I had an interesting discussion with a colleague the other day about the triggers of the current financial crisis. We concluded that the perceived value of (everything in) the global economy had become inflated because of the perception that business as usual would carry on indefinitely. As Colin Campbell has noted, business and the stock markets had assumed the continued supply of cheap energy, on which the capitalist economy depends. The assumption of continued supply is mirrored for almost every other resource we use and our consumption of these has risen exponentially.
Those of you who are into home brewing may see an interesting parallel here: yeast consumes "natural resources" (sugar) and reproduces until all those resources have been used up. That and / or the toxic waste it produces (alcohol) kills it off.
If you allow for the difference in scale, scope and complexity - that we are much more complex organisms and therefore capable of more complex achievements on a larger scale, our life-cycles are strikingly similar.
Which raises an interesting question: are humans smarter than yeast?
Those of you who are into home brewing may see an interesting parallel here: yeast consumes "natural resources" (sugar) and reproduces until all those resources have been used up. That and / or the toxic waste it produces (alcohol) kills it off.
If you allow for the difference in scale, scope and complexity - that we are much more complex organisms and therefore capable of more complex achievements on a larger scale, our life-cycles are strikingly similar.
Which raises an interesting question: are humans smarter than yeast?