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The Problem With Abundance

Posted by michael on from the abundantly-clear dept.

GRW writes "Peter de Jager, "a speaker/writer/consultant on the issues relating to the Rational Assimilation of the Future", asks, 'What do traffic jams, obesity and spam have in common?' He answers that 'they are all problems caused by abundance in a world more attuned to scarcity. By achieving the goal of abundance, technology renders the natural checks and balances of scarcity obsolete.' His article is a thought provoking discussion of the unintended consequences of technological change."

3 of 686 comments (clear)

  1. scarcity by mandalayx · · Score: 5, Funny

    Personally, I'm happy to slaughter the sacred cow of "scarcity." Imagine fitting all your porn on a 1GB hard drive. Now scarcity is not so cool.

  2. He seems to know what he's talking about by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 5, Funny

    Today we are surrounded by an excess of food and the body continues to follow a proven survival strategy -- it stores energy in fat for lean days which no longer arrive.

    Given Peter de Jager's mugshot I think he has some authority on the matter.

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  3. Re:Aren't obesity and traffic self-limiting? by raider_red · · Score: 5, Funny

    Of course, there's also the issue that if I can't get to McDonalds because I'm stuck in traffic, I'll lose weight.

    --
    It's good to use your head, but not as a battering ram.