How to Degrow the the Global Political Economy Per AI

Better living through chemistry (and AI)

Steve Salmony consulted AI about what would be required to reduce the size of the global political economy sustainably. What AI reported follows:

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“Reducing the size of the global political economy sustainably is a complex and challenging task that involves addressing a wide range of economic, social, and environmental issues. Here are some strategies that can contribute to achieving this goal:

1. Transition to a Circular Economy: Shift from a linear economy, where products are made, used, and then discarded, to a circular economy where products are designed for reuse, recycling, and minimal waste generation. This reduces resource consumption and waste production.
2. Promote Sustainable Consumption: Encourage consumers to make more sustainable choices, such as buying products with longer lifespans, reducing meat consumption, and using public transportation. This can help reduce the overall demand for goods and resources.
3. Green Infrastructure Investments: Invest in renewable energy, sustainable transportation systems, and eco-friendly infrastructure projects. This not only creates jobs but also reduces the carbon footprint and reliance on non-renewable resources.
4. Regulate Financial Markets: Implement regulations that discourage speculative and excessive financial activities that can lead to economic bubbles and crashes. Promote responsible and sustainable investment practices.
5. Income Redistribution: Address income inequality by implementing progressive taxation and social welfare policies. When wealth is more evenly distributed, there is less pressure on individuals to consume excessively.
6. Support Local Economies: Encourage the growth of local and regional economies to reduce the reliance on long-distance transportation and global supply chains. This can be done through policies that support small businesses and local agriculture.
7. Invest in Education and Research: Support education and research in sustainable technologies and practices. This can lead to innovations that reduce the environmental impact of economic activities.
8. International Cooperation: Collaborate with other nations to establish global standards and agreements on issues like climate change, trade, and financial regulation. Global problems require global solutions.
9. Promote Ethical Business Practices: Encourage businesses to adopt ethical and sustainable practices by providing incentives and certifications for sustainable products and operations.
10. Shift Economic Metrics: Rethink how economic success is measured. Move beyond GDP growth as the primary indicator of prosperity and consider metrics that account for environmental and social well-being.
11. Environmental Regulations: Implement and enforce strict environmental regulations to limit pollution, protect ecosystems, and promote sustainable resource management.
12. Consumer Awareness and Education: Raise awareness among consumers about the environmental and social consequences of their choices. Education can empower consumers to make more sustainable decisions.
13. Reduce Military Spending: Consider reallocating resources from excessive military spending toward sustainable development initiatives.
14. Population Control: Implement policies that encourage family planning and control population growth, as an ever-expanding population puts increasing pressure on resources.
15. Address Corruption: Fight corruption, which can divert resources away from sustainable development and exacerbate inequalities.

It’s important to note that reducing the size of the global political economy sustainably is a long-term endeavor that requires the cooperation of governments, businesses, civil society, and individuals. It also involves trade-offs and may require adjustments in lifestyle and economic priorities. Additionally, the specific strategies will vary depending on regional and cultural contexts.”

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When ChatGPT first became a thing, I spent about 30 minutes conversing with it, enough time to realize what the only thing I might use it for would be. If I wanted to know what the consensus narrative was on any issue/topic, I could ask and get a summary of what ‘right thinking’ well educated to serve the world socioeconomic-political growth hegemon humans, mostly left of center political animals, think, i.e. the humans who are the most energy, time/posterity, and naturcentric values blind.

Before breakfast, I could round off the offering to 20 by adding five solutions that wouldn’t actually work, but sounded plausible. Of course, if I didn’t publish them and other human chatbots (intelligentsia types) didn’t opine on them, ChatGPT wouldn’t know about them to add to its list. Of course my added five would be of no merit, value, interest…, or should be of no interest to anyone interested in what a viable solution might look like.

Reducing the world socioeconomic-political system (WSS) to a sustainable size should include, to be numerate, mention of what the sustainable size would be, e.g. a population of humans in the 7 million to 35 million range (or 8 to 12 billion as most experts agree).

If 8 billion is sustainable, then 8 million would be too, but wouldn’t be enough to support all the functionality found in a modern megacity, which would not be an existential threat to humanity. The harm to humans of living in a megacity could well be vastly greater than the benefits (e.g. one or two people a year being able to get a kidney transplant vs the number of deaths by drug overdose at 2,400 per year), not to mention all the other diseases of civilization (overdensity, overcomplex, high-stress conditions).

I would be more impressed with ChatGPT’s answer if it begged to differ with the consensus narrative of modern techno-industrialized humans, e.g. if it offered:

“While I could list 15 ways for reducing the size of the global political economy sustainably that humans can consider, there is only one that would make all 15 putative solutions irrelevant, namely rapidly reduce the human population via birth-off (not being born is a non-injury event) to avoid a die-off (which involves high-injury Malthusian death/harm to billions of humans and the biosphere from human exploitation during die-off, e.g. for bush meat), which would also without effort or intent reduce the livestock and pet populations (not to mention pollution and the vast human industrial, urban, and agricultural footprint that largely excludes Nature other than a few mutualists like rats, pigeons, house flies, and English sparrows).”

“If you can think of any problem on any scale, from microscopic to global (e.g. light pollution), whose long-term solution is in any demonstrable way aided, assisted, or advanced by not rapidly degrowing the human population at the local level, at the state level, the national level, and globally, then let me know, because I cannot. Even Al Bartlett couldn’t, so have a nice Anthropocene, while you can, human,” — Said the AI to the human, the hubris man ones.