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Re: Ecological Economics and Entropy



brshears@whale.st.usm.edu (Harold Brashears) wrote:

>I am not sure what you mean.  Much as I dislike agreeing with Yuri (he
>says so much I guess he must be right occasionally, like a busted
>analog clock), but, taking world population as a whole the human
>population was very stable up until about 6000 BC.  Introduction of
>agriculture, you know.
 
The way I look at it, this was the information revolution.  People
started categorizing stuff: animals by which ones were tame enough to
keep, which ones you should kill before they killed you or got away;
plants by which ones would grown if you planted them.  Arithmetic: how
much seed will give us how much food, leaves how much that it's safe
to eat now?
 
The agricultural revolution, because it is more knowledge intensive
than steam and electric power, ships, trade, or war, is the _last_ of
all things to develop.  It's happening now, made possible by electron
microspcopy and molecular biology, satellite land surveys and
hydrology, derivatives-based pricing, and so on.  
 
This is why the most advanced countries have agricultural surpluses,
and import their manufactured goods from less advanced countries.
 
                                  -dlj.



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