RE: [Fis] Thermodynamics and Information

> I am not as optimistic as Loet about resources. It is not true that
we have "plenty of paper". We use more paper than in the past (we print
everything we find on the internet), but this paper requires energy to
be produced from trees. Trees are produced by means of intensive
plantation wood production, which increases erosion and ultimately
affects the available fertile soil, in addition to competition for food.
The material basis of economies is increasing, not decreasing, despite
the claims for de-materialization.
 
Dear Sergio and colleagues,
 
My point is not about optimism or pessimism. I agree with your
assessment and we will probably have to deliver still more circulation
in the system if we wish to fight poverty (hunger and disease) in the
world. The point is that there are no limits to growth, in principle.
For the following reasons:
 
1. The system can internally process more complexity if it contains a
mechanism for differentiation. The system of social coordination has
continuously become more complex since the Middle Ages (as Pavel noted).
New dimensions can emerge in the recombination of old ones; for example,
when previously gained dimensions begin to resonate at an interface.
 
For example, science and the economy were rather differentiated until
1870 or so. Thereafter, recombinations in new technologies began to
change the system in another round. (Chemical industries,
electrotechnology, etc.; cf. Noble, Braverman). When a new dimension
emerges (e.g., Internet communication) all bets on the basis of
parameter estimates in the old system are off because the number of
possibilities is multiplied.
 
2. The external limitation of the system is eventually only the
availability of high-quality energy. For the next 15 billion years the
sun is expected to shine. The problem, of course, is whether we are able
to tap that energy efficiently.
 
3. Sustainability cannot be expected at the subsystems level because all
systems erode in the longer run. The question is for how long one wishes
a system to be sustainable (20 or 50 years).
 
With kind regards,
 
 
Loet
  _____

Loet Leydesdorff
Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR)
Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam
Tel.: +31-20- 525 6598; fax: +31-20- 525 3681
 <mailto:loet@leydesdorff.net> loet@leydesdorff.net ;
<http://www.leydesdorff.net/> http://www.leydesdorff.net/

 
 <http://www.upublish.com/books/leydesdorff-sci.htm> The Challenge of
Scientometrics ; <http://www.upublish.com/books/leydesdorff.htm> The
Self-Organization of the Knowledge-Based Society
Received on Fri Nov 28 08:18:07 2003