bigger is better

[Harris, Craig]

the growth fixation is psychological . . .

cheers,

craig

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y32OpI2_LM

 

When solving problems, humans tend to think about adding something before they think of taking something away –

even when subtracting is the better solution.

Experiments show that this newly discovered psychological phenomenon applies across a range of situations

from improving a physical design to solving an abstract puzzle.

Read the full paper at https://www.nature.com/articles/s4158...

 

 

[Tadhg O'Mahony]

This is very interesting, but for me the chief implication -in terms of 'economic growth'- is for framing. There are many types of 'growth' that can be articulated, the fetishism of 'economic growth' is socially constructed, embedded in market and institutions, and it is as unusual in the history of world cultures as it is dysfunctional.

If we speak about and prioritise other kinds of 'growth,' economic output can be returned to its rightful place, which is only as a means to an end.

I think this is demonstrated by the problems the terms 'degrowth' and 'steady state' encounter. They are useful for academic discussion, and to articulate ideas amongst activists. But, human psychology has been demonstrated as motivated more by losses than gains (Kahneman and Tversky). So these terms may carry a risk of alienating people who's identity is tied up with consumerism and economic growth. This accounts for most people in wealthy nations, and many of the economic elites and middle classes in less wealthy nations.

If these new findings of Adams et al. are valid, we could now consider what can we add, rather than than subtract, and effectively de-platform economic growth as the defining motivation on this straining planet.

[Duncan Crowley]

Tadhg and all,

A recent conversation between Fritjof Capra and Daniel Wahl touches on these key topics, hope it helps:

A systems approach to the SDGs & the need to reframe SDG8

Regards,

Duncan

---

From: sco...@googlegroups.com <sco...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Tadhg O'Mahony <tadhgo...@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday 13 April 2021 10:42
To: SCORAI <sco...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [SCORAI] Re: bigger is better

 

--
- SCORAI website: https://scorai.net
- Join SCORAI: http://eepurl.com/dHXawz
- Too many emails? Send an email to rob...@orzanna.de and change to a digest mode.
- Submit an item to next newsletter: lizb....@gmail.com
- Submit a new blog post: hbr...@clarku.edu
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SCORAI" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to scorai+un...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/scorai/11f0eae1-e931-4773-b4ce-1fee0f2edbb6n%40googlegroups.com.