Degrowth is a noble ideal to strive for, and it would certainly mitigate a lot of our current problems if implemented. However, I fear that it is an ideal that can be adopted by the few but not the many. Growth, progress and personal ambition are inherent human traits - it may not be the case for all people, but it is certainly evident in today’s society and many societies that have come before. In my opinion, we need solutions and frameworks that most (if not all) personalities can exist within. I worry degrowth is wishful thinking, and would love to hear your thoughts.

All of that said - I believe it is a very worthwhile thought exercise and even if all degrowth principles cannot be implemented, some can and that is what matters.

  • @JubilantJaguar
    2•3 days ago

    The Dawn of Everything. I’m sure you’d like it if you haven’t read/listened to it yet

    Yes I have heard of it. Personally I’m uneasy with the fashionable practice of going straight to the revisionism without first being sure to understand what’s being revised. And I’ve also had my fill of 700-page social-science books whose thesis could easily fit in a pamphlet, but again that’s just my take. The authors are credible and respected, I know that.

    Their ideas can’t be completely bad, there must be some good bits, but the way they’re working behind the scenes with Trump and especially Vance (Musk, Thiel, Andressen, Horotwitz, Armstrong, and Sacks) really ruins any trust I could possibly have in their ideas.

    Completely agree. I listened to Andreessen talking to Ross Douthat on the NYT podcast recently. The smugness level and self-satisfaction was though the roof, it was the sound of literal sneering. Awful, made Bannon seem like a nice warm guy by comparison.