ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book presents a concatenated series of arguments on the sustainability – actually the unsustainability – of mankind's present way of life. It considers the unavoidable depletion of non-renewable resources; the present trends of climate, which will last for decades irrespective of our immediate actions; the progressive drift out of control of a growing complexity system; the ongoing diminishing return from technological improvements. The chapter also considers the need and difficulty to find a reasonable non-reductionist way to measure the performance of an economy. It shows some of the main limits of current mainstream economics that prevent it from properly addressing the issues previously discussed and to constructively interact with the other sciences to find and put in place appropriate measures.
