Summary: Noah Smith discusses the potential for sustaining economic growth at a recent conference filled with like-minded techno-optimists. He highlights the importance of long-term growth and suggests that policies promoting it are crucial for improving living standards. However, he also warns that growth may eventually slow due to factors like a declining population, despite debates about resource scarcity.
if you can find some policy that will increase long-term growth, you should do it. The vast difference in the living standards our descendants will experience outweighs whatever small sacrifices we might make today. (View Highlight)
The most obvious growth policy, of course, is to avoid degrowth. The idea of intentionally forcing the economy to stop growing is a ridiculous, inhumane, unnecessary, and counterproductive proposition. (View Highlight)
long-term growth will be constrained by the slowdown in human population — with AI scientists as the only way out. (View Highlight)
Economic growth doesn’t actually require us to keep finding and exploiting more and more resources. Often, growth means using fewer resources than before. (View Highlight)