Mediocre_Truth_6115 t1_j26nj4y wrote on December 30, 2022 at 1:07 AM

Reply to comment by Superoldmanhermann in What would Cardi B be called if she decided to live a healthy lifestyle ? by stepanek112

Perpetual growth is impossible. The learned prior to the advent of the "global economy" were aware of this, but the "ambition", as you kindly put it, of a few with too much influence lead to warnings going unheeded.

Perpetual growth, like a cancer that eventually kills it's host.

Superoldmanhermann t1_j26ohbf wrote on December 30, 2022 at 1:14 AM

As a bit of an aside, there's a theory that the reason larger animals, such as whales, don't succumb to cancer is because eventually multiple tumours end up combating each other, keeping each other in check enough to keep the host alive.

Obviously that only works if all the tumours function similarly though, and one isn't upending the balance through shifty means.

A pretty apparent analogy to the free market idea, and it does beg the question why cancer should occur in the first place, but perhaps the analogy starts falling apart at that point.

Mediocre_Truth_6115 t1_j26p20s wrote on December 30, 2022 at 1:18 AM

That's an interesting and apt point.

However the whale is nevertheless a mortal creature, and the balance between life and death always eventually tips towards death. We could discuss what exactly the whale will eventually succumb to, but I'm not sure if that would add anything.

Anyway, the important thing is that there are still other healthy whales, which there won't be at the current trajectory.