Het Neoliberale Geloof 426

The unbearable lightness of information

This decade was the one that was supposed to usher in the era when bits and
bytes would replace tons and barrels as the measure of what an economy
does. The information economy would eclipse the economy of blast furnaces
and railcars.

The allure of such an economy is that it was said to be less resource
intense, less driven by the high-amplitude economic cycles of the
industrial economy, and more driven by the need for and efficient use of
information, something that is always in demand. It turned out not to be
so. The tech bust of the early part of this decade highlighted the
vulnerability of the so-called information economy to cyclical forces and
also the reliance of that economy on the more substantial physical economy.

We mistake the lightness of electrons and the vaporous nature of the
information that rides on them for the lightness of the entire economy
behind them. Every person who works in the so-called information sector of
the economy must be housed, clothed, schooled, provided transportation,
provisioned with household goods, given opportunities for entertainment and
recreation, supplied with a wide array of public services, and...well, you
get the idea. And, much of the manufacturing economy which previously
provided employment in the United States and other industrialized nations
has simply shifted to China and other low-cost locales. As it turns out,
one of the main tasks of the information economy is to direct and manage
the resulting global logistical system, a system that continues to bear
down with its ever increasing weight on the landscape and the environment.

Howard Odum, the great pioneer in understanding energy flows in nature and
society, understood that information, far from being a feathery presence in
society, is actually its most resource- and energy-intensive output except
for the natural process of species formation.
Lees verder: http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2009/04/unbearable-lightness-of-information.html