this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2023
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The matter and energy on Earth never disappears, it's just converted from one type to another. So yes, if you look at it from a cosmic perspective, we do have unlimited resources.
At least, until the Sun dies, which gives us a few billion years.
You are stunningly correct. The matter and energy on Earth never disappears, and we're converting them into greenhouse gases as fast as we can. I am quite enjoying an abundance of heat. Who said that capitalists don't share?
Our ability to utilize the available matter and energy is a different issue. It's just a matter of technological advancement to utilize the extra heat to convert it to something useful to us and capitalism is very good at technological advancement.
The 2nd law of thermodynamics disagrees with you
It literally doesn't
Hey, I'll sell you a pile of dirt for 100 grand, you must want it right? Because cosmically, there isn't any real difference between the carbon in the dirt and carbon in a huge pile of diamonds.
Our ability to utilize the available matter and energy is a different issue. It's just a matter of technological advancement to convert the pile of dirt into something useful to us and capitalism is very good at technological advancement.
That point does not take away from the metaphor. The fact that matter is not created or destroyed, only transformed means there is always an exact amount of finite matter and energy in the universe. Just as that matter can be in unlimited formations the legos can also be arranged in limitless different ways. Capitalism is doomed because it needs to keep deriving increased profits from the exploitation of earth and people while the profit margin has the tendancy to fall and there are very limited new markets with a world nearly all capitalist. The last resort in bringing back up profit margins to to destroy things in war so that they can start from the beginning with high rates of profit. This could be analogous to breaking apart legos and building something new.
Shouldn’t a finite amount of matter have a finite amount of formations?
https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/190506
Probably, I guess that just makes the point about resources being finite even more true.
The sun's heating will render the earth unlivable even without climate change billions of years before that.
I read that according to more recent estimates, the Sun's expansion and growing luminosity could render Earth uninhabitable for humans and life in general in as "little" as 100 million years from now, though it depends on various factors.