Understanding Growth, Part 1

Let&#x27;s put it like it is: Infinite growth on a finite planet is impossible.<p>We can not infinitely polute air, water, soil. We can not infinitely extract all crude materials from the Earth. We can not infinitely exploit most of the others.<p>What IS infinite is human imagination and ingenuity: We CAN innovate and (at least) greatly mitigate our impact on our Home. Thus the importance of education.

We can draw some nice parallels with the startup economy, especially when contrasting manic-depressive growth (unicorns on steroids) versus stable steady growth (boostrapped business). I would argue that there is some good middle ground where you take just enough debt&#x2F;leverage to grow, but don&#x27;t indulge in it to the point where it becomes mania and sinks you when the macroscopic environment turns sour.

The concept of &#x27;antifragility&#x27; really seems to be popping up a lot in the media I consume via HN. I can&#x27;t tell if antifragility is trendy, or really a novel, valuable idea of systems analysis that, until recently, hadn&#x27;t converged upon a single descriptor.. Likely parts of both!