Europäische Wettbewerbsfähigkeit - quo vadis?
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
The Overpopulation Panic Dates Back to Odysseus’s Time
Recommendable! Food for thought!
"... In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was a deadly conflict that Zeus orchestrated to fight human overpopulation. According to a surviving fragment of The Cypria (a prequel to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey):
There was a time when the countless tribes of men, though wide-dispersed, oppressed the surface of the deep-bosomed earth, and Zeus saw it and had pity and in his wise heart resolved to relieve the all-nurturing earth of men by causing the great struggle of the Trojan War, that the load of death might empty the world. And so the heroes were slain in Troy, and the plan of Zeus came to pass. ..."
"... A study published recently in the journal Sustainable Development recommends that humanity aim to more than halve the global population, to about 4 billion, in order to improve long-term sustainability." What a nonsense!
The EPA repealed rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from coal and natural gas power plants
Good news! Bravo President Trump! Global warming is a hoax and climate change is a religion!
"... a move the agency said would help “unleash” American energy. Environmental groups vowed immediate court challenges."
"The EPA announced ... a final rule repealing regulations on carbon and toxic emissions from fossil fuel plants. The action would represent one of the Trump administration’s biggest blows yet against emissions reduction regulations put in place by Democrats. ..."
Downed in Iran US Airman Reveals Details of his Rescue
What a story!
"An Air Force officer shot down over Iran in April described his 50-hour fight to survive in his first public interview Sunday. Identified only by his call sign, Bravo, he fell at up to 100 mph after an Iranian missile shredded his parachute.
He prayed as he fell: “Lord, your will be done. But if I’m getting through this, I need help.” Bravo broke his back, an arm, and a shoulder, then climbed a 7,000-foot ridgeline as Iranian forces came within a few hundred meters.
His rescue led to the U.S. putting more than 90 troops on the ground in Iran for the first in 46 years, aided by a CIA deception campaign. When their planes got stuck in the desert sand, the rescue force destroyed the aircraft rather than leave them behind.
Bravo was pulled out at sunrise on Easter Sunday, April 5."
Israel and Saudi Arabia discuss intelligence aid amid growing Houthi attacks, British advisers are to assist Saudi Arabia
Good news! When will Saudi Arabia sign the Abraham Accords?
"... Saudi Arabia also asked Britain for assistance in repelling the Houthis from Bab al-Mandab Strait and in helping defend against strikes on its oil infrastructure, Bloomberg reported.
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham has agreed to send British military advisers to assist Saudi Arabia, but he has not yet committed to sending any additional aid, the report said. ..."
How Fairphone built the ethical, repairable Fairphone Gen 6+
This alternative smartphone is not cheap!
"... Fairphone, a Dutch smartphone maker that has just entered the US market, thinks about phones differently.
The new $650 Fairphone Gen 6+ is designed both for longevity and easy repairability. ..."
62,000 People Arrested for Speech Crimes in Britain over Past Five Years
Concerning! Bad news! The UK used to be a beacon of free speech!
"Censorship laws such as the Malicious Communications Act 1988, the Communications Act 2003, and the Online Safety Act 2023 have been used by both Labour and so-called Conservative governments to arrest 62,199 people for “communication offences”, including offensive jokes online, between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2025, the Big Brother Watch pressure group has revealed.
The report was based on police data from 38 of the 45 territorial police forces in the UK, obtained following a series of Freedom of Information requests sent to all forces. However, the civil liberties group noted that because some forces failed or refused to provide their data, the true number of people arrested for speech crimes was likely much higher. ..."
An experiment that recreates coronal mass ejections in the lab
Amazing stuff!
"Some of the most iconic images of the Sun have captured the explosive force of coronal mass ejections (CMEs), in which huge clouds of magnetized plasma erupt from the solar atmosphere. But CMEs have only rarely been sighted on other stars, a discrepancy that has puzzled astrophysicists for many years.
Now an international research team has devised an experiment that recreates these stellar eruptions in the lab, providing clear evidence that CMEs can be suppressed by strong magnetic fields. The same experimental approach could also be used to investigate the role that magnetic confinement plays in other stellar activity. ..."
"... The current study ... combines astrophysical simulations, high-energy laser-plasma experiments, and advanced 3D plasma numerical modelling. The results show that strong magnetic fields of active stars can completely suppress CMEs before they escape into space. “The unique combination of theory, laboratory tests, and numerical simulations provides the first experimental evidence supporting a long-standing prediction that stellar magnetic fields can confine these large-scale eruptions.” ..."
