• lugal@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Many capitalist models depend on exponential growth. That doesn’t exist in nature (I think to even in cancer so I too disagree with the original meme on some level but agree with the overall notion)

    What is very common in biology is logistic growth, or the “S curve”. It starts like an exponential function, looks almost linear in the middle and approaches a maximum at the end.

    You can model it as an exponential curve if you’re only interested in the beginning but to extrapolate it further is just wrong.

    Take lily in a pond. It might double each day for a while, but will slow down eventually. When it covers half the area at one day, it won’t cover it all the next. At that point, it takes as long to cover everything except what it did at the start, as it took to cover half the pond from the start (approximately of cause).

    Economic models often don’t take this into account but just assume exponential growth which is wrong and not found in biology.

      • lugal@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Many capitalist models depend on exponential limitless growth. That doesn’t exist in nature

        I mean, that doesn’t change much. There ain’t no other limitless growth in life, is there? The key difference between exponential logistic growth is that the latter has a limite.

          • Ook the Librarian@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Do you know any useful biological models that are limitless and not exponential? You seem to think that “life is based on” them?

            Also the exponential discussion is a red-herring. You just picked out a detail that was misstated, and pretend to win.

            Now seriously, have you ever heard anyone claim life is based on unlimited growth (outside of this meme)?

              • lugal@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                until the resources or something else intervenes

                Sounds like a limit to me. The entire point is that economic models often don’t take this kind of limits into account. Source: read a book

                • LemmysMum@lemmy.worldOP
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                  1 year ago

                  Sounds like a limit to me. The entire point is that economic models often don’t take this kind of limits into account.

                  You need to re-read the meme. You’re so close but you can’t see the forest for the trees.

                  • lugal@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    The meme makes fun of a post that compares capitalism to cancer by saying “all life is about limitless growth, not just cancer”. This is wrong. Life “knows” its limits. Capitalism doesn’t, neither does cancer

          • lugal@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Limitless as in time, not quantity.

            What does that even mean? Time is on the x-axis, what is on the y-axis if not quantity?

            Your entire premise is false because you’re illiterate.

            Sorry for reading the wrong books apparently…