Losjes naar Peter Cheyney ‘Wat niet passeert kun je in je oog steken zonder het te voelen’.
Can technological innovation allow for infinite growth given the planet’s finite resources?
[-]In theory, at least, since everything we create from Earth’s raw materials stays on the planet, we could, with the right technology, reuse all of it an unlimited number of times. In other words, while converted in form, Earth’s raw materials are never actually gone — they have only been “borrowed”.
That is, unless we begin making fleets of gargantuan spacecraft to explore the galaxy, never to return.
But, it is interesting to note that the Earth does appear to be losing mass over time. It is estimated that somewhere in the region of 50,000 metric tons are lost to space every single year.
But don’t let this frighten you. At this rate, it would take a very long time to shed a significant proportion of Earth’s estimated 5.9724 x 1024 kgs.