From the abstract:
"Solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are routinely observed, but as of yet there exist few convincing detections of stellar CMEs. A reason for this could be that the stronger magnetic fields of these stars, compared to that of our Sun, would prevent CME to form and escape.
Here we combined astrophysical simulations, measurements of scaled high-energy laser-driven plasma flows, and 3D magnetohydrodynamic modeling to test this hypothesis.
Simulations show that, in a 100 G stellar dipole field, low-plasma
In the laboratory, a laser-produced plasma stream scaled to stellar CME conditions propagates freely at low applied magnetic fields (approximately 30 G stellar equivalent), but becomes unstable and halts entirely when the field is increased to
Analytical estimates and numerical simulations suggest that the sudden disruption of the flow is induced by a kink instability. Even though the laboratory environment does not fully reproduce the complex magnetic flux-rope topology of CMEs, these results provide the first laboratory-scale evidence that strong stellar magnetic fields can fully suppress CME propagation, offering a physical explanation for their lack in stellar observations and highlighting the role of magnetic confinement in stellar evolution and exoplanet space weather."
Stellar eruptions in the laboratory: First experimental evidence for their suppression in strong magnetic fields (original news release)
Experimental Evidence for Coronal Mass Ejection Suppression in Strong Stellar Magnetic Fields (no public access)
Experimental evidence for coronal mass ejection suppression in strong stellar magnetic fields (preprint, open access)
Computer simulation of a coronal mass ejection for a star (green) with a strong magnetic field (lines). The eruption is confined by the magnetic field and thus does not escape the star.
A Theoretical Analysis of Generalization Dynamics in Neural Networks under Gradient Descent with Weight Decay
This could be an interesting new theoretical paper by Mikhail Belkin and his team!
From the abstract:
"Understanding generalization remains a central challenge in machine learning because it requires jointly considering data, architecture, and training dynamics.
In this paper, we develop a theoretical framework that characterizes how these factors jointly shape generalization performance throughout training.
More precisely, we study a broad class of neural networks trained under the ℓ2 loss by gradient descent (GD) with weight decay, and prove the convergence of GD to a neighbourhood of the global minimizers of the empirical loss.
By partitioning the space based on the input data, we then decompose the population error into data error, optimization error, and prediction variation error, and bound them separately.
In particular, for the prediction variation error, which measures the oscillations of the learned function, we propose (local) approximate homogeneity and derive explicit cellwise and layerwise bounds for its evolution along the training trajectory.
These bounds yield two important implications: a necessary condition of improved generalization explains differences in layerwise generalization behavior; a sufficient condition describes delayed generalization and provides a theoretical characterization of grokking."
Bottom-up Modeling of Repeated Elements via Single Image Analysis-by-Synthesis
This could be an interesting new paper by Alexei A. Efros and his team!
From the abstract:
"We address the problem of discovering repeated elements from a single image. In contrast to existing approaches that depend on large annotated datasets, curated multi-image collections, or object segmentation masks, we show that a single image can suffice to learn a meaningful object model in a completely bottom-up fashion, without any prior knowledge beyond a coarse scale prior.
Our method learns a tunable image-space prototype of the repeated elements through a reconstruction objective, enabling the model to identify and synthesize consistent object instances within the same image.
Experiments on 116 real images from the FSC-147 dataset demonstrate that our method successfully learns coherent element models and captures intra-category variation on challenging images.
Qualitative results reveal superior reconstructions and interpretable decompositions compared to classical decomposition, joint alignment, and 3D object modeling methods, while maintaining a simple 2D formulation. These results suggest that meaningful object discovery can emerge from single image learning alone."
The Yemeni Houthis are about 350,000 strong!
I bet you did not know that!
Why this fact so rarely mentioned in Western news media is strange to say the least!
Who allowed this terrorist group to become so strong?
How much money and support is Iran giving the to Houthis?
"The group's manpower can be broken down into three main categories:
Core Militants and Veteran Troops: The group maintains a core faction of 20,000 to 40,000 highly trained, war-hardened militants. This core is heavily augmented by formal army units and commanders who remained in northern Yemen following the country's civil fragmentation, giving the Houthis access to professional military expertise.
Active Standing Army: According to official administrative records in Sana'a and independent intelligence reports from the Middle East Institute, the Houthis command an active-duty and affiliated force of over 200,000 soldiers divided across seven military regions.
