Growthbusters

On a full planet, where human civilization is already in overshoot and in the process of crippling life-supporting ecosystems, it’s unfortunately not possible for the world’s poor, en masse, to rise out of poverty and live as richly as the even the average family in the industrialized world. There’s not enough biocapacity for 8 billion people to live high on the hog, and technology has not changed that. But “reputable” economists and technology Pollyanna’s like Andrew McAfee routinely fail to recognize this. In this episode, Dave and Erika respond to the surge of listener feedback from GrowthBusters Episode 35, Decoupling Nonsense, in which they critiqued the unrealistic premise of Andrew McAfee’s latest book, More from Less: The Surprising Story of How We Learned to Prosper Using Fewer Resources-and What Happens Next. After listening to that episode, Terry Spahr, executive producer of the film 8 Billion Angels, sent a thoughtful email with some particularly interesting ideas. So we invited him to join us on