tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7005412100005882053.post4045119757201911080..comments2023-03-13T01:06:40.269-07:00Comments on BountifulEnergy: Civilization would rapidly rebound after a catastropheTomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18396160316791132955noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7005412100005882053.post-73785193252939080002015-05-01T16:07:56.593-07:002015-05-01T16:07:56.593-07:00Hi Charles,
"Accumulation of productive asse...Hi Charles,<br /><br />"Accumulation of productive asset is a slow process when one starts from a low base. This is just how exponential function works... the "fairly quickly" could take two or three generations."<br /><br />I grant this point. By "fairly quickly" I meant a couple of centuries. I meant quickly relative to the timescale of human civilization. I actually said this in the article (you might have missed it): "reconstituted fairly quickly, like within two centuries".<br /><br />"There is a "social capital" component to capital accumulation. The values and rules of the remaining people must be conducive to capital accumulation."<br /><br />I grant this also. If there were a period of warfare then things would need to settle down before capital accumulation could begin again. I am presuming that knowledge is retained after the catastrophe (like how to make better steam engines and why we need to accumulate capital).<br /><br />-Tom S<br />Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18396160316791132955noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7005412100005882053.post-51561838644438483952015-05-01T09:49:17.103-07:002015-05-01T09:49:17.103-07:00You are mostly right but still a bit wrong.
What i...You are mostly right but still a bit wrong.<br />What is right is that knowledge makes a huge difference indeed. It is actually the reason why the argument that developing countries use against developed countries when discussing CO2 emission ("You emmitted CO2 in the 19th and 20th century so I can do it now") is bogus. There is considerable "energy embedded" in the knowledge that the first developed countries created and that the developing countries got for free.<br />But actually, the mere fact that there are still developing countries out there decades after the 15 textbooks your referred to have been printed, shows that these books are not enough :<br />1) Accumulation of productive asset is a slow process when one starts from a low base. This is just how exponential function works. If a country doesn't get some seeds from some kind of Marshall Plan or benevolent trade, the "fairly quickly" could take two or three generations.<br />2) There is a "social capital" component to capital accumulation. The values and rules of the remaining people must be conducive to capital accumulation. It is far from obvious to realize this feat (if not practically all countries would be developed by now). The more and the longer people struggle in the new catastrophic conditions, the likelier they are to loose these values.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11157490892243319936noreply@blogger.com