Massive Recent Mobilization: The Houthis capitalized heavily on public sentiments regarding the Gaza conflict and reactions to Western airstrikes in the Red Sea. This allowed them to conduct a massive recruitment drive, ballooning their total roster to 350,000 personnel.
..." (Google Search result)
Monday, September 14, 2026
US Weapons Already In Orbit; Russia, China Brace For Space War?
It was expected to happen for some time! The militarization of space goes on!
How much have Russia and China already deployed?
Houthis fire 'dozens of missiles' at Saudi Arabia with Palki Sharma
Where are the coward European powers when you need them!
The Houthis have now occupied 3-4 strategic islands in the southern Red Sea! Incredible!
President Trump pushed back on the need for tighter federal regulations on AI.
Good news! Bravo President Trump! There is no point to shackle ML & AI so early!
Excessive, exaggerated safety concerns or precaution are wrong and not needed! E.g. do we want new, powerful medical drugs developed in a few months or in several years?
"In a Truth Social post, he dismissed safety concerns as a hoax that would leave the industry in financial ruin and hand China a competitive edge. Separately, Trump questioned why AI leaders were calling for regulation. Earlier today, Microsoft became the latest company to discuss limits on advanced AI systems, and in an X post overnight, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman warned companies risk losing control of their AI. China also worries that AI could bring doomsday—but first it wants to catch up to the U.S."
Build more natural voice experiences with full-duplex GPT‑Live‑1 in the API
Good news!
"OpenAI releases full duplex voice model to the API
OpenAI released GPT-Live-1, a voice model that listens and speaks simultaneously rather than chaining separate speech-to-text, reasoning, and text-to-speech models.
It handles interruptions and background noise within a single model, delegating deeper reasoning and tool calls to a backend such as GPT-6 Astra, and supports telephony deployments for phone-based customer support.
OpenAI reports a 30-percentage-point improvement on Full Duplex Bench over GPT-Realtime-2.1 and first place on Tau3 when paired with GPT-6 Astra;
Speak’s early evaluation showed an 80 percent cut in interruptions versus turn-based systems. Pricing is $0.05 per minute for the voice layer, with backend model and tool costs billed separately; it natively supports ASR transcripts, keyword biasing, and turn detection. For voice app developers, it removes the latency and coordination overhead of stitching together separate STT, LLM, and TTS components." (Data Points)
Closed-loop auditory stimulation in phase with slow waves during sleep enhances cerebrospinal fluid flow in humans
Good news!
closed-loop auditory stimulation (CLAS)
Recurrent neural networks (RNNs)
"... In a new study, ... researchers have shown that they can strengthen these CSF waves through exposure to short bursts of a gentle, staticky sound known as “pink noise” during sleep. These bursts increase the amplitude of slow electrical waves in the brain, which then enlarges the CSF waves. ...
Their fMRI studies also revealed that the slow waves stimulate blood vessels to constrict and dilate, allowing them to act as a pump that drives CSF out of the brain. Slow waves are seen only during non-REM sleep, and they become more prominent in deeper stages of sleep. ..."
From the abstract:
"Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a key component of healthy brain function, constantly circulating to maintain brain homeostasis.
Large waves of CSF flow appear in nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, and these CSF flow waves are associated with neural slow waves in the electroencephalogram (EEG).
Whether neural slow waves are causally linked to CSF flow, and whether this flow can be enhanced, is not yet established.
We developed a technique for performing closed-loop auditory stimulation of sleep slow waves with simultaneous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using real-time denoising and a neural network–based strategy for stimulus targeting.
We first established that our technique could increase EEG slow waves during sleep inside the MRI scanner in healthy adults.
We then found that closed-loop auditory stimulation during sleep caused increased CSF flow waves.
Furthermore, this CSF flow effect was phase dependent and only apparent when auditory stimuli were aligned with slow-wave peaks. Widespread hemodynamic waves were also elicited by the stimulus, suggesting a brain-wide modulation contributing to this CSF flow effect.
This work demonstrates that closed-loop slow-wave neurofeedback causes waves of CSF flow and provides a technique for simultaneous modulation and imaging of CSF flow during sleep that can next be explored as a potential translational tool in clinical populations."
A burst of “pink noise” may lead to more restorative sleep | MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology "Delivered at just the right time, this type of auditory stimulus can strengthen the flow of cerebrospinal fluid, which clears debris from the brain and keeps it healthy."
Fig. 1. An integrated RNN and real-time EEG-fMRI algorithm enables closed-loop slow-wave enhancement inside the MRI scanner.
Fig. 2. CLAS causes a CSF flow wave in the fourth ventricle.
