Mathematical proof (that a high school dropout can follow) of just how deranged the idea of continuous growth is.
What’s shocking is just how far our mathematically illiterate intuitions are from the implications, like:
Half of all of the resources that are ever available are consumed in the final doubling period.
Continuous growth at any rate leads to a catastrophically sudden collapse in the resources that feed that growth.
A petri dish is empty at 11:00, a single bacteria splits once per minute, the dish is full at 12:00.
At what time was the dish half full?
11:59.
If you were a bacteria in this experiment, at what time would you start to notice you’re running out of space?
Mathematical proof (that a high school dropout can follow) of just how deranged the idea of continuous growth is.
What’s shocking is just how far our mathematically illiterate intuitions are from the implications, like:
Half of all of the resources that are ever available are consumed in the final doubling period.
Continuous growth at any rate leads to a catastrophically sudden collapse in the resources that feed that growth.
A petri dish is empty at 11:00, a single bacteria splits once per minute, the dish is full at 12:00.
At what time was the dish half full? 11:59.
If you were a bacteria in this experiment, at what time would you start to notice you’re running out of space?