From: Bill Douglass (douglassbill@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri Jan 21 2000 - 12:01:23 MST
Uames Wetterau wrote:
>Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 10:04:14 -0500
>From: James Wetterau <jwjr@ignition.name.net>
>Subject: Re: Antienvironmentalist data?
>
>Max More says:
>>One useful factoid in this department: The *weight* of the USA GDP >>today
>>is
>>about the same as it was in 1900, despite a massive increase in >>value.
>>
>>A concrete illustration of this trend: Remember the old soda cans? >>In
>>Jaws
>>(from the 1970s) there was a scene when the sailor (I forget the >>actor's
>>name) shows off to Richard Dreyfuss his strength by crushing a beer >>can.
>>Today, a four year old can do the same, since cans use 80% less
>> >>aluminum.
>>
>>We don't have to say "with nano, we will recycle superefficiently >>and so
>>can produce more with less" -- that's true but it's already
>> >>happening....
>
>R. Buckminster Fuller noticed this trend when he was the science or
>technology editor for a U.S. business magazine (Fortune?), back in >the
>1920's I think. He called it "ephemeralization".
>
>I find his coinage delightful to this day.
>
>Regards,
>James Wetterau
I don't have a specific reference available, but I seem to recall that Alan
Greenspan recently spoke on this very phenomenon.
Best wishes,
Bill Douglass
______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Nov 01 2002 - 15:26:21 MST