Scientists Reveal How the Monkeypox Virus Replicates
Good news!
"At a glance
- Study reveals how shape changes during the assembly of viral proteins switch on replication in monkeypox virus.
- The findings provide a foundation for understanding the molecular machines that drive infection in mpox and aiding the search for therapies.
...
Although vaccines are available to help prevent mpox — the disease caused by the monkeypox virus — and its close relative smallpox, there is currently no antiviral that has been shown to be effective against mpox. ...
learning how two key proteins work together to allow monkeypox to replicate itself — the helicase-primase and the polymerase. Each member of the duo performs a distinct task. The helicase-primase unzips the virus’s DNA double helix and attaches a chemical anchor that allows a new strand of DNA to be built, and the polymerase recruits and organizes the building blocks that assemble into a new strand of DNA. Together these pieces are called the replisome. ...
In this study, the tweezers revealed the moment when the replisome began to unwind the DNA double helix. As hypothesized, when the team added the polymerase to the helicase-primase complex, the fully formed replisome began working. ..."
From the abstract:
"Poxviruses are double-stranded DNA viruses with large genomes. Among them, monkeypox virus (MPXV) has been responsible for two recent public health emergencies as declared by the World Health Organization.
The MPXV polymerase comprises three subunits—a catalytic subunit (F8) and a heterodimeric processivity factor (A22 and E4).
The viral polymerase must coordinate activities with the hexameric helicase–primase (E5) to initiate replication of the viral genome. Although structures of MPXV E5 and the polymerase in isolation are available, how they assemble into a functional replisome remains unclear.
In isolation, E5 is in an autoinhibited conformation and has very weak helicase activity, and the mechanism for helicase activation is unclear.
Here we used cryo-electron microscopy to determine the structures of DNA-bound MPXV replisomes comprising the polymerase holoenzyme (F8, A22 and E4) and the E5 helicase hexamer.
We show that, during replisome assembly, E5 undergoes large-scale conformational changes that allow two of its primase domains to interact with the polymerase F8 thumb and A22 subunit.
Biochemical assays and single-molecule experiments reveal that this E5 conformational change is coupled to helicase activation and enhances primase activity.
Taken together, these findings identify fundamental mechanisms governing coordinated helicase and polymerase activities during DNA replication for an important class of viral pathogens."
Fig. 1: Cryo-EM structure of the MPXV replisome.
Fig. 2: Polymerase binding activates the E5 helicase.
Fig. 4: Structure of an MPXV polymerase–primase core complex and RNA-to-DNA elongation transitions.
Swiss government takes a Swiss Army knife to Microsoft 365 shiting to open source software
Good or bad news!
"... key takeaways
- Two Swiss government groups are moving from Microsoft 365 to openDesk.
- The Swiss Federal Chancellery and Swiss Armed Forces are moving at different paces.
- It’s mostly about protecting Swiss data from American snoopers.
...
They’re joining numerous other European government agencies, such as those in Austria, France, Germany, and Ireland, that are also cutting out Microsoft 365 and Windows in favor of open-source office suites and Linux.
..."
The next generation of antivenoms is almost here
Good news! It looks like antivenoms are soon becoming extremely effective with this latest research.
I just blogged here about a similar new, very successful approach! I believe, these two research articles represent a major breakthrough in antivenom development.
"... for the new study, the team zeroed in on one group in particular: cobras in India, a country that bears the greatest burden of snakebite death in the world and where the current antivenom all too often falls short.
Small doses of a mixture of just five nanobodies saved mice from lethal doses of venom from India’s deadliest cobra species, even when administered to the animals half an hour after the toxins. “Mice that were paralyzed or had typical neurotoxic symptoms would revert to a completely asymptomatic state ,” ..."
"... now developed a recombinant, nanobody-based antivenom that offers broad protection against venom from geographically diverse cobra and king cobra species in India. ...
Unlike conventional antivenoms, these recombinant antibodies can be manufactured using microbial and humanised expression systems without repeatedly immunising animals like horses. Additional antibody components can be added to expand protection to other medically important snakes, allowing future recombinant antivenoms to be tailored for different regions or species. ..."
From the abstract:
"Snakebite envenoming causes more than 100,000 deaths annually, with India bearing nearly half of this burden.
Current equine plasma–derived antivenoms suffer from variable efficacy, safety concerns, and limited cross-neutralization of geographically diverse venoms.
