[extropy-chat] The emergence of AI

[Robin Hanson]

At 10:32 PM 12/4/2004, Russell Wallace wrote:
>On Sat, 04 Dec 2004 22:11:06 -0500, Robin Hanson <rhanson at gmu.edu> wrote:
> > Economic growth is the fully recursive self-improvement of the world
> > economy as a whole.
>
>Not fully. The static part consists of the laws of physics (which
>don't change at all) and the human genome, material composition of the
>Earth and energy input from the sun (which don't change quickly enough
>to make a difference on economic timescales).

Well I grant that some things have stayed constant for long periods of
economic growth, and that it is important to be able to analyze growth
in some things while holding other things static.  But in the future
the human genome, material composition of the Earth and energy input
from the sun, and even the laws of physics may well change.  If anything
is going to change these things, it will be further economic growth.



Robin Hanson  rhanson at gmu.edu  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Assistant Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326  FAX: 703-993-2323