn't mean that a subsidiary system (the economy) cannot
continue to grow until the energy source is extinguished in several billion
years.

That is the essential problem with applying thremodynamics to economic
systems: they are powered by an extermnal energy source, and are
essentially methods of distributing that energy.