Here, we report a rationally designed recombinant antivenom composed of five nanobodies (VHHs) that target the α-neurotoxins, cytotoxins, and phospholipases A2 prevalent in the venoms of cobra and king cobra species from India.
These VHHs were previously identified and functionally validated against homologous toxin families from African elapids.
In murine preincubation and rescue models of snakebite envenoming, the cocktail prevented mortality after injection with venom from the monocled cobra (Naja kaouthia), both king cobra species (Ophiophagus kaalinga and Ophiophagus hannah) from the Western Ghats and Northeast India, and pan-Indian populations of spectacled cobra (Naja naja).
These findings demonstrate the feasibility of developing broad-spectrum nanobody-based recombinant antivenoms with continent-wide coverage as a safe and regionally adaptable biologic for snakebite envenoming therapy."
Engineered antibodies offer broad protection against deadly cobra toxins (original news release)
The Steep Contraction of Global humanitarian Aid from 2022-2025
Bad news! Maybe it is time for other countries to provide more funding!
"Global humanitarian aid contributions plummeted 30% between 2022 and 2025, per the State of the Humanitarian System 2026 report, which warned that the aid system has “suffered one of its biggest contractions since being formed in the post-second world war era.”
Funding fell from $47.5 billion to $33.3 billion, and ~23% of humanitarian jobs disappeared. ..."
SOHS 2026 in brief: Humanitarian action in a fractured world "The State of the Humanitarian System 2026 comes at one of the most demanding moments for humanitarian action in decades. Over 2022–25, state-driven conflict, climate shocks, displacement and attacks on aid workers increased just as donor-government politics drove sharp funding cuts. The resulting contraction forced difficult choices about who and what humanitarian action could support, and it exposed the system’s dependence on a few donors and the political and economic decisions beyond its control."
Pisa-Schock: Schlechteste Chinesen in Mathe vor besten Deutschen
Deutschland, das Land der Dichter und Denker! Vorsicht Ironie!
"Die Leistungen der 15-Jährigen in Deutschland sind in den Bereichen Mathematik und Lesen erneut gesunken.
Rund jede und jeder Dritte verfehlt dort inzwischen das Mindestniveau. Das zeigt die am 8. September veröffentlichte PISA-Studie 2025. Auch langfristig fällt die Bilanz ernüchternd aus: 2025 erreichten die Jugendlichen in Deutschland in allen drei Kompetenzbereichen erneut die niedrigsten Werte, die bislang bei den PISA-Studien gemessen wurden. Der seit etwa einem Jahrzehnt zu beobachtende Abwärtstrend setzt sich damit fort. ..."
Fast jeder zweite Tatverdächtige bei Mord und Totschlag in Bayern ist Ausländer. Wirklich!
Dieser Artikel basiert auf der Analyse von Daten von nur zwei Jahren. Das ist fast eine hetzerische Schlagzeile.
Alleine die Zahl der ermittelten Tatverdächtigen kann stark schwanken z.B. durch eine Änderung der polizeilichen Ermittlungsmethoden etc.
"... Noch deutlicher als die Fallzahl nahm die Zahl der ermittelten Tatverdächtigen zu. Sie stieg binnen eines Jahres von 408 auf 466 und damit um 14,2 Prozent.
Dieser Anstieg ging überwiegend auf nichtdeutsche Tatverdächtige zurück: Ihre Zahl erhöhte sich von 174 auf 220 – ein Plus von 46 Personen oder 26,4 Prozent. Die Zahl der deutschen Tatverdächtigen stieg dagegen lediglich von 234 auf 246 und damit um 5,1 Prozent. ..."
Bats carry dangerous viruses without getting sick
Amazing stuff!
"Scientists discovered that more than 500 species of vesper bats possess two separate sets of antibody genes, an immune arrangement never before found in mammals. The surprising system could help explain how bats tolerate so many viruses without becoming seriously ill."
"... that the world’s largest family of bats has two distinct copies of the genes that produce antibodies, the specialized proteins that help the immune system recognize and fight infections. Every other known mammal has only one such set. ..."
From the abstract:
"Bats are major reservoirs of viruses that can be transmitted to humans in zoonotic outbreaks.
Antibody-mediated immunity plays an important role in shaping viral evolution and immune evasion but remains understudied in bats.
All known mammals have a single immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) gene locus and up to two light chain loci.
We have identified dual IgH loci on separate chromosomes in 26 bat species, highlighting extreme variation of immunogenetic architecture in order Chiroptera. In a model species, Eptesicus fuscus, we leveraged single-cell transcriptomes to confirm functional rearrangement and expression of both loci, but with different mechanisms for generating antibody diversity and function. These results provide a foundation for analysis of humoral immunity and pathogen response in bats."
