Limits to Growth

= "In 1972, the LtG report commissioned by the Club of Rome changed how we view humanity’s impact on the planet. The report used computer modeling to map out possible paths for humanity, the global economy, and their impact on the planet". [1]

Discussion

Yann Sturmer:

"The report to the Club of Rome in 1972. This text is not only an attempt to respond to the thermodynamic limits of the biosphere, but also the birth of a capital that could integrate the deadly limits it faces to make of them a lever for its reformation, with a new economy, supported by a new art of living and bearing a new religion. In short, as Jacques Camatte was able to say: capital becomes a community, even the only community, the social relation that men have lost. Camatte calls this the anthropomorphisis of capital: it takes human form by synthesizing the total alienation of the human community. To understand more precisely how capital’s utopia is formed, it is necessary to grasp the changes in the economy first and in the psyche second.

Cesarano takes on board Camatte's interpretation of the 6th unpublished chapter of Capital in Capital and Gemeinwesen. In this book, Camatte comments on Marx and delves into two important aspects of his text. The first concerns the distinction between the formal and real domination of capital over labour. When capital develops in its early years, it only formally dominates production relations. That is to say, the craft activity which preceded it now becomes subject to the law of capital, which is that of the extraction of surplus value. In a second step, with the development of industry, capital is no longer content to formally dominate labor, but also really dominates it, because it is the production process itself that is entirely created and designed according to its requirements. Starting from Marx’s distinction between formal domination and real domination of labor under capital, Camatte extends the concepts to society itself, considering a phase of formal domination of capital over society, and a phase begun after the Second War, of real domination of capital over society, in which it is human activity as a whole that is structured, modeled and conceptualized in terms of capital: "capital is henceforth the oppressive common being of men" (Camatte). Capital, by really dominating society, becomes a material community that encloses and sustains human life, rendering humanity entirely dependent thereupon and structuring man’s imagination."

(https://endnotes.org.uk/posts/yann-sturmer-against-capital-s-utopia)

Updates

2022 Book, '50 years on': Limits and Beyond

* Book: Limits and Beyond. 50 years on from The Limits to Growth, what did we learn and what’s next? Editors: Ugo Bardi and Carlos Alvarez Pereira. Exapt Press, 2022

URL = https://exapt.press/limits-and-beyond

Alireza Hejazi:

"This book offers a comprehensive review of the seminal report “The Limits to Growth” (LtG) on its 50th anniversary. It reflects on the developments that have occurred since the release of the original report and poses three fundamental questions: Were the models presented in LtG accurate? What led to the backlash against the report? How has the world responded to its findings? The book provides a critical assessment of the impact and significance of the LtG report. It underscores the ongoing relevance of its conclusions, the challenges faced in communicating its message effectively, and the need for a comprehensive response to address the root causes of the impending global crisis. ... The book also highlights that the general conclusions of the 1972 report have been substantiated by subsequent events. "

(https://nutsaboutleadership.com/2023/07/10/envisioning-limitless-futures/)