How bats tolerate viruses: Tulane study sheds light on one of nature’s biggest immune mysteries (original news release)
Immunoglobulin heavy chain locus duplication in bats (open access)
Fig. 1. Genomic annotations and analysis for both IGH loci.
Beyond the sea walls: Underwater archaeology reveals the hidden scale of ancient Mediterranean ports
Recommendable!
"... To get a fresh perspective from under the sea, researchers launched SHIPs (2023–2028), a multiyear underwater archaeology project combining hands-on fieldwork across the Mediterranean and a major freshwater lake.
By approaching harbors from the water rather than the shore, the project maps the different elements of a port system and examines how they worked together.
They discovered that anchoring areas beyond the formal stone walls played a decisive role in how much traffic a port could handle. Judging a port's capacity by its surviving stone docks alone overlooks the many ships accommodated beyond them.
Ships anchored in sheltered natural bays, were beached along open coastlines or moored in deeper waters beyond the harbor walls. These practices reshaped how researchers view harbor capacity in the ancient harbors of Caesarea, Terracina and Port-Vendres. ..."
From the abstract:
"The SHIPs project examines ancient harbours from a maritime perspective, analysing integrated harbour systems across contrasting environments in the Mediterranean region. Application of standardised analyses demonstrates that extra-basin anchorage zones played a decisive role in determining harbour capacity and enables more robust evaluation and comparative ranking of ancient ports."
Port-Vendres (France): locations of shipwrecks and assemblages.
Sunday, September 13, 2026
Trump urges Zelensky to stop targeting Russian diesel infrastructure. There are plenty of other targets
Some Western and other news media falsely reported this as if Trump had asked to stop any attacking of Russian targets.
The Ukraine can always resume to hit refineries in Russia!
Higher education enrollment is growing rapidly in India
Good news!
"Higher education is growing rapidly in India. According to the country’s Ministry of Education, India’s higher-education gross enrollment ratio—the total number of enrolled students divided by the college-aged population—rose from 23.7 percent in 2014–15 to 30 percent in 2023–24.
The female gross enrollment ratio increased even faster, from 22.9 percent to 31.2 percent."
How many and which US Supreme Court Justices will retire after the midterm elections?
This is one of the biggest federal political questions outstanding!
President Donald Trump has appointed three US Supreme Court Justices so far (Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett).
If President Trump gets to appoint 2-3 more US Supreme Court Justices he would rank among the top three US presidents in terms of appointments.
Is President Trump ready?
Should We Accept Degrowth as a Serious Academic Concept? Definitely not!
This is a very recommendable overview article!
Degrowth is the arena for big government and central planning! The degrowth literature seems to regurgitate a number of typical, well known and false claims against capitalism.
Criticism of economic growth started at least after WW II: Growth for growth sake ; limits of growth; growth as a fetish; do consumers need all these products and services?; the environmental consequences and so on.
The criticism of economic growth as an objective is at least several decades old and it is a fetish to some. Most of this criticism is baloney!
The book Doughnut Economics is a reminder of the notion of redistribution of a fixed cake. The book title suggests a static view, but economics is dynamic and it constantly challenges. In my quick take on this book is that the author subsumed economics under environmentalism (a modern religion).
Those who call on Karl Marx/Friedrich Engels (a capitalist who financially supported Karl Marx's bohemian lifestyle for decades) for inspiration in 2nd quarter of the 21st century are most likely fools.
Caveat I did not read any of the listed books below.
"In recent years, an intellectual movement known as “degrowth” has grown in popularity through the efforts of a small but growing group of academics and activists.
Key texts that champion this ideology, such as
Jason Hickel 2020 book Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World and Kate Raworth 2017 Doughnut Economics, appear on bestseller lists and in bookstores worldwide.
Jason Hickel 2020 book Less is More: How Degrowth Will Save the World and Kate Raworth 2017 Doughnut Economics, appear on bestseller lists and in bookstores worldwide.
In 2020, Japanese philosopher Kohei Saito published Capital in the Anthropocene (published in English in 2024 as Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto), arguing that Karl Marx, in his later writings, anticipated the damage capitalism would do to the environment and called for rejecting unconstrained economic growth. ..."
"... The Doughnut of Social and Planetary Boundaries (the Doughnut) offers a visual monitor of progress towards the goal of meeting the needs of all people within the means of the living planet. ..."
The Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